Cole disappointed with proposed budget’s shirking of entitlement reforms

House Budget Committee Member Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said he was disappointed with the announcement on Friday that President Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2015 would not include previously discussed entitlement reforms.

The proposed budget won’t include changes to cost-of-living increases for Social Security and other entitlement programs that were discussed last year in an attempt to reach a “grand compromise” to reduce the federal debt.

“As recently as last year the president indicated a willingness to at least look at entitlement reform and put real ideas on the table,” Cole said. “For some inexplicable reason, he has now submitted a budget that abandons all responsibility and simply asks for even more money to spend on his pet projects.”

The Obama administration said the president declined to include the entitlement reforms in his proposed budget because Republicans have not shown a willingness to close loopholes for corporations and wealthy Americans, which was part of the agreement.

The Obama administration said the president would roll out a spending blueprint that represents his vision to invest in programs that create opportunities for the middle class.

“Seldom have I seen a president so blatantly disregard his official responsibilities and fail to address or acknowledge the devastating effects of our ongoing deficits,” Cole said. “Instead this president seems content to fiddle while America burns.”