WASHINGTON, March 22 (UPI) -- If U.S. President Barack Obama's budget is passed by Congress it would mean crushing federal debt, a leading Republican senator said Sunday.
In an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama said Obama needs to trim his federal budget proposal, noting that Congressional Budget Office said the spending plan would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next 10 years.
"We're on the fast road to financial destruction, and I see a $20 billion -- a $20 trillion deficit in the few years to come," said Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee.
Appearing on the same program, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., said he supports the president's budget plan. The chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means said while he is concerned about the deficit he is pleased with the direction the Obama budget would take the United States.
"I am more impressed with the fact that Obama is looking for a better educated and a healthy -- a stronger workforce going into a new green economy, that this has to show that America can get off the ground with the deficit and move to where we were under the Clinton administration, drawing a strong surplus," he said.
