Grover Norquist writes in an op-ed for USA Today: “When Barack Obama became president, the federal government was spending $2.9 trillion a year of taxpayer money. Today, less than three years later, federal spending has jumped to $3.8 trillion each year… Obama has driven federal spending to 25% of GDP… The national debt has risen from $5.8 trillion when Obama entered office to a projected $10.4 trillion at the end of this year. Obama now wants Americans to pay higher taxes to pay for his supersized government. The answer, Mr. President, is no. The problem is your spending. The solution is spending less.”
In an op-ed for POLITICO, Grover Norquist and ATR Director of State Affairs Patrick Gleason write: “This week marked a huge victory for the GOP in the deficit reduction debate — but in California, not in Washington. Gov. Jerry Brown has spent the past six months trying to get Republicans to sign on to a renewal of the largest state tax increase in U.S. history. But he finally gave up earlier this week and agreed to sign a budget that attempts to put expenditures in line with revenues, without further soaking California families and employers already contending with one of the highest tax burdens in the nation. Republicans on Capitol Hill should look to their GOP brethren in the California state legislature for inspiration and a lesson in what a unified caucus can do.”
Newsmax highlighted Time magazine’s interview with Grover Norquist: “Norquist was asked what should be done to resolve the stalemate over the debt crisis. ‘Obama has been perhaps the most partisan president since Truman,’ Norquist responded. ‘He hasn’t learned to be civil – note his insulting speech to [Rep.] Paul Ryan, who did us the courtesy of scoring a budget. The president has to talk to Republicans when it comes to the debt ceiling. He has reached the debt ceiling before anyone expected. He now has to talk to [House Speaker John] Boehner and the Republicans in the Senate about where we should go. There should be a requirement that structural reform takes place before Republicans give Obama more money to spend and borrow.’ When asked by Time if there's a way to balance the budget without raising taxes, Norquist is blunt. ‘The question is: How do we reduce spending from 25 percent of GDP, which is where Obama put us? The focus is on total government spending. Can we bring it down, in a reasonable and politically acceptable way? That’s what the Paul Ryan plan does. It puts us on a gradual reform path to reducing the size of government. Over time, it will reduce the deficit and turn it into growth.’”
Andrew Restuccia writes for The Hill: “Conservatives say Obama’s energy and environmental policies will come back to bite the president in 2012. And they plan on making them an election issue. ‘I think this issue is a net negative for him,’ said Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist. ‘Energy is a vote-losing issue for Democrats because they’re against it and they’re for taxing it.’ Norquist predicted that Obama will shy away from wading into the battle surrounding EPA’s climate and other air pollution regulations. ‘He’ll allow the EPA to continue doing what it’s doing while he pretends he doesn’t know what’s going on,’ Norquist said.”