President Barack Obama's plans to announce new taxes and programs in his State of the Union address on Tuesday would leave no room in the federal budget by 2023, says Rep. Dave Brat of Virginia on Fox News Channel's
"Your World with Neil Cavuto" Monday.
Brat said his fellow Republicans should focus on the nation's biggest economic problem: The $18 trillion debt and $127 trillion in unfunded liabilities.
Obama's staff has said he will propose free community college, workplace leave and increased tax cuts for parents as part of his program that also would raise capital gains and inheritance taxes.
But Brat said that entitlements will take up the entire budget by 2032, essentially handing the problem to the next generation.
"That is 70 percent of the budget currently that is squeezing out military, education, and everything else," he said. "That's why we all feel the crimp."
Brat, an economics professor, is accustomed to talking to the next generation, and said they should ask whether the problem would be solved if Obama got everything he is asking for.
"The answer is, no," Brat said. "And so then you come over to the Republican side, and say, hey, if you let the Republicans run the ship here and get tax policies straight, to incentivize capital investment, change the monopoly in the school system, really start doing smart R&D and getting science back in the schools and universities, that can produce an economic revolution."
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are going to shut down automatically in 2032, Brat said.
"The Republicans are trying to reform and maintain these systems for the elderly," he told Cavuto, "and just as importantly for the next generation of kids so they have these social safety systems in place as they progress like we did."