August 7, 2015, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement questioning Gov. John Kasich’s (R-Ohio) incredible contention that he achieved a $5 trillion surplus as House Budget Committee Chairman in the 1990s:
“John Kasich claims to have generated a magical $5 trillion surplus in his tenure as Budget Committee Chairman. Who’s he kidding? First of all, the national debt in 2000 was $5.7 trillion. Why didn’t we pay off the debt with that windfall? Second, a cursory review of the national debt shows it actually increased every year when Kasich was in charge of the budget, and has not decreased by a single dollar since 1957. What surplus? What’s he talking about?
“To put the claim of a $5 trillion surplus into context, the total revenues of the U.S. government in 2014 was $3 trillion, an all-time high. No matter how you cut the numbers, there never was a $5 trillion surplus in a single year, in a 10-year period, or a 20-year period. You just can’t make this stuff up.
While we wish Kasich’s statement had been true, it is up to the press to find out what happened to the $5 trillion surplus, because if it was true, Fort Knox has been robbed in probably the greatest heist in history.”
Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 106 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview with ALG experts including ALG President Rick Manning.
###