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Obama SOTU price tag: $83.4 billion, his costliest ever

February 13, 2013 | 1:31 pm | Modified: February 13, 2013 at 1:35 pm
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President Obama's new spending projects proposed in Tuesday's State of the Union Address would cost taxpayers an additional $83.4 billion, his most costly SOTU Address ever and more than twice his average of $31 billion.

The National Taxpayers Union Foundation, using Congressional Budget Office and other figures, tallied the price tag of Obama's pet projects and added to Secrets that the costs could "swell" if he succeeds in limiting the impact of mandatory cuts in sequestration.

The powerful tax analysis group noted Obama's promise that his spending won't "add a dime to the deficit," and suggested that Obama would have to raise taxes to make good on his pledge. But because he was so "vague" with the details of his spending and tax play, the NTUF could not make an assessment of taxes.

The NTUF crunched the numbers all night long and this is what they have come up with.

Overall, the president would spend another $83.4 billion for new projects. They include:

-- Climate change, also called cap-and-trade, would cost $56.4 billion per year.

-- His American Jobs Act: $15.3 billion per year.

-- "Fix-it-First" infrastructure program: $7.8 billion per year.

-- Comprehensive immigration reform: $9.8 billion per year.

But it's not all spending increases. NTUF found that Obama would cut $43 million by enacting Simpson-Bowles-style Medicare reform.

Doug Kellogg, spokesman for NTUF, said that while Obama's wish list is expensive, it's not the highest among recent presidents. That award goes to former President Bill Clinton whose State of the Union in 1999 called for $327 billion in new spending.

Said Kellogg, "The 83.4 billion dollar cost of the president's State of the Union proposals is his most expensive address yet. If he's going to live up to his promise that his speech will 'not add a dime to the deficit,' taxpayers and businesses may want to take cover, because another round of tax hikes is coming."

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