(Manassas, Virginia) The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, regarding the White House projection of a $482 Billion deficit for Fiscal Year 2009:

“The White House has issued figures indicating that President Bush and his enablers in Congress will leave his successor with a budget deficit of $482 Billion for Fiscal Year 2009, which is a record. How’s that for a legacy?

“As shocking as this deficit figure is, that’s still not the true scope of our budget woes because it excludes $80 Billion in war costs and $227 Billion borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund.

‘The real budget deficit is therefore $789 Billion.

“Under accounting trickery that would probably land the top officers of a publicly traded company in jail, the money borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund -- and spent on anything and everything except Social Security payments -- is not counted towards the budget deficit, although it is part of our $9.49 Trillion National Debt.

“It’s way past time for Washington politicians to have their own Sarbanes-Oxley.

“But this is how corrupt Washington has become. Besides the dangerous practice of massive deficit spending, which will saddle our children and grandchildren with trillions of dollars of debt, the Bush White House and Congress are conspiring to conceal the true nature and scope of the problem.

“This year’s budget deficit will actually be $307 Billion worse than the politicians are saying. This fraud on the American people is a conspiracy of silence by both major political parties.

“In a stunning act of hypocrisy, the White House blamed the record budget deficit on the slowing economy and the $150 Billion stimulus package passed earlier this year.

“No, Mr. President, the buck stops with you. Stand up and accept the responsibility, and your legacy, for massively expanding government.”