World

US spends more per person than Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain

Font Size:

The Republican Senate Budget Committee released a chart Wednesday afternoon showing that governments in the United States spend more money per person than those in Portugal, Italy, Greece, or Spain.

According to the graphic, data from the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook show that in 2011 the United States (at the federal, state and local levels) spent $20,000 per person, considerably more than Portugal’s $10,200, Greece $12,500, Spain’s $13,100, and Italy’s $16,900 — all four of which are countries with large deficits that currently face, or are already in the midst of, another recession.

A spokesman for Senate Budget Committee Republican staff told The Daily Caller that the need for a budget is reaching a fever pitch.

“Everyday America is sliding closer to a fiscal calamity like the one we see unfolding in Greece and the European Union,” the spokesman said. “Today, the Senate has been considering four different Republican budgets, each of which would reverse the dangerous course we are on and prevent a debt crisis. Yet Senate Democrats have expressed their intention to block each of them without offering a single alternative of their own. As many have begun saying, Senate Democrats’ systematic refusal to address this predictable, looming catastrophe has forfeited their claim to leadership.”

In addition to the Republican budget proposals, as The Hill reported, Senate Budget Committee ranking member Jeff Sessions provided a fifth budget based on President Obama’s plan, as an attempt to embarrass the White House. Obama’s plan failed in a 97-0 Senate vote last year.

Sessions spoke on the Senate floor Wednesday, characterizing Washington’s failure to pass a budget as a spending free-for-all.

“We’re in Washington, we’re having fun, I caught a fish, we had a party, send more money! Isn’t that what its all about? Isn’t that what we’re hearing from the other side? ‘Send more money!’” Sessions said.

Follow Caroline on Twitter

(U.S. Senate Budget Committee)

Caroline May