America is in need of real leadership to address our fiscal problems. The Obama administration just reported that we face a record deficit this year and a growing debt that threatens to bankrupt our country. Unfortunately, the budget the president presented last week does not rise to the challenge. As a member of the Senate Budget Committee, three numbers caught my attention when combing the budget: $8.7 trillion, $1.6 trillion and $13 trillion. These three numbers are the amount of new spending, new taxes and new debt, respectively, in the president's proposed budget to Congress.

During the first two years of the Obama presidency, high spending has been a trademark with little to show but new debts. This budget proposal is more of the same and does virtually nothing to address the fact that we are mortgaging our children and grandchildren's futures with our spending habits. Total spending in this budget proposal tops out at $46 trillion, with $8.7 trillion of that being new spending.

In addition to trillions in new spending, this budget's big-government approach includes $1.6 trillion in new taxes. As many Ohio workers, families, entrepreneurs and small businesses know, taxes are debilitating to job creation and hamstring investment back into Ohio. New taxes on Ohioans in President Obama's budget proposal include a transportation tax hike in the amount of $435 billion and a whopping income tax hike in the amount of $919 billion.

New taxes and new spending are not the only things this budget is proposing. We are now staring down a budget that adds $13 trillion to our debt -doubling today's debt in the next 10 years.

These numbers astonish me and should be downright scary to any worker, family, entrepreneur or small business owner seeking a strong, secure and prosperous future.

I know these choices are hard. I've had to make some of them myself. In 2007, when I was budget director, we actually proposed a balanced budget over five years. Workers, families, entrepreneurs and small businesses don't spend outside their means, or rack up huge bills and push them down the road for another generation.

Unfortunately, the president's budget proposal neglected to make these hard choices. Instead of cutting spending, the president chose to increase it - at an unsustainable rate. Instead of reining in the debt, this budget balloons it. And instead of cutting taxes and creating a favorable business environment conducive to job growth, the president chose to raise taxes.

I believe we have two tools pending that could help.

First is the legislative line-item veto to knock out the pork-barrel spending. As budget director in 2006, I advocated and helped pass similar legislation introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)to curb wasteful spending. Last week, I stood alongside Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Thomas Carper (D-Del.) to introduce the Reduce Unnecessary Spending Act to give the president a legislative line-item veto.

Second is the balanced budget amendment. With a record deficit this year just announced by the Congressional Budget Office I believe the balanced budget is a simple concept that is long overdue. It would bring down the nation's skyrocketing national debt by requiring balanced budgets and prohibiting deficit spending or tax increases unless approved by two-thirds of the House and Senate.

This budget disregards warnings from economists and ignores demands from the public. Challenging times call for leadership and tough choices, and this budget proposal fails on both counts. Until we see real leadership to fix our debt crisis, our out-of-control spending and high taxes, we will continue to see a sluggish economy.