Democrats’ Demagoguery On Effort To Control Debt, Spending Shows How Far Left Casey Has Gone
As a candidate for the Senate in 2006, Bob Casey (D-PA) frequently preached the importance of fiscal responsibility and touted his support for a federal balanced budget. How times have changed.
Since coming to the Senate, Casey has voted in lockstep with the liberal wing of his party, supporting the failed $787 billion stimulus and the massive health care spending bill, driving the national debt past $14 trillion. Casey even reversed himself and voted last month to oppose a bipartisan resolution in support of a balanced budget amendment, proving once again that he is not serious about fiscal responsibility in Washington.
Meanwhile, today brings yet another clear example of who Bob Casey stands with in Washington. As House Republican Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) introduces a budget to put our country back on the path to prosperity and which New York Times columnist David Brooks called the “most courageous budget reform proposal any of us have seen in our lifetimes,” Casey and his fellow liberal Democrats are trying to demagogue the issue and score cheap political points.
As PBS, for example, reports:
• Watch carefully Tuesday how the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee will immediately hammer away at Republicans pressuring them to embrace or reject Rep. Ryan’s plan. And unless President Obama declares that kind of politicizing out of bounds, it’ll likely continue from now through November 2012.
“A simple, but important, question before Pennsylvania voters next year is – what happened to Bob Casey since he got to Washington?” National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Chris Bond said today. “Instead of standing on the side of fiscal responsibility, Senator Casey has consistently stood on the side of more spending, more taxes, and more government.
“Candidate Bob Casey might have been someone who would have supported a proposal to reduce spending and control the debt, but now he and the liberal party operatives running his campaign want to demagogue it. It’s unfortunate, but whether it’s ObamaCare, the failed stimulus or the Democrats’ budget proposal to keep driving up the debt, Senator Bob Casey has consistently stood with his liberal party leaders in Washington, and not with Pennsylvania,” Bond concluded.
BACKGROUND:
In 2006, Senator Casey Ran A Campaign Ad Stating: “I Believe In A Balanced Budget. Government Should Live Within Its Means, Like Any Small Business.” MR. RUSSERT: “Let me find out how you would implement something that you’re promising the voters of Pennsylvania. Here’s a Casey campaign ad about our budget.” (Videotape, Bob Casey campaign ad): MR. CASEY: “I believe in a balanced budget. Government should live within its means, like any small business.” MR. RUSSERT: “How would you get a balanced budget?” MR. CASEY: “It’s not easy, Tim, but here are the steps we should take. First of all, when it comes to the budget, what’s missing principally is a lack of fiscal responsibility, you know that. We’ve gone from about two, 236 of, of surplus down to 296 in deficit. We need some fiscal discipline.” (2006 Pennsylvania Senate Debate, “Meet The Press,” 9/3/06)
• Video Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPYUwCYLBOk
TODAY’S REPUBLICAN PLAN
Reduce Spending. . .
• “Government spending would plummet by nearly $6 trillion over the coming decade under a Republican plan due to be unveiled on Tuesday, in a sharp contrast to President Barack Obama’s fiscal plan.” (Andy Sullivan, “Republican Budget Plan Envisions Sharp Cuts,” Reuters, 4/5/11)
• “His plan would slash $6.2 trillion in spending over the next 10 years from president’s budget. That’s $2 trillion more than the plan proposed by the president’s debt commission. It also reduces deficits by $4.4 trillion and, as Ryan writes in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed this morning, ‘puts the nation on a path to actually pay off our national debt.’” (Michael Falcone And Amy Walter, “Paul Ryan’s GOP Budget Proposal: Go Big Or Go Home,” ABC News’ “The Note” Blog, 4/5/11)
Reduces The National Debt By $4.4 Trillion By 2021 . . .
• “The budget — with the exception of interest payments on the debt — would be brought into balance by 2015. The debt would be cut by $4.4 trillion over the next 10 years and the federal government would have a surplus by 2040, according to calculations from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.” (Dana Bash, Alan Silverleib, and Deirdre Walsh, “GOP Budget Chief Calls For $6.2 Trillion Spending Cut,” CNN, 4/5/11)
VERSUS
THE OBAMA BUDGET
More Spending . . .
• Obama Has Proposed A $3.71 Trillion Budget, Which Will Result In $46 Trillion In Spending Over Ten Years. (“Preliminary Analysis of the President’s Budget for 2012,”Congressional Budget Office, 3/18/11)
Increases The National Debt To $26.3 Trillion By 2021 . . .
• “Mr. Obama’s Budget Projects That 2011 Will See The Biggest One-Year Debt Jump In History, Or Nearly $2 Trillion, To Reach $15.476 Trillion By Sept. 30, The End Of The Fiscal Year. That Would Be 102.6 Percent Of GDP — The First Time Since World War II That Dubious Figure Has Been Reached.” (Stephen Dinan, “Debt Now Equals Total U.S. Economy,” The Washington Times,2/14/11)
• “Just as President Obama signed and sent his annual Economic Report to Congress, the Treasury Department posted numbers that show the national debt has increased $3.5 trillion so far on Mr. Obama’s watch.” (Mark Knoller, “Debt Has Grown $3.5 Trillion On Obama’s Watch,” CBS News, 2/23/11)
• In 2021, Gross Debt Will Total $26.3 Trillion, Equaling 107 Percent Of GDP. (Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Of The U.S. Government” Office Of Management And Budget, 2/14/11)
