Reasonable To Go 800 Days With No Budget, But Unreasonable To Live Within Means?

As was widely reported yesterday, each and every U.S. Senate Republican is standing in full support of a common-sense Balanced Budget Amendment that would finally put our federal government back on a road to fiscal sanity – and against President Obama and the Democrats’ demands for more deficit spending and job-killing tax hikes.

As a candidate in 2006, Claire McCaskill (D-MO) told Missourians she was in favor of a balanced budget, routinely casting herself as a proponent of fiscal responsibility.  But in Washington, it has been nearly 800 days since McCaskill and her fellow Senate Democrats passed any budget, much less a balanced budget – and during that time our national debt has grown by a whopping $3.1 trillion.

Now, as Missourians continue to demand that Washington get its reckless spending and debt under control, McCaskill is embracing a political move reminiscent of President Bill Clinton debating what the meaning of “is” is – trying to have it both ways on this crucial issue as PoliticMO reports that McCaskill’s office now says she will support a balanced budget measure only if she deems it “reasonable.”

“Missourians are tired of Claire McCaskill’s Washington double-speak,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Chris Bond.  “After failing to pass any budget for nearly 800 days, it’s time for McCaskill to simply tell voters whether she will finally support a balanced budget like she promised, or whether she will once again side with President Obama’s reckless spending and job-killing tax hikes.”

McCaskill’s hedging on this key issue begs some compelling questions, such as…

What, exactly, is a “reasonable” balanced budget requirement in Claire McCaskill’s view?

• What could be unreasonable about not spending more money than you have?  After all, as any middle-class Missouri family would tell McCaskill, you either live within your means or you don’t – and you don’t get to just keep raising your credit card limit and living off borrowed money.

• Is it “reasonable” that she and her Washington Democrat colleagues have chosen not to propose any budget at all for nearly 800 days?  If so, why?

• Is it “reasonable” for your party to propose higher taxes and yet another round of deficit spending as our national debt tops its $14.3 trillion limit?  If so, why?

Notably, as McCaskill considers raising taxes, her fellow Missouri U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) has made his opposition to tax hikes very clear, saying plainly that “it’s not going to happen.”