As we receive news today that the Deficit for Fiscal 2011 will be $1.48T, I think our liberal friends need to begin explaining the obvious inconsistencies in what the President says and what he does.
His State of the Union speech was inconsistent to say the least.
Democrats overall have no credibility on this issue. Since they took over Congress, the debt ballooned by $5.2T in 4 years. It's so bad they didn't even pass a budget this year. Still, in her last days as Speaker, Nancy Pelosi unloaded this lie:
Some on the Left here have previously talked about how debt is not important. Really? I understand we are paying $4B in interest a day. What could we do with that kind of money?
So far, the White House answer is: if we don't borrow more money, we face disaster. How long can that "work?"
His State of the Union speech was inconsistent to say the least.
OBAMA: Tackling the deficit "means further reducing health care costs, including programs like Medicare and Medicaid, which are the single biggest contributor to our long-term deficit. Health insurance reform will slow these rising costs, which is part of why nonpartisan economists have said that repealing the health care law would add a quarter of a trillion dollars to our deficit."
THE FACTS: The idea that Obama's health care law saves money for the government is based on some arguable assumptions.
To be sure, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated the law will slightly reduce red ink over 10 years. But the office's analysis assumes that steep cuts in Medicare spending, as called for in the law, will actually take place. Others in the government have concluded it is unrealistic to expect such savings from Medicare.
In recent years, for example, Congress has repeatedly overridden a law that would save the treasury billions by cutting deeply into Medicare pay for doctors. Just last month, the government once again put off the scheduled cuts for another year, at a cost of $19 billion. That money is being taken out of the health care overhaul. Congress has shown itself sensitive to pressure from seniors and their doctors, and there's little reason to think that will change.
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OBAMA: Vowed to veto any bills sent to him that include "earmarks," pet spending provisions pushed by individual lawmakers. "Both parties in Congress should know this: If a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside, I will veto it."
THE FACTS: House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has promised that no bill with earmarks will be sent to Obama in the first place. Republicans have taken the lead in battling earmarks while Obama signed plenty of earmark-laden spending bills when Democrats controlled both houses. As recently as last month, Obama was prepared to sign a catchall spending measure stuffed with earmarks, before it collapsed in the Senate after an outcry from conservatives over the bill's $8 billion-plus in home-state pet projects.
It's a turnabout for the president; in early 2009, Obama sounded like an apologist for the practice: "Done right, earmarks have given legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their districts, and that's why I've opposed their outright elimination," he said then.
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OBAMA: "I'm willing to look at other ideas to bring down costs, including one that Republicans suggested last year: medical malpractice reform to rein in frivolous lawsuits."
THE FACTS: Republicans may be forgiven if this offer makes them feel like Charlie Brown running up to kick the football, only to have it pulled away, again.
Obama has expressed openness before to this prominent Republican proposal, but it has not come to much. It was one of several GOP ideas that were dropped or diminished in the health care law after Obama endorsed them in a televised bipartisan meeting at the height of the debate.
Democrats overall have no credibility on this issue. Since they took over Congress, the debt ballooned by $5.2T in 4 years. It's so bad they didn't even pass a budget this year. Still, in her last days as Speaker, Nancy Pelosi unloaded this lie:
"Deficit reduction has been a high priority for us. It is our mantra, pay-as-you-go."
Some on the Left here have previously talked about how debt is not important. Really? I understand we are paying $4B in interest a day. What could we do with that kind of money?
So far, the White House answer is: if we don't borrow more money, we face disaster. How long can that "work?"