GOP At It Again
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
And the beat goes on.
The Republican Party is once again pandering to their conservative base by bashing the stimulus, which most economists say, stemmed off a bigger economic crisis. Even the very conservative American Enterprise Institute found that the stimulus in 2009 had boosted the U.S. economy by 4 percent, when it had declined during 2008 by 6 percent.
The Republicans are going out of their way to tell us how the stimulus failed and how proud they are of voting against it. But they won't tell you that it added 1.6 million to 1.8 million jobs and could be roughly 2.5 million jobs before all is said and done.
Most of the so-called failed stimulus package spending so far has gone to state and local governments to plug holes in their schools, Medicaid and unemployment-benefits budgets. Agency records state that $93 billion in tax cuts have also taken affect. And another $195 billion in tax cuts are due to flow through tax returns.
Tax cuts. You now the ones Republicans always talk about. Not a peep has been heard from the GOP regarding the tax cuts. They also won't tell you that 111 Republicans who voted no on the package accepted money and took credit for the positive impact it was having in their districts. The level of hypocrisy from the GOP is growing faster than the deficit.
For example, Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio rambled on Neil Cavuto's show on Fox News trying to explain how voting against the stimulus but then asking for the money secretly was OK because she was doing it for her constituents. So if I've got this right when Republicans get earmarks for their constituents that fine, but if a Democrat does it then it's wasteful government spending.
Republican rising star Rep. Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin, publically called the stimulus a "wasteful spending spree". But privately he wrote a letter to the Labor Secretary supporting an application from his district which, he said, "intends to place 1,000 workers in green jobs."
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, member of the senate finance committee, wrote a letter to the EPA asking for consideration to use stimulus money for clean diesel projects in San Antonio and Houston. Houston received millions of dollars in diesel funding.
And Republican Richard Shelby, Alabama's senior senator, who called the stimulus package "the socialist way" while it was being debated, didn't let that stop him, or the other Republican Alabama Senator, Jeff Sessions, from asking for $15 million.
Even the Republican leadership in Washington has their hands dirty. While in Washington, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticizes the stimulus package he voted against but when he returned to Kentucky he took credit for the stimulus programs in his state. The Republican Whip, Eric Cantor, has told everyone that the stimulus "produced no new jobs". But back in his state of Virginia, Representative Cantor was shown on TV saying that the stimulus would "bring Virginia over 150,000 jobs".
Even the House Minority Leader, John Boehner, continues to critique the stimulus as "not working". But he regularly releases statements boasting that the stimulus will create "much needed Ohio jobs". So as much as they would like to tell us the GOP is the fiscally responsible party in Washington, their records show different.
The hypocrisy shown by the GOP occurs so often and is so blatant that one must question their credibility on any subject. But it is important to note that the current GOP fiscal hypocrisy is not solely a product of the Bush presidency. Even as our national debt tripled during his presidency, Ronald Reagan, the patron saint of fiscal conservatives, never cut the entitlements he ran against, Medicare and Social Security, two of the biggest causes of our deficit.
Robert Betances
Warsaw, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
And the beat goes on.
The Republican Party is once again pandering to their conservative base by bashing the stimulus, which most economists say, stemmed off a bigger economic crisis. Even the very conservative American Enterprise Institute found that the stimulus in 2009 had boosted the U.S. economy by 4 percent, when it had declined during 2008 by 6 percent.
The Republicans are going out of their way to tell us how the stimulus failed and how proud they are of voting against it. But they won't tell you that it added 1.6 million to 1.8 million jobs and could be roughly 2.5 million jobs before all is said and done.
Most of the so-called failed stimulus package spending so far has gone to state and local governments to plug holes in their schools, Medicaid and unemployment-benefits budgets. Agency records state that $93 billion in tax cuts have also taken affect. And another $195 billion in tax cuts are due to flow through tax returns.
Tax cuts. You now the ones Republicans always talk about. Not a peep has been heard from the GOP regarding the tax cuts. They also won't tell you that 111 Republicans who voted no on the package accepted money and took credit for the positive impact it was having in their districts. The level of hypocrisy from the GOP is growing faster than the deficit.
For example, Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio rambled on Neil Cavuto's show on Fox News trying to explain how voting against the stimulus but then asking for the money secretly was OK because she was doing it for her constituents. So if I've got this right when Republicans get earmarks for their constituents that fine, but if a Democrat does it then it's wasteful government spending.
Republican rising star Rep. Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin, publically called the stimulus a "wasteful spending spree". But privately he wrote a letter to the Labor Secretary supporting an application from his district which, he said, "intends to place 1,000 workers in green jobs."
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, member of the senate finance committee, wrote a letter to the EPA asking for consideration to use stimulus money for clean diesel projects in San Antonio and Houston. Houston received millions of dollars in diesel funding.
And Republican Richard Shelby, Alabama's senior senator, who called the stimulus package "the socialist way" while it was being debated, didn't let that stop him, or the other Republican Alabama Senator, Jeff Sessions, from asking for $15 million.
Even the Republican leadership in Washington has their hands dirty. While in Washington, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell criticizes the stimulus package he voted against but when he returned to Kentucky he took credit for the stimulus programs in his state. The Republican Whip, Eric Cantor, has told everyone that the stimulus "produced no new jobs". But back in his state of Virginia, Representative Cantor was shown on TV saying that the stimulus would "bring Virginia over 150,000 jobs".
Even the House Minority Leader, John Boehner, continues to critique the stimulus as "not working". But he regularly releases statements boasting that the stimulus will create "much needed Ohio jobs". So as much as they would like to tell us the GOP is the fiscally responsible party in Washington, their records show different.
The hypocrisy shown by the GOP occurs so often and is so blatant that one must question their credibility on any subject. But it is important to note that the current GOP fiscal hypocrisy is not solely a product of the Bush presidency. Even as our national debt tripled during his presidency, Ronald Reagan, the patron saint of fiscal conservatives, never cut the entitlements he ran against, Medicare and Social Security, two of the biggest causes of our deficit.
Robert Betances
Warsaw, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092