Admittedly, the president’s jobs proposal has not been fully released, so we’re relying on drips and drabs supplied to select reporters. Having said that, it’s been clear that the administration’s proposal will not add to the deficit. You could have learned that from Norah O’Donnell’s presentation for NBC News, or from reading Jackie Calmes’s piece in the New York Times, where she wrote, “Mr. Obama has said he will propose long-term deficit savings to offset the short-term costs of his stimulus proposals, though that is not likely to satisfy Republicans.” If that isn’t enough, in today’s White House press briefing Jay Carney said that “The [proposals] will be paid for.” If you want to see how the Republicans operate, watch the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, Jeff Sessions (R-AL), describe the president’s proposals. These are lies told from the Senate floor.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that the debt that we’ve now incurred is already weakening our economy,” Sessions said on the Senate floor. “It comes to a point that you can’t keep borrowing in a futile attempt to stimulate the economy when the increased debt itself is weakening the economy.”
…
“And this plan calls for over $300 billion in spending anew,” he said. “Not paid for — we’re already in debt, we’re already borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend, so we’re going to add another $300 billion in spending, not paid for, borrowed, every penny of it.
“At some point, this country gets to a position where you cannot continue to borrow without damaging the economy. It’s just that simple.”
Again, all the reporting has suggested that these proposals will be paid for. The White House has been telling the press that the proposals will be paid for in the out-years of a ten-year budget window. The White House press secretary has confirmed that they are not proposing deficit spending, at all. And, yet, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, a man responsible for crafting the Republicans’ budget priorities, has no compunction about going on the floor of the U.S. Senate and telling the most audacious lies.
Are there ever any consequences for such behavior? Will his colleagues correct him? Is anyone embarrassed? Does the press even notice this kind of behavior anymore? This is on the Senate floor, mind you. It isn’t a campaign rally or stupid appearance on television. Shouldn’t there be an uproar when a U.S. Senator shamelessly and knowingly lies to the public from the Senate floor?
What about local Alabama reporters? Do they care that their senator is willing to tell brazen lies in the well of the U.S. Senate? Is that okay with them?
Mr. Obama has said he will propose long-term deficit savings to offset the short-term costs of his stimulus proposals
Prediction: the people who spent the summer screaming that Obama has rejected Keynesianism will be furious at him for proposing deficit-reducing measures in the out years.
It’s too late for that prediction. It has already come true.
If Alabama media is anything like Oklahoma’s, then, No, they will not care that their reps are lying on on the floor of the Senate or anywhere else.
Our real national deficit is shame.
No one will care as long as a blonde woman is missing in Aruba.
If I recall, the original was from Alabama, wasn’t she?
Yes, and it was her own damn fault for going to a furrin country, and what with Fort Walton Beach right near by, too!
How about any evidence that the debt is at the root of our economic woes?
WTF does the debt have ANYTHING to do with it?
Are companies starved for working capital because the government is gobbling up all the money being lent?
Are consumers unable to get credit because money isn’t available to lend? (Because they have less than perfect credit, yes)
If inflation running away because the government is printing more money to spend?
Last I checked the problem is there is way too little demand in the economy. Period.
That’s because people figured out you can’t actually make money lending it to people who can’t pay it back.
And people aren’t crazy about adding to their debt because they aren’t sure if they will have a job.
We have massive debt at the moment because we are not getting enough tax revenue because we are effectively in a recession. And the government is spending more to try to get out of the doldrums. He is reversing cause and effect.
Somebody smack this guy and anyone who agrees with him.
This is just an application of Jude Wanniski’s “two Santa Claus” strategy that the Republicans have been running for over thirty years.
Republican years: spend like crazy on “necessary” stuff like national security; and enough popular social stuff so you look “compassionate” and give big tax cuts. Two Santa Clauses.
Democratic years: Pretend to be the responsible adult who wants to control spending and starve Democratic programs.
The public’s been flim-flammed for thirty years with this little dance.
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III is the wanker of any day his comments are picked up by the media. Too bad he didn’t think of this speech when the Iraq war was up for discussion. Oh, never mind, that war was going to make us money on a few hundred million of investment.
That’s why he’s known in Alabama as “Jeffie B.S. III” (as I just learned).
Six weeks ago, but here it is:
http://www.leftinalabama.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8432