Cut His "Card" In Half

Even by Dubya's microscopically low standards, this performance today was pitiful (mettle at Take It Personally posts about it here).

In response, here is a statement from Nancy Pelosi; the Dems have caved on the war and FISA and have generally acquiesced to President George W. Milhous Bush, but they have done their best to adhere to sound fiscal management - I reposted it here because the link is flaky...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in response to a speech in Indiana this afternoon by President Bush in which he compared Congress to "a teenager with a new credit card." Below the Speaker's statement is a fact sheet comparing the President and Congress' fiscal records.

"If President Bush applied for a credit card, any bank in America would turn him down as a bad credit risk. He has put more foreign debt on the nation's credit card than all previous Presidents combined - saddling our children and grandchildren with $3.3 trillion in new debt.

"At the same time, President Bush has compiled one of the worst records of job creation since the Great Depression while American families saw their incomes drop by $2,500.

"Given his dismal record of maxing out America's credit card, the President is no position to lecture Congress about fiscal responsibility or economic policy.

"The New Direction Congress' new investments in college affordability,energy independence, children's health care, and tax cuts for middle-class families are fully paid for - with no new deficit spending. The American people want President Bush to work with Congress to restore the American Dream."

November 13, 2007

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT:
Democratic Congress Brings Fiscal Responsibility Back to Washington

Today, President Bush continued to mislead the American people - misrepresenting the Democratic-led Congress' record on fiscal responsibility in an attempt to obscure the past six years of reckless spending. The American people aren't buying this revisionist history - they want to know just where will the President be when the bill comes due on our children and grandchildren?

Bush and Republicans Rack Up Record Debt on Nation's Credit Card:

From 2001 through 2006, President Bush and the Republican-led Congress presided over the most fiscally irresponsible period in American history. Under President Bush, record surpluses turned into record deficits and the national debt has increased 56 percent. The President has raised the debt limit FIVE times since January 2001 - most recently just this past September.

Alan Greenspan, Former Federal Reserve Chairman

"My biggest frustration remained the president's unwillingness to wield his veto against out-of-control spending...The Republicans in Congress lost their way...They swapped principle for power. They ended up with neither."
[Washington Post, 9/15/07 here]

Fiscal Responsibility Record under New Direction Congress

Under the Democratic-controlled Congress, the House has passed all 12 appropriations bills with bipartisan votes as part of our five-year balanced budget. The President has threatened to veto nearly every one of these spending bills. Just this morning, he vetoed the bipartisan, fiscally responsible Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill that included crucial funding for veterans.

Joint Statement: Concord Coalition, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, Committee for Economic Development, and Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

"In urging adherence to PAYGO, which requires that any increases in entitlement spending and any tax cuts be offset rather than deficit financed, we note that Congress has been very careful to comply with the rule so far this year... We therefore strongly urge Congress to continue its record of compliance with PAYGO as it finishes its important work this year." [Statement, 10/30/07 here]

The Economist

"For instance, they [Democrats] have instituted "pay-go" rules, which mean that any new spending must be fully funded; and they have stuck to them. Belatedly (to put it mildly), the administration has realised that it has lost the mantle of sound economic management to the Democrats. [October 20, 2007]

And as Kagro X of The Daily Kos reminds us in this prior post, this is part of Dubya's entire effort to apparently bankrupt government except to fund the war and provide relief for "the base" (and by the way, let's not forget "Deadeye Dick" and his role here).