So much for independence.
This afternoon Frank Kratovil voted to create a slush fund for Democratic politicians and further reduce the chance states will mend their spendthrift ways by bailing them out to the tune of billions.
Attached by Senate Democrats as an amendment to a previously-passed and fairly innocuous House bill regarding the air traffic control system, the House convened for just six hours to debate the measure and attend to other business before resuming their August recess. (Kratovil will spend the next two days on the Lower Shore.) And while the bill is 'paid for' with offsetting cuts, these cuts (to the food stamp program, among others) mainly occur in budgetary 'out years.'
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington defended her amendment before the Senate vote. From the Congressional Record:
My amendment provides $10 billion to school districts throughout the country to save the over 130,000 teacher jobs that are at risk, and it does so without adding to the deficit, and with a prohibition on the use of this funding for general expenses.
(snip)
The amendment we are about to vote on includes a fully offset $16.1 billion investment to help our States avoid job losses and cuts to Medicaid and tax increases...Failure to adopt this amendment could also mean layoffs to corrections officers (and) health care workers.
No, Senator, it's to avoid union workers being laid off and puts off the day of reckoning for states until after the November election. That is not fiscal responsibility.
Needless to say, both Republicans running against Kratovil took swipes at the bill. Andy Harris criticized it as an, "apparent addiction to spending...(they) couldn't even make it two weeks before they needed to pass more unfunded, unnecessary legislation. This bill is plain old bad policy, spending $26 billion the United States doesn't have and cannot pay back. The last thing we need right now is more debt."
Added fellow GOP candidate Rob Fisher, "(a)t a time when Americans are imploring their elected representatives to stand up and lead us out of this economic turmoil, Pelosi and Kratovil continue to turn a deaf ear to the will of the people. They insist on pursuing a job-killing agenda that threatens to leave us in financial ruin in order to reward the special interests that got them elected.
H.R. 1586 is a blatant payoff to unions and a bailout for states that have grossly mismanaged taxpayer dollars."
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