Fiscal Scolds
I’m really sick of all the fiscal scolds who say that the U.S. can’t pay for health care for its citizens. We can’t afford not to, but almost all the current fiscal scolds cheered when Bush pushed through unfunded tax cuts and unfunded wars:
When the Bush tax cuts sunset at the end of 2010, the previous administration will have left the government holding the bag for well over $2 trillion in lost revenue. The extraordinary debt and deficits accrued during Bush’s tenure have been compounded by the implosion of the financial system. In addition, the estimated eventual costs of the costly, unnecessary, and counterproductive Iraq war are now in the trillions to say nothing of the costs of more than six years of failure in Afghanistan. What have they done for America?
Who was saying that we couldn’t afford it then? Are they the same people who are saying we can’t afford things now?
Where are the fiscal scolds when the war funding bills come up? They were paid for outside the budgeting process, in a continuing funding resolution:
The opaque appropriations process for funding the Iraq war has generally allowed the Bush administration to shield itself from a great deal of scrutiny by the public on the total cost of the war. Congress approved “bridge funding” and emergency spending requests and so the full costs of the war were kept out of the budget. None of the dollar amounts for the funding requests have been included in the Pentagon’s annual operating budget.
So what does the Iraq war really cost? As early as 2006, Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Blimes estimated that the cost of the war could exceed $2 trillion, including health care for veterans and other expenses. The Congressional Budget Office, in 2008, called it a $1 trillion war, but a trillion strikes us as an overly modest estimation today.
I propose a new rule – if you’re a sitting member of Congress you aren’t allowed to call yourself a “fiscal conservative” if you voted for any of the following unfunded programs: 1) Bush’s tax cuts, 2) any funding resolution for Iraq/Afghanistan or 3) Medicare Part D. I think this rules out almost any current member of Congress.
Tags: Bush Legacy, Deficit
Bruce Bartlett calls out the hypocrisy this week too:
And — lets remember that the current proposals in the House and Senate to reform health insurance cost less than the Medicare Part D giveaway that was not paid for.
Lets also remember that the Bush Tax Cuts were passed using the dreaded Reconciliation process to avoid a filibuster. You know, the process that various Republicans say will doom the Dems to an eternal hell if used to pass HealthCare Reform?
Tax cuts are fiscal issues to state the obvious. If you look at that vote. The point of order was upheld by a over 60 votes. Even Di Fi voted in favor of it.
The reconciliation is only for budgetary and tax issues. It is designed so that a minority can not shut down the government indefinately. It is not for normal legislation.
Ahhh yes, the multi-standard approach to deficit building, and policy in general. I am consistently amazed at what people scream and yell about:
“Freeze Federal Spending – but keep sending troops to Afghanistan. Oh, and keep building the military in general. But Healthcare? That’s just crazy socialist talk.”
Right.
What we really need to do, is continue to intervene in the affairs of other nations, to the point of war. After all, they *need* our idealogy. An ideology that apparently has extreme difficulty agreeing that the health and welfare of our own citizens in important enough to merit widely-available, affordable healthcare.
The republicans weren’t worried about our children and grandchildren when a Republican president and Republican Congress (2000-2006) ran up a $10 TRILLION deficit. Elsewhere, remember how John McCain was worried about global warming, pollution and carbon emmissions two years ago? Remember how he said he was worried about the future we were leaving our children and grandchildren and was working with democrats on a biparisan bill? Now he’s not. The “cleansing” of the the party is pushing even sane people like John McCain into looney toon territory. Finally, the Obama home tax credit apparently is STIMULATING the economy beyond anyones imagination. Existing home sales surged in October to the highest level in more than 2-1/2 years, according to a real estate industry report released today. The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales rose 10.1% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6.1 million units, up from the downwardly revised rate of 5.54 million in September.
“The reconciliation is only for budgetary and tax issues. It is designed so that a minority can not shut down the government indefinately. It is not for normal legislation.”
David makes a great point, and a great argument for using reconciliation for the health care bill. Technically, the Health care bill IS a tax and budgetary issue. The minority party has done NOTHING but prove their only mission is to stop the president’s agenda and not bother to make any real contributions.