Democrats Will Gladly Pay Later for a Bailout Today

Apr 12, 2011
Press Release

Democrats Will Gladly Pay Later for a Bailout Today
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tomorrow, the House will be called into a rare, last-minute August session to vote on a $26 billion spending package to bailout state governments. House Appropriations Ranking Republican Jerry Lewis slammed Democrat leaders – who contend the legislation “offset” – for using accounting gimmicks and budget maneuvering to obscure the potential total cost.
 
“Democrat leaders claim that this legislation is “fully paid for.” However, the bill spends the entire $26 billion in just two years, while the “offsets” take place over ten years – relying on future Congresses to abide by the offsets in the bill,” Lewis said, “This budgeting slight-of-hand is designed to fool the American people, and even their own colleagues, into believing that they are for once taking concerns about the financial health of our nation seriously.”
 
“The Democrats will gladly pay later for a bailout today. But, in the end, it’s the American taxpayer who will foot the bill…with interest,” Lewis continued.
 
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) indicates this bailout bill saves $1.4 billion over ten years, but this estimate is based on unlikely assumptions that any reductions in spending will be upheld in the future. 
 
The “offsets” in the legislation are produced by almost $10 billion in tax increases and $13.4 billion in reductions in two programs that are popular with Democrat leaders – the food stamp program and renewable energy projects. Because of this, Lewis indicated, reductions to these programs are unlikely to ever materialize, putting taxpayers on the hook for billions to pay for it. In fact, some Democrat leaders have already pledged to further support these programs, and these “cuts” could be restored as soon as November in a “lame duck” session.
 
“This bill is a cynical, last-ditch effort by Washington Democrats to turn the heads of the American public away from three years of lackluster leadership by plying them with yet more bailouts. The American people literally cannot afford this blatant, spendthrift political attempt by Democrats to posture themselves as a ‘do-something’ Congress just two months before the election,” Lewis said.

112th Congress