Pelosi’s Job-Destroying Record in Review
Prior to the November 2010 midterm elections, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that Democrats would measure their success on the progress they made on job creation:
PELOSI: “I believe that the Democratic base, as well as the Republican base and the independent base, is interested in jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. I think the focus is so much more now on job creation, and that really is what we are all focused on as well…”
“Meeting the needs of America’s families and seeing the progress they make is what is important to us and to the President. We will measure our success in that way; and hopefully the American people will, too, in the next election.” (Greg Sargent, “Pelosi: Judge Dems’ Success on Whether We Create ‘Jobs, Jobs, Jobs’,” Who Runs Gov The Plum Line blog, 12/3/2009)
However, Pelosi led America’s economy off a cliff by amassing a record of widening deficits, higher taxes, bigger government—and fewer jobs. Perhaps Pelosi and her fellow Democrats need a reminder of what not to do in the future:
“STIMULUS”
“CBO estimates that enacting the conference agreement for H.R. 1 would increase federal budget deficits by $185 billion over the remaining months of fiscal year 2009, by $399 billion in 2010, by $134 billion in 2011, and by $787 billion over the 2009-2019 period (combining both spending and revenue effects).” (“Conference Agreement for H.R. 1 (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,” Congressional Budget Office’s “Director’s Blog,” 2/13/2009)
CAP-AND-TRADE
“Independent analysis conducted by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimates that job loss could be close to 1 million jobs per year. The average family is expected to see an increase of about $1,100 in their energy-related bills (gas for the car, electricity for the house, etc.), meaning the average cost increase for a small business will be even greater.” (“Cap and Trade,” National Federation of Independent Businesses, Accessed 2/2/2011)
OBAMACARE
“The House, voting 220-207, gave final congressional approval to the measure, clearing the bill for Mr. Obama’s signature on the ten-year $938 billion health initiative.” (Greg Hitt, “Congress Approves Final Health Overhaul,”The Wall Street Journal, 3/26/2010)
“Meanwhile, no serious person doubts that the CBO finding that the reconciliation package would ‘reduce the deficit’ was based on lies about what Congress intends to do in the future. The White House reportedly already is signaling to members that the bill’s promised Medicare cuts will never take place. That feature alone adds hundreds of billions to next decade’s trillion-dollar deficits.” (Allysia Finley, “Now, Back to Pretending to Care About the Deficit,” The Wall Street Journal, 3/22/2010)
“In reality, if you strip out all the gimmicks and budgetary games and rework the calculus, a wholly different picture emerges: The health care reform legislation would raise, not lower, federal deficits, by $562 billion. Gimmick No. 1 is the way the bill front-loads revenues and backloads spending. That is, the taxes and fees it calls for are set to begin immediately, but its new subsidies would be deferred so that the first 10 years of revenue would be used to pay for only 6 years of spending.”(Douglas Holtz-Eakin, “The Real Arithmetic of Health Care Reform,” The New York Times, 3/20/2010)
HIGHER TAXES
“In all, the [Obama-Pelosi health care] bill would generate $409.2 billion in additional taxes by 2019, according to an analysis by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, a nonpartisan agency. The bill also imposes about $69 billion more in penalties for individuals and businesses who don’t meet mandates to buy insurance, according to the Congressional Budget Office, another nonpartisan agency.” (Ryan J. Donmoyer, “New Taxes for Health Care Help Obama ‘Spread the Wealth Around,’ Business Week, 3/22/2010)
REGULATIONS
“Over the last year, the Obama administration has pressed forward on hundreds of new mandates, while also stepping up enforcement of rules by increasing the ranks of inspectors and imposing higher fines for violations.
“A new age of regulation is well under way in Washington…” (Eric Lipton, “With Obama, Regulations are Back in Fashion,” The New York Times, 5/12/2010)
“The Obama administration is taking on Cheerios. And popular cold remedies and swimming pool drains and rhinestones on children’s clothing.
“With much of Washington focused on efforts to revamp the health-care system and address climate change, a handful of Obama appointees have been quietly exercising their power over the trappings of daily life. They are awakening a vast regulatory apparatus with authority over nearly every U.S. workplace, 15,000 consumer products, and most items found in kitchen pantries and medicine cabinets.” (Lyndsey Layton, “A Vigorous Push From Federal Regulators,”The Washington Post, 10/13/2009)
DEBT AND DEFICITS
“With a $1.7 trillion deficit in budget year 2010 alone, and the government on track to spend $1.3 trillion more this year than it takes in, annual budget deficits are adding roughly $4 billion a day to the national debt. Put another way, the government is borrowing 41 cents for every dollar it spends.” (AP Staff, “US Debt Passes $14 Trillion, Congress Weighs Caps,” The Boston Herald, 1/24/2011)
Total Public Debt Outstanding: $14,131,051,056,010.84 (“The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It,” as of 1/21/2011, Bureau of the Public Debt Web site, accessed 2/2/2011)
“The National Debt stood at $10.626 trillion the day Mr. Obama was inaugurated.” (Mark Knoller, “National Debt Up $3 Trillion on Obama’s Watch,” CBS News’ “Political Hotsheet” blog, 10/18/2010)