Facing Weak Economy, Dems “Rinse and Repeat” Their Failed Spending Polices

June 9, 2011

After Their First Stimulus Failure, Democrats Plot Another

A growing number of Democrats are following President Obama’s lead to push for yet more stimulus spending after their last spending binge failed to help economic recovery.
Democrats are making this push for new spending even though Democrat economists say their latest spending proposals won’t help the economy.
Democrats are trying to “rinse and repeat” their failed policies of more spending, more taxing and more job-destroying regulations.

Given the weekend to process the bad economic news of last week, several House Democrats decided that what the economy needs is yet anotherstimulus, despite the failure of their previous trillion dollar stimulus package:

REP. RAUL GRIJALVA (D-AZ): “ ‘The American people, while concerned about the deficit, place much more emphasis on job creation, and they see a role for the government,’ Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) told The Hill. ‘A fast injection of job stimulus on the public side would help tremendously. … It [the job report] helps our argument about investment.’” (Mike Lillis, “Dems Double Down on New Spending After Discouraging Jobs Report,” The Hill, 6/4/2011)

REP. ELIOT ENGEL (D-NY): “Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) said ‘the answer’ to the lingering jobs crisis is ‘investment’ in the ‘communities and businesses who need confidence and resources to hire [people].’” (Mike Lillis, “Dems Double Down on New Spending After Discouraging Jobs Report,” The Hill, 6/4/2011)

REP. EMANUEL CLEAVER (D-MO): “Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) said ‘investing in our communities goes hand in hand with full economic recovery.’”(Mike Lillis, “Dems Double Down on New Spending After Discouraging Jobs Report,” The Hill, 6/4/2011)

REP. EARL BLUMENAUER (D-OR): “ ‘Once you get outside the Beltway, almost everyone agrees that we should be rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure and investing in clean American energy that reduces our dependence on oil,’ Blumenauer said.” (Mike Lillis, “Dems Double Down on New Spending After Discouraging Jobs Report,” The Hill, 6/4/2011)

These Democrats may be taking their lead from President Obama and senior Democrats, who have been calling for more spending even as they try to feign interest in cutting spending:

OBAMA STILL PUSHING NEW “INVESTMENT” AS CURE TO ECONOMIC ILLS:“Cantor said the president pushed them on his theme of investment in the future, but Cantor said ‘to a lot of us that’s code for more Washington spending, and that’s something we can’t afford right now.’” (Russell Berman, Sam Youngman, and Molly K. Hooper, “Ryan to Obama: Leadership Should Come from the Top,” The Hill, 6/1/2011)

RANKING DEMOCRAT ON APPROPRIATIONS: WE NEED ANOTHERSTIMULUS! “One Democrat on Thursday even called for a reprise of government stimulus. ‘We need a stimulus,’ Rep. Norm Dicks (Wash.), senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said during a subcommittee hearing. ‘We need to put people back to work.’” (Sam Youngman & Mike Lillis, “Obama, Democrats Talk Jobs As Impasse Over Cuts Hardens,” The Hill, 6/2/2011)

BUT THE DEMOCRATS’ FAVORITE ECONOMIST SAYS NO MORE STIMULUS, FOCUS ON DEBT REDUCTION: “ANCHOR: ‘I want to ask Mark Zandi, at this point seeing 9.1% the bang for your buck you got for $800 billion, do you think if you were king you would suggest another $800 billion stimulus? …

“ZANDI: ‘Today, no. Not today. I don’t think we need it. We need to focus on our fiscal situation today.’” (Remarks from Mark Zandi, CNBC, 6/3/2011)

Democrats don’t just want to spend more—they are also continuing their push for trillion dollar tax increases and a cap-and-trade regulatory scheme. As The Wall Street Journal put it, Democrats are trying to “rinse and repeat” the very policies Americans rejected in record numbers last election:

AND MORE TAXES ON FAMILIES AND JOB CREATORS: “Asked later by The Hill if Obama had signaled any willingness to bend on taxes, Cantor laughed before saying, ‘No.’” (Russell Berman, Sam Youngman, and Molly K. Hooper, “Ryan to Obama: Leadership Should Come from the Top,” The Hill, 6/1/2011)

OBAMA PICK FOR COMMERCE SECRETARY “COULD FORESHADOW A RENEWED WHITE HOUSE PUSH FOR CAP AND TRADE”: “President Obama’s nominee for Commerce secretary, John Bryson, is good news for the environmental community and his nomination could foreshadow a renewed White House push for cap and trade.

“Bryson has a long history in the environmental community. He was one of the original co-founders of the Natural Resources Defense Council. From 1976 [t]o 1979, Bryson was chairman of the California State Water Resources Control Board. Then, from 1979 to 1982, he was president of the California Public Utilities Commission.” (Amanda Carey, “Obama’s Commerce Nominee Comes With a Green Past,” The Daily Caller, 6/1/2011)

WSJ: DEMS EXPECT AMERICANS TO “RINSE AND REPEAT” THEIR FAILED POLICIES: “The same economists and pundits who promoted the economic policies of the last four years are now lamenting the jobs bust and demanding that Washington double down: More stimulus spending, more Federal Reserve easing, more temporary tax rebates. They can’t explain why these policies have failed to date, but we are supposed to rinse and repeat.

“The real ‘bumps on the road’ to recovery are these policies and the larger climate of hostility toward job creators that still prevails in Washington. A National Labor Relations Board that wants to stop businesses from moving plants; a $20 billion political raid on banks over foreclosures; hundreds of major new regulations from ObamaCare, Dodd-Frank and the EPA’s war on carbon energy; federal deficits that Mr. Obama says require higher taxes; near-zero interest rates for 30 months that have sent commodity prices soaring, and so much more.” (Editorial, “Bumps on the Road,” The Wall Street Journal, 6/4/2011)