Blue Dogs Have Final Chance to Live Up to Their Rhetoric on Ending Washington’s Spending & Borrowing Binge
| FYI, a similar version of this release below went out to the following districts: Jason Altmire (PA-04), John Barrow (GA-12), Sanford Bishop (GA-02), Leonard Boswell (IA-03), Dennis Cardoza (CA-18), Ben Chandler (KY-06), Jim Cooper (TN-05), Jim Costa (CA-20), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Tim Holden (PA-17), Jim Matheson (UT-02), Michael Michaud (ME-02), Collin Peterson (MN-07), Loretta Sanchez (CA-47), Kurt Schrader (OR-05), Heath Shuler (NC-11)
Peterson Has Final Chance to Live Up to His Rhetoric on Ending Washington’s Spending & Borrowing Binge
Minnesota Democrat Voted to Raise Clean Debt Ceiling, But Will He Now Take Opportunity to Support Real Fiscal Reform? Washington — Although Collin Peterson has previously voted to raise the government’s credit card limit without any spending reforms, he has recently opposed similar efforts coupled with the fiscal responsibility he and his fellow Blue Dogs claim to champion. The difference has been clear: Peterson is willing to continue borrowing trillions of dollars, but only with the condition that none of his Democrat spending spree be touched. Peterson needs to get serious about the true fiscal reform families in Minnesota demand by supporting the only real solution to the mounting debt crisis. “After being a part of the problem for so many years, Collin Peterson has proven that he is more bark than bite on badly needed spending reform,” said NRCC Communications Director Paul Lindsay. “Peterson has his final opportunity today to prove that his rhetoric on fiscal responsibility is more than just political posturing. With middle-class families and small businesses suffering most in Minnesota as a result of fiscal mismanagement in Washington, will Peterson finally stand up to his party leaders and support real fiscal reform that prevents economic default?” In 2009, Peterson toed the line and voted to raise his government credit card limit higher without any spending reforms whatsoever. (H.R. 4314, Roll Call #988, Passed 218-214: D 218-39; R 0-175, 12/16/09) But so far he has refused to support this debt limit plan. Is it because it includes serious and meaningful fiscal reforms that threaten his spending and borrowing spree? “Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) went a step further, saying Democratic opposition will be unanimous.“‘There [are] going to be no votes for the Boehner approach,’ Larson said. ‘I just talked to [Rep.] Heath Shuler [(D-N.C).]; he said not a single Blue Dog is voting for it.'”(Mike Lillis, “Dem leaders: House GOP is on its own,” The Hill, 7/28/11)
Collin Peterson makes his intentions clear when he supports a debt ceiling hike without a single cut, and then rejects one with urgently needed reform to avert the debt crisis he helped create. If Peterson rejects this last opportunity to achieve real fiscal reform, it would show he is not committed to changing the failed status quo in Washington and demonstrate why voters have been rejecting the Blue Dog Democrats’ empty promises. ###
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