Democrats’ Déjà Vu: House Dems Push for Stimulus 2.0 One Year After Their 2010 ‘Shellacking’

November 2, 2011

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), Tim Bishop (NY-01), Leonard Boswell (IA-03), Bruce Braley (IA-01), Lois Capps (CA-24), Russ Carnahan (MO-03), Kathy Castor (FL-11), Ben Chandler (KY-06), David Cicilline (RI-01), Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Jim Cooper (TN-05), Jim Costa (CA-21), Henry Cuellar (TX-28), John Garamendi (CA-03), Raul Grijalva (AZ-07), Brian Higgins (NY-27), Jim Himes (CT-04), Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15), Tim Holden (PA-17), Rush Holt (NJ-12), Steve Israel (NY-02), Bill Keating (MA-10), Ron Kind (WI-03), Larry Kissell (NC-08), Rick Larsen (WA-02), David Loebsack (IA-02), Jim Matheson (UT-02), Carolyn McCarthy (NY-04), Mike McIntyre (NC-07), Jerry McNerney (CA-09), Michael Michaud (ME-02), Brad Miller (NC-13), Bill Owens (NY-23), Frank Pallone (NJ-06), Ed Perlmutter (CO-07), Gary Peters (MI-09), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), David Price (NC-04), Nick Rahall (WV-03), Loretta Sanchez (CA-46), Kurt Schrader (OR-05), Adam Smith (WA-09), Betty Sutton (OH-13), John Tierney (MA-06), Paul Tonko (NY-21), Niki Tsongas (MA-05), Pete Visclosky (IN-01), Tim Walz (MN-01), John Yarmuth (KY-03)
Democrats’ Déjà Vu: Chandler Pushes for Stimulus 2.0 One Year After Their 2010 ‘Shellacking’
Kentucky Democrat Has Learned Nothing Since His First Failed Stimulus Plan was Firmly Rebuked by Voters Last Year

Washington — Today marks exactly one year since the groundbreaking 2010 election, but Kentucky families must be getting a strong sense of déjà vu as Ben Chandler pushes for billions more in stimulus spending. If history repeats itself, then Chandler’s stimulus retread plan will be about as successful and popular as his first $800 billion effort, which actually saw the country’s unemployment rate go even higher in addition to piling more debt on current and future generations of American families.

“Ben Chandler’s proposals for more government spending and job-killing taxes remain the same today as they were one year ago, proving that he has learned nothing from the historic election that fired Nancy Pelosi from the Speakership,” said NRCC Communications Director Paul Lindsay. “Having ignored the message voters sent in 2010, it is clear that Chandler and Pelosi have no new solutions to offer and intend to simply ignore middle-class families and small businesses in Kentucky who clearly want a new direction from Washington.”

One year ago, President Obama admitted the Democrats had received a ‘shellacking’ in 2010 and vowed they would learn from it:

“A pensive and introspective President Obama said Wednesday the election was a ‘shellacking’ and took responsibility for his party’s disastrous showing, saying that in the rush to get things done, they forgot to make good on their promise to change the way Washington works.” (Kara Rowland, “Obama concedes ‘shellacking,'” The Washington Times, 11/3/10)

The defeat was due in part to the failure of the first stimulus plan, which was the centerpiece of their economic agenda:

“CBO’s high estimate is still short of the 3.5 million jobs that Obama had said would be created by the end of 2010, so it’s accurate to say the stimulus has failed to live up to initial expectations.” (Lori Robertson, “Dueling Economic Ads,” FactCheck.org, 6/30/11)

And yet instead, Democrats are piling on to support yet another round of nearly identical stimulus spending one year later:

“More than 90 lower-chamber Democrats have officially endorsed the president’s jobs bill in the past week – a stark jump over a short span that came after Democratic leaders welcomed members to sign on at the party’s weekly caucus meeting last Tuesday.” (Mike Lillis, “Obama jobs bill picks more than 90 House cosponsors,” The Hill, 10/30/11)

A year has passed and Ben Chandler has all but ignored the message voters sent to Washington in 2010. Instead of recognizing that stimulus spending and job-killing taxes are no way to get American families back to work, Chandler has decided to double down on these failed policies once again.

Dems’ Déjà Vu: House Dems Push for Stimulus 2.0 One Year After Their 2010 ‘Shellacking’ http://ow.ly/7gQxm #madeinwdc

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John Barrow for Congress