2006: President Obama Voted To Make America “A Deadbeat Nation.”

At today’s press conference, President Obama asked Congress to raise the debt ceiling without corresponding cuts saying, “We are not a deadbeat nation.”

However, President Obama’s current position on the debt ceiling stands in stark contrast to a position he held just a few years ago. As a U.S. Senator, Obama voted against raising the debt ceiling and called it “a failure of leadership” and a sign that the government “can’t pay its own bills.” Though a few years later, after adding several trillion to the debt as president, Obama later tried to dismiss his 2006 Senate vote as “political.”

President Obama’s debt ceiling hypocrisy shows that he just doesn’t understand the fiscal mess that our country is in. We need stand up to him and his liberal allies who are bankrupting our country. Sign our petition here: www.nrcc.org/spending.

Today, President Obama Said Congress Should Raise The Debt Ceiling Because “We Are Not A Deadbeat Nation.” “The issue here is whether or not America pays its bills. We are not a deadbeat nation.” (President Barack Obama, Presidential News Conference, 1/14/12)

As A U.S. Senator, Barack Obama Voted Against Raising The Debt Ceiling In March 2006. (H.J. Res. 47, Vote #54, 52-48, 3/16/06)

Then-Senator Obama Said Raising The Debt Ceiling Was “A Failure Of Leadership” And A Sign That The Government “Can’t Pay Its Own Bills.” “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies.” (Senator Barack Obama, Floor Speech, 3/16/06)

In April 2011, President Obama Admitted That His Senate Vote Against Raising The Debt Ceiling Was “Political.” “STEPHANOPOULOS: You’ve got to extend the debt limit by May.  And it seems like you made up the job– your job is a lot tougher because of your vote in the Senate against extending the debt limit…When did you realize that vote was a mistake? PRESIDENT OBAMA: I think that it’s important to understand the vantage point of a Senator versus the vantage point of a…President.  When you’re a Senator, traditionally what’s happened is this is always a lousy vote.  Nobody likes to be tagged as having increased the debt limit for the United States by a trillion dollars… As President, you start realizing, “You know what?  We– we can’t play around with this stuff.  This is the full faith in credit of the United States.”  And so that was just a example of a new Senator,  you know, making what is a political vote as opposed to doing what was important for the country.  And I’m the first one to acknowledge it.” (Kate McCarthy, “Obama Exclusive: Concedes Senate Vote Against Raising Debt Limit Was ‘Political’,” ABC News, 4/14/11)