Deficit Spending

In a new column for the Missourian, Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-St. Elizabeth) says he "was shocked" as a freshman Congressman" when he "saw firsthand the path of irresponsible spending that Congress had previously been engaged in." 

As state Sen. Chuck Purgason and others have been pointing out in their challenges to the GOP establishment, George W. Bush and the GOP leadership in Congress "turned a thirty billion dollar deficit into a $566 billion deficit by 2006."  To be sure, Republicans have been railing against programs proposed by Democrats as well (even when the actually reduce the deficit).  But as Luetkemeyer notes, the hypocrisy of Republicans who have only recently become interested in balanced budgets and responsible fiscal policy is quite shocking.

Six years ago yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a controversial and still-unfunded Medicare prescription-drug bill with an historic and extremely controversial early morning vote. At least three of Missouri's Representatives -- Roy Blunt, Jo Ann Emerson and Todd Akin -- played key roles in the drama.

Bruce Bartlett, a former policy advisor to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, recalled the vote last week in a column about Republicans' deficit hypocrisy:

[W]hen the legislation came up for its final vote on Nov. 22, 2003, it was failing by 216 to 218 when the standard 15-minute time allowed for voting came to an end.

What followed was one of the most extraordinary events in congressional history. The vote was kept open for almost three hours while the House Republican leadership brought massive pressure to bear on the handful of principled Republicans who had the nerve to put country ahead of party. The leadership even froze the C-SPAN cameras so that no one outside the House chamber could see what was going on.

The Hill's Bob Cusack wrote an amazing article about the 'night the clocks and scoreboard stood still" two years after the vote. He recounts:

Lawmakers say it was the most intense environment on the [House] floor in decades...

The Beacon's Jo Mannies has a new story about a Chuck Purgason campaign stop in St. Louis County last night, at which Purgason argued that his true fiscal conservative credentials make him the better candidate to emerge from the GOP primary. Mannies:

Sporting his trademark bolo tie, silk vest and a flip chart, Purgason mesmerized about 50 fellow conservatives who showed up at the Midwest Music Conservatory in Clarkson Valley. It was among the first campaign forays to this side of the state by the GOP state senator from Caulfield, Mo. (He noted later that he was in town two weeks ago for some radio appearances.)

His message was dire. Purgason declared that -- nationally -- the Republican Party is "the last hope'' to turn around the nation's troubled economy and halt the federal government's rising debt.

But he also asserted that some Republicans in Congress have contributed to the country's current money problems -- notably his unnamed primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

 "My opponent was in (House) leadership when this occurred,'' Purgason said.