May 13, 2005

Naifeh, Democrats Diagnosed With Deficit Attention Disorder

Matt White has the must-read essay of the day on Tennessee politics, with a blistering assault on state House Democrats for their waste of time the other day proposing and debating House Joint Resolution 216, "a resolution to officially express displeasure and dismay with the mounting Federal Debt."

HJR216 passed Wednesday on a partisan 50-33 vote, with 14 legislators refusing to even waste time voting on it.

White writes:

..seven years ago the state's budget was $15 billion. This year it will eclipse $25 billion. Meanwhile, federal discretionary spending is increasing at the torrid pace of 1% compared to 15% during the Clinton years. The reason for the growing federal debt can be summed up in one date: September 11, 2001. The date that thrust us into a global war on terror and necessitated the greatest homeland security buildup in our history. Curiously, Democratic Leader Kim McMillan (D-Clarksville), who argued on the floor for the resolution, had the audacity to say that increased federal spending "was not a direct result of September 11th or the war in Iraq." Come again, Madame Leader. With her head firmly in the sand and somehow managing to maintain a straight face, she said that a resolution like this has only recently become necessary and that it certainly wasn't needed during the Clinton years - again, when discretionary spending was increasing at a clip of 15% a year.

The whole messy issue was summed up best, as is usually the case, by Republican Leader Tre' Hargett (R-Bartlett). The same President and Congress that Tennessee Democrats wish to officially dismay are sending an unprecedented amount of money to this state for education and homeland security. Two years ago, this President and Congress sent a bailout to the states to help them cope with their overspending in the 1990's. Are the Democrats ready to send that money back? The Democrats voted to spend every dime of that federal money and now they want to slap the federal government around for sending it to them. I wonder if Naifeh and McMillan sat around in the Speaker's office after the debate and mused on the words of Doc Holliday, "my hypocrisy knows no bounds."

As Leader Hargett pointed out, why doesn't the Tennessee General Assembly send a resolution thanking President Bush for record homeownership or for the record number of dollars for education that are filling Tennessee's coffers? I might add one thanking him for the absence of terrorist attacks on our shores in the last three and one-half years.

That's Naifeh's idea of fiscal responsibility.

Given his track record and the track record of his Democratic allies on both taxes and spending, HJR 216 - sponsored by Naifeh and backed by a host of state House Democrats - ought to be described accurately as what it is: a call for Congress to pass a huge tax increase.