Posted on 06/16/2011 6:12:30 AM PDT by ejdrapes
Some Republican freshmen in Congress hold major debt, disclosure forms show Members of the firebrand class of Republican freshmen on Capitol Hill — elected on a pledge to attack the U.S. debt problem — have, in some cases, accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in personal debt, according to financial documents released Wednesday. Among the 87 new GOP members of Congress, the documents show, at least 30 had liabilities totaling $50,000 or more in 2010. Those debts included large mortgages on investment properties, as well as student loans and credit card balances. At least seven freshmen had credit card debt exceeding $15,000. The newcomers have helped press a simple GOP message about the public debt: The country has too much and must reduce its burden immediately. These documents seem to show that, in their private lives, some freshmen took a more nuanced view: Debt could be useful, when put toward furthering ventures in real estate, farming or other businesses. The documents present the most complete financial picture to date of a group that promised to remake Washington with the values of the American heartland. Judging from members’ bank accounts, the freshman class has elements of both places. It has brought at least 24 new millionaires to a Congress that already had plenty. But many freshmen, like thousands of other Americans, entered 2011 with significant debt.
David A. Fahrenthold and Karen Yourish
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
So according to this, we should conclude that it is OK for the US government to borrow and borrow and borrow more and more and more money because freshmen GOP congressmen are in the hole.
It's a shame that the Democrats are so pure and clean that no one ever thinks of looking at them.
Silly article. How many of them are asking taxpayers to pay for their mortgage or credit card debt?
Seems to me the headline should read “owe”, not “hold”.
This story is so lame that it’s beyond laughable.
The ones that have been there for a few terms have already stolen enough to pay off their debt.
Give them a few years.
Politician can be very lucrative.
If the frosh do what they say, I don't care what their debt is.
So in the minds of the Washington ComPost business debt, for which these freshmen aren't asking for taxpayer bailouts, is no different than ObaMao raiding the public treasury and repudiating debt on GM and Chrystler bondholders in order to pay off his political cronies.
What a joke from the compost. Someone owes a student loan or mortgage and thats the same as the government spending money it doesn’t have and making others pay for it?
1. The implication of the title is, Democrats don’t have such debt.
2. Another implication is that, because Republicans owe money, therefore, they are fiscally irresponsible and hypocritical. However, they might be fully able to pay off that debt, unlike the federal government, so the implied charge of hypocrisy is lacking.
3. This article is object lesson #27853692 why the Compost is a slanted piece of trash.
Why don’t we check the democrat roster and see how many more of them haven’t paid their taxes. Geithner, Rangel and Daschle come to mind.
Or perhaps these lawmakers should recuse themselves from any discussion and vote on the federal debt.
This is a most flabbergastingly stupid article.
In other words, they haven’t been taking bribes (yet) like all existing Members?
Without digging into what these people owe money for, I think it’s vastly unfair to try and dog all of these people just because they owe money personally. People might also take note of how many Congress Critters owe no debts that are included in this listing.
Is this student loan debt?? Is it for the member, or for a child or other relative who is a student?? Is it personal debt that was taken on to support a business?? There are any number of reasons why a Congress Critter has personal debt and they are not all bad ones.
I would remind everyone that there is a vast difference between private party debt, and Government debt. Let’s try not to throw the baby out with the bathwater...
Talk about grasping at straws! Yet they ignore the likes of Barney Frank’s scandals!
Don't forget that our national debt was in part created by some very wealthy congressmen *Cough*Nancy Pelosi*Cough.
To me, seeing congressmen having to struggle with personal debt makes them relate more to a lot of hard-working Americans who also have similar struggles.
I would suggest that collateralized debt should not be in the same category as credit card debt.
I guarantee you, if there was even one GOP congressman who even DREAMED of cheating on his taxes, it would be front page news for months on end. The Compost purposefully ignores tax cheats like Charlie Rangel but throws up this garbage.
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