Posted on 02/01/2011 10:58:54 AM PST by Libloather
Dem says spending-cap bill 'could cost me my Senate seat' in 2012
By Josiah Ryan - 02/01/11 01:07 PM ET
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) on Tuesday introduced legislation meant to cap Washington spending that she said could lead to her defeat in 2012.
McCaskill, a freshman senator who faces a tough re-election, is co-sponsoring legislation with Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) that would force the government to keep spending at 20.6 percent of the nation’s GDP.
That would mean huge, and likely unpopular, budget cuts, as current federal spending stands at 24.7 percent of GDP. But McCaskill said she’s willing to lose her election if it means the legislation will be approved.
“If this bill is distorted and twisted it could cost me my Senate seat, but it’s a price I am willing to pay,” McCaskill said in a floor speech supporting the bill on Tuesday.
“It is a price I am willing to pay for my country, and more importantly it is a price I am willing to pay for my grandchildren.”
Voters unhappy with the economy and federal spending handed the House to Republicans last fall, and lawmakers in both parties are determined to cut the budget. The Congressional Budget Office last week projected a $1.5 trillion deficit for the current fiscal year.
Still, getting the federal budget under control is likely to mean steep cuts in spending and changes to Medicare and Social Security, which could put lawmakers in danger of losing their seats.
A SurveyUSA poll last week found McCaskill only four points ahead of Republican Rep. Sam Graves, who is mulling a run for the seat. The poll was commissioned by a firm that works for Graves and was within the margin of error.
President Obama narrowly lost Missouri to GOP Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) in the 2008 election.
The McCaskill-Corker bill would force the government to cap its spending at a declining percentage of GDP over the next 10 years by implementing a “glide path” over the next decade that would cap all spending.
If cuts to spending are not made by Congress, the legislation directs the Office of Management and Budget to make appropriate cuts to reach the targeted spending levels.
Congress could only override the legislation and approve spending above the ceiling set by the bill with a two-thirds vote in both chambers.
“Getting control of spending is very, very hard but we have to do it and we have to do it now,” McCaskill said in her floor speech. “But this bill is possible. It tells the American people that our spending is going to be capped at a certain amount of economic spending in this country.”
The Commitment to American Prosperity Act, or the “CAP Act,” is co-sponsored by GOP Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), James Inhofe (Okla.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), and McCain.
Civility.
My country? Or my senate seat?
decisions decisions
She’s going to lose no matter what happens...she can spare us “I’m sacrificing myself for you” crap.
Oh dang, what a shame.
Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya on the way out Claire.
Pander Bear McCaskill has enough adoring Obama sound bites, as his greatest swing state supporter, to bury her permanently if her opponents choose to string them all together. What a video that will make. tsk.tsk.
If our govenment could get the hell out of the way then GDP would expand and then 20% of GDP would be plenty of money.
I think they got up and down mixed up. Why would our government insist on capping GDP (by crushing small business which is the enemy of their big business buddies) and have unlimited spending?
“She’s going to lose no matter what happens...she can spare us “I’m sacrificing myself for you” crap.”
AMEN!!!!!! She can act like a martyr, but we know what she really is! As a Missourian, I am supporting Sarah Steelman, 100%! ClaireBear’s goin’ dowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn!
BULL - Claire had no such qualms about her "grandchildren" when voting for Obamacare, did she!
That McCaskill said anything like this blows me away. She must be looking REAL bad in the polls. I don’t trust her the least bit to follow thru though.
“My” Senate seat?...
It belongs to the People of your state, madam, NOT YOU!...........
She doesn’t fool us Missourians... her ass is grass no matter what she does... she’s just trying to grease the electoral skids a little, in the hoes that by supporting the bill, it might actually save her flabby ass... ain’-a-gunna-work aunt “B”, when we take out the trash count yourself compacted.
I agree....Claire is going to be running from a lot of things in the next election...especially her health care vote.
There is no easy way out. Cutting services to cut the deficit is going to get people angry. Continuing spend like a drunken teenager with dad’s credit card is going to get people angry. That takes public opinion out of the equation. Now they have to make the decision based on moral grounds. Is it fair to spend money we don’t have and make our kids pay the price?
Her reelection is going to be like a reenactment of the Hood vs Bismarck.
McCackle is McHistory.
What a deal! Tax revenues have rarely hit 20.6% of GDP and average only around 18.5% over the past 5 decades regardless of the income tax rates. So she is agreeing to run constant deficits for as far as the eye can see.
So when do we start paying off the debt?
Haha, this couldn’t happen to a more deserving person. She’s the one who sponsored and sat along side Hillary and Hussein on Senate Resolution 511 to determine if McCain was eligible to run for POTUS.
So rather than blame it on your vote for Stimulas and healthcare this is the one that will do you in? ROFLOL Sometimes you really have to wonder what reality the dems live in or does it not touch them at all?
OHHH forgot to add my name for her....BOO HOO Poor Claire Mc Fatcow
Hey.... I have an idea. How about we cap spending at no more than revenues?
Crazy, I know......
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