Boxer flip flops on Pay-Go and votes for unfunded stimulus 2.0

A few short days ago Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) voted for pay-as-you go legislation – in which she referred to as a way to “help us maintain fiscal discipline while we continue the hard work of rebuilding America’s economy,” and she broke her promise to her Californian constituents by voting for the new $15 billion stimulus bill disguised as a 'jobs bill.'

This was the first test legislators faced on their new pay-as-you-go rule and they quickly moved to break the promise of paying for all new bills by cutting other programs or raising taxes.


Last month Boxer and her Democrat friends voted for the PAYGO legislation in order to provide political cover for another vote to raise the national debt ceiling by $1.9 trillion to a record $14.3 trillion. This ballooning debt measure was needed after the Democrats maxed-out the government’s credit card in order to pay out $787 billion for the overrated stimulus package.


“It’s inexplicable that Senator Boxer voted to waive the same law that she applauded the President for reinstating just four weeks earlier. This hypocrisy highlights why Barbara Boxer is facing the toughest re-election battle of her career,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokeswoman Amber Marchand. “Voters are tired of the out-of-control spending from the Democrat-controlled Congress and they are looking for real change in Washington this November.”


Boxer said on MSNBC that she “believed in PAYGO. If I want to spend something then I’ve got to cut something or figure out a way top for it.”


Boxer who is a longtime cosponsor of PAYGO legislation said PAYGO helps maintain fiscal discipline.
“U.S. Senator Boxer today applauded President Obama’s decision to submit a proposal to Congress to reinstate pay-as-you-go budget rules. Reinstating this common sense principle is long overdue. It will help us maintain fiscal discipline while we continue the hard work of rebuilding America’s economy. Senator Boxer is a longtime cosponsor of PAYGO, which would reinstate pay-as-you-go rules and help block measures that increase the deficit.”


At a teleconference on The Hiring Incentives To Restore Employment Act on February 17, 2010 Boxer discussed the importance of controlling spending. “Now, I could talk to you on the whole issue of the debt, because I was in the Congress in the Senate when we had no debt. And excuse me, we had no deficit, and we were on our way to ending the debt under Bill Clinton, and that is done through pay-as- you-go policies. It's got to be - you've got to have tough - you've got to make some tough cuts and tough votes.”


A recent Rasmussen Reports poll states that 71 percent of voters now say the legislature is doing a poor job. The time when politicians could say they believed in balanced budgets to the cameras and then voted to bust the bank with so-called jobs bills are over.

With the November midterms just nine months away Rasmussen says 9 percent of lawmakers jobs are safe. Most Americans believe members of Congress are not genuinely interested in helping people, which ties to the continued fall in poll numbers. Eighty-one percent say most members of Congress are more interested in their own careers - this is a new multi-year high.

Most troubling for Boxer in the latest Rasmussen Reports survey of likely voters in California is her continuing inability to break the 50 percent threshold against any of the Republican hopefuls. Rasmussen contends that incumbents who capture less than 50 percent of the vote at this stage of their campaign are considered vulnerable. Something all three GOP candidates, Chuck DeVore, Tom Campbell and Carly Fiorina are all zeroing in on.

"This is a triumph of jobs over politics," Senator Boxer said after the bill cleared a key procedural vote Monday night.

While Boxer continues to vote for every left-leaning piece of legislation put in front of her pen, November may be the only chance for voters to return the favor and hold her voting practices accountable.


For more stories; http://www.examiner.com/x-10317-San-Diego-County-Political-Buzz-Examiner