GOP Video Accuses Democrats of Being on a Spending Spree’
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) on Tuesday released a 13-minute web video attacking President Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats for promoting policies that have put the nation on a “spending spree.”
The video, titled “Obama’s Endgame: A Look at the National Debt,” was sent to individuals that follow Cantor’s “YouCut” program.
It features interviews with a half-dozen Republican lawmakers who explain how various Democratic agenda items such as the economic stimulus package and the health care reform law hurt the economy.
“Let me put it in a historic context,” Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) explains in the video as ominous music plays in the background. “It took 43 American presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush to accumulate $5 trillion in debt that’s really a staggering amount of money but it took place over two centuries this Congress and this President will double that amount in five years and will triple that amount in 10 years.”
Republicans argued that the “bloated federal budget,” $787 billion stimulus bill and bailouts for the auto industry have been “toxic.”
Budget Committee ranking member Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Democrats manipulated the numbers in order to get a score from the Congressional Budget Office that showed the health care bill would reduce the deficit.
“The point about the CBO I’d like to make is this, they are very good people, they work very hard, they are professionals, I work with them on a daily basis,” Ryan said. “They have to score whatever you put in right front of them that means that Congress can manipulate legislation to get a predetermined outcome on the cost estimate.”
Democrats have rejected the Republican accusations, instead accusing the Bush administration for many of the country’s current economic difficulties. They have also accused Republicans of offering recycled-Bush era solutions to try to deal with the problems.
Most of Cantor’s video focuses on what it describes as failures of the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress, but the last 40 seconds briefly outlines how Republicans plan to get the country back on track.
“The difference between the majority party and the House Republicans, we believe in accountability,” said Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), as upbeat music plays. “We believe in going line-by-line throughout the budget.”
“We’ve got some tough decisions to make, there’s no doubt about it, and they start with making sure we reign in the debt and get our fiscal house in order,” Cantor said.