Economy

'Stop Spending!'

The Republicans, whose whole thing is to question the patriotism of Democrats and liberal support for the troops, blocked the Homeless Women Veterans and Homeless Veterans With Children Act yesterday. Benen reports:

It was approved in committee with bipartisan support, and Murray brought it to the floor this morning, seeking unanimous consent. She didn't get it -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) objected on behalf of Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who apparently was concerned about funding.

Unbelievable. Actually, no. It's quite believable. The modern Republican Party at work. We know it well.

This morning on CNBC, the spazzy white guys in lower Manhattan were debating what the government can do about the economy and Rick Santelli began to wave his arms around and scream, "Stop spending! Stop spending! Stop spending!"

Okay. Show me one example of spending cuts alone stimulating the economy. Just one example. A direct correlation between spending cuts and economic growth with improved unemployment numbers.

Back to the bill. It's worth pointing out again that Tom Coburn, who McConnell was serving as proxy, voted to continue spending $38 billion annually on corporate welfare for Big Oil. Yep. Oh, but he's quite the deficit hawk isn't he.

UPDATE: Here's Rick Santelli's latest televised meltdown: