A press release from my junior senator.

Kerry Fights to Restore Fiscal Responsibility


Rejects “Birth Tax” on the next generation; Wants Government to “balance its checkbook” and “play by the same rules as American families”

Wednesday, November 17, 2004


WASHINGTON – Speaking on the Senate floor today for the first time since the November 2nd election, U.S. Senator John Kerry challenged Washington to face up to the nation’s skyrocketing debt and urged his colleagues not to rubberstamp yet another $690 billion increase in the nation’s borrowing limit. Kerry – who broke with his party’s leadership to support deficit reduction legislation nearly 20 years ago and who helped lead efforts in the 1990s to balance the federal budget – criticized the “borrow-and-spend” policies that have taken the United States from an all-time record surplus to an all-time record debt over the past four years. “The United States is operating a borrow-and-spend government continuously stretched by demands for more tax cuts and more spending. And when they don’t have the money to pay for their choices, they just put the tab on the national credit card and send the bill to our kids. It is an economic policy of borrow and spend – and it cannot be sustained.”

Senator Kerry’s remarks came during debate over raising the debt limit, the maximum amount the United States is allowed by law to borrow. Congress raised the debt limit amount last year, but since then, the government has accumulated more debt than all the presidents from Washington to Reagan combined.

“We don’t have a minute to wait before we start to deal honestly and candidly with our national debt. We have a responsibility to restore fiscal responsibility rather than merely voting again to raise the nation’s debt limit.”

If the new debt limit passes Congress this week, the government will have added $2.1 trillion to the debt limit in less than four years. This is more than $7,200 for every man, woman and child in the United States, and a child born today will enter the world owing more than $17,000 when all our past and expected debt is totaled.

“Americans understand how to balance their family budget – they sit down at their kitchen tables and play by the rules every day. We used to know how to do that – Washington dug a hole of deficits and debt in the 1980s, we made the tough choices to dig ourselves out of it in the 1990s, and now here we are, back again with a new hole worse than ever before. Neither Congress nor the Administration has been willing to face up to that reality – even as the consequences stare us in the face.”

Senator Kerry will vote against increasing the debt limit when it comes to a vote in the Senate. He noted the problems with raising the debt limit, including that 42 percent of America’s debt is now held by foreign nations. China alone holds $172 billion in U.S. debt.

“We can argue over who was the cause of this problem – who exactly made borrow-and-spend economics the policy of our nation. And I have very strong feeling about that. Or, we can try to be part of the solution. We can work for economic policies that create opportunity and demand responsibility.”

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From the Senator's website -
http://kerry.senate.gov/bandwidth/cfm/record.cfm?id=228565

Sorry if this is a repost, I had not seen it here before.

It's a good post; in response, this is what the administration is doing

Freeze on Domestic Spending

"What exactly would you say you do here at Initech?"

Really, Bush doesn't have a clue.

Time for a dialogue: A very personal video - John Kerry

Tax cuts for the wealthy? Don't you dare! John Kerry
Dear Friend,
"More tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans are off the table." Those are the words that America is waiting to hear from President Bush. At a time of crisis and enormous need, it should be an easy decision for him to make. He could make the announcement tomorrow. There is hurt and suffering all around us. Estimates are that it will cost as much as $150 billion to help the hard-hit people and communities of the Gulf Coast get back on their feet following Katrina's devastation. And the Bush administration's failed policies in Iraq are draining billions of dollars from our treasury every month. But still, Republican leaders refuse to abandon their obsession with granting still more tax cuts to the wealthy and well-connected. Don't let them get away with it. Sign our "Don't You Dare" petition right now.
http://www.johnkerry.com/petition/taxcuts.php
Believe it or not, with all our nation is going through, there are Republicans still pushing to put tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans on Congress' agenda this fall. Republican leaders were forced to postpone plans for an immediate vote this week on eliminating the estate tax. But, they haven't backed off their larger plan for more tax cuts to benefit the wealthiest Americans. This is a test of what kind of country we are. Are we an America that responds to crisis by helping the most vulnerable in times of need, or do we just give more to those who have the most? Please join today in demanding that Republican leaders forego any and all plans to lavish tax cuts on the wealthy at this moment of crisis.
http://www.johnkerry.com/petition/taxcuts.php
What can they be thinking? Why haven't President Bush, Senator Frist and Speaker Hastert taken off the table the outrageous notion of bestowing more tax cuts on the wealthy at a time like this? How long will it be before they start telling us that tax cuts for the wealthy can provide just the stimulus we need to get the Gulf Coast economy moving again? Going forward with the GOP's next round of tax cuts for the wealthy would be a bitter betrayal -- a slap in the face to the hundreds of thousands of Katrina survivors struggling to put their lives back together. It's time for the President and his Republican colleagues to send a clear, unambiguous message that they understand the situation our nation is facing. The American people want to hear from them now -- and, until they back off of their tax cuts for the wealthy, we'll make sure they hear from us.
http://www.johnkerry.com/petition/taxcuts.php
All around us, there are signs of American courage and American compassion. People who lived through hell are finding the strength to carry on. People who know what their fellow Americans are going through have reached out in one of the most far-reaching displays of generosity in our nation's history. Yet here the Republican Party's leaders sit back in Washington, desperately clinging to the hope that they can force through another round of tax cuts for the chosen few. They shouldn't wait a day longer before they make a clear commitment not to pursue more tax cuts for the wealthy. And, until they come to their senses, we'll keep the pressure on.
http://www.johnkerry.com/petition/taxcuts.php
We've got to stop these tax cuts from diverting resources that are needed for vitally important priorities such as helping those who have lost so much -- and have so far to go before they are on the road to recovery. I hope you'll sign our "Don't You Dare" petition today demanding that Republican leaders abandon their plans to lavish more tax cuts on the wealthy. There has never been a more important time than this to give voice to your values.
I hope you will stand with us.
Sincerely,

John Kerry

P.S. After you sign the petition, please forward it to everyone you can think of who might be willing to sign. The more signatures we gather, the more quickly we can force Republican leaders to take tax cuts for the wealthy off the table.