Meet the Press: Barney Frank nails John Ensign
Barney Frank never fails to deliver a brutal smackdown when paired up with lying Republicans. On Meet the Press this morning, Barney Frank hilariously corrects Senator John Ensign's bogus interpretation of the stimulus bill and his shameful revisionist history of Republican spending the past eight years.
SEN. ENSIGN: But the other thing, to get back to what Congressman Frank said, is that, you know, we're going to be laying off teachers and firefighters. You know, that's just fearmongering. We're not going to be doing that in any of the states. The states have grown, in their budgets, faster than population growth, faster than inflation for the last several year--actually, probably about the last 15 years. Their budgets are bloated, the federal government's budget is bloated. What we should be doing is cutting back. Instead of just spending money, we should eliminate wasteful Washington spending and also require the states to have some fiscal discipline.
REP. FRANK: Well, first of all, on the bloated spending, this comes from a man whose party controlled the federal government--House, Senate and White House--for six years. We've had it for two. And in fact, we didn't have the presidency. So the bloated spending, once again, you're getting...
SEN. ENSIGN: I agree to that, Barney. I agree.
REP. FRANK: But--may I finish now? Well, if you agree, we--I guess I would've been more impressed if you'd done something about it, not just agree. You were in power for six years. The spending that we have now was set by six years of Republican spending; excesses in a number of areas, I agree.
Awesome. And as ThinkProgress meticulously documents, Ensign couldn't be more wrong on the facts.
Full transcript below the fold...
MR. GREGORY: But why not separate some of the long-term spending, Senator?
SEN. ENSIGN: Absolutely.
MR. GREGORY: Separate it for a separate appropriations process.
SEN. ENSIGN: This is what I've been saying all along. There are some things that we need to go quickly on, but there are--the long-term spending, we should do it carefully and we should take our time on it. There's not a hurry on that. If it's not going to be spent for two years, let's take that out and let's do it right.
But the other thing, to get back to what Congressman Frank said, is that, you know, we're going to be laying off teachers and firefighters. You know, that's just fearmongering. We're not going to be doing that in any of the states. The states have grown, in their budgets, faster than population growth, faster than inflation for the last several year--actually, probably about the last 15 years. Their budgets are bloated, the federal government's budget is bloated. What we should be doing is cutting back. Instead of just spending money, we should eliminate wasteful Washington spending and also require the states to have some fiscal discipline. Here's what this bill does. It sends the money to the states, and not only do we have them not have to make the tough cuts that they should be making, we actually encourage them to spend more because to be able to get the money, they have to spend more. And, and this just encourages more wasteful spending.
MR. GREGORY: Congressman Frank:
REP. FRANK: Well, first of all, on the bloated spending, this comes from a man whose party controlled the federal government--House, Senate and White House--for six years. We've had it for two. And in fact, we didn't have the presidency. So the bloated spending, once again, you're getting...
SEN. ENSIGN: I agree to that, Barney. I agree.
REP. FRANK: But--may I finish now? Well, if you agree, we--I guess I would've been more impressed if you'd done something about it, not just agree. You were in power for six years. The spending that we have now was set by six years of Republican spending; excesses in a number of areas, I agree. Secondly, the notion that we're not laying off policemen, firemen and teachers is simply, factually untrue. And this argument that the states are bloated. I look at my state of Massachusetts, there are terrible problems in other states as well because of the collapse of the housing market, because of the lack of tax revenues, and I'm very prepared. Let's have that argument.
MR. GREGORY: All right.
REP. FRANK: Do the state--does sending money to the states mean that when they don't lay off people, that that's a bad thing?
Of the Compromise "Main Street Job Creation Act": In a key reduction from the bill that reached the Senate floor earlier in the week, $40 billion would be cut from a "fiscal stabilization fund" for state governments, though $14 billion to boost the maximum for college Pell Grants by $400 to $5,250 would be preserved, as would aid to local school districts for the No Child Left Behind law and special education. A plan to help the unemployed purchase health insurance would be reduced to a 50 percent subsidy instead of two-thirds. 2/8
Some stuff you can't make up!
talks...funny but not ha ha funny...
Lower the retirement age.
PERIOD!
Some stuff you can't make up!
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, at least 46 states faced or are facing shortfalls in their budgets for this and/or next year, and severe fiscal problems are highly likely to continue into the following year as well. Combined budget gaps for the remainder of this fiscal year and state fiscal years 2010 and 2011 are estimated to total more than $350 billion.
See http://www.cbpp.org/9-8-08sfp.htm
The thing that we ought to be reeling about is this notion that states are bloated. Frank ought to have first lashed out that because 48 states are experiences massive deficits and HAVE to balance their budgets, taxes will go up, jobs and important supports to our most vulnerable will be lost.
the taxes are cut for the rich the states have to make up for the shortfalld by raising taxes on everyone else.
According to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, the recession of 1992 showed the traditional V shaped pattern of revenue collections during a recession and recovery. Revenues bottomed out quickly (5.7 percent of income) and then just as quickly recovered to previous levels (6.0 percent of income). Between FY 1993 and FY 2001, revenues as a percentage of income averaged 6.0 percent each year. During FY 2003 revenues decreased to a historic low (5.4 percent of income) and then took four years to reach a peak (5.9 percent of income) that was still lower than almost every year between 1993 and 2001. During the four years of economic recovery between FY 2004 and FY 2007, revenues as a percentage of income averaged only 5.7 percent.
See http://www.gbpi.org/documents/20081208.pdf
....BLOATED???!!!! Actually, the opposite is true for Georgia. Is that why we are now considering cutting supports for people with disabilities and mental illness?
Our budget isn't bloated by far, but we're not in bad shape and we still have to make some cuts.
I would like to see which states do have bloated budgets.
"When are we going to stop trying to tell elected officials what to do. Our job is to spend the taxpayers' money the best way we can." -- Tommy Watkins, Justice of the Peace, Crawford County, Arkansas
i'm currently in the tahoe area for vacation. i have been speaking to people in the lake tahoe/reno area. the state of nevada is in big trouble. the governor is signing legislation to reduce spending for the university system. which by the way has no much to brag about. the foreclosure crisis is hurting this state big time. property tax is NOT being collected on these thousands of vacant homes. this is having a terrible impact of public services which is much less than par anyways. this state is counting on stimulus money. ensign is wrong and franks gave a needed smack down.
of the 1st water. He thinks having only corporate tax breaks for $400 billion is the way to go. He cries himslef to sleep because the casinos are paying too much in Nevada. Fact is that the casinos pay the least tax in the nation in Nevads. Gibbons (the gov) budget calls for $2.1 B in cuts to balance the budget. UNR and UNLV would loose 50% of funding. Could you live or do business with 1/2 of your income gone?
He and Ensign are the "NO TAXES" face of the gop in this state. I don't understand how people will rip up Harry Reid and let these jackasses off the hook. I know CA is facing $40B in underfunding, but Nevada is in dire straits and will decimate our educational system for years to come.
It's never been good, and is quickly going from bad to worse.
Our governor, who loves to text message strippers on his state-issued cell phone, had the balls to suggest that state employees should take a pay cut. He's a silly and pathetic man.
Ensign's head is squarely up the collective casino ass, his brother was an executive at Mandalay Bay. He's a tool, who was educated as a veternarian and I'm sure most of us here would love to see him go back to treating dogs and cats and exotics. Apparently, based on his conersation with Mr. Frank, he still thinks he's dealing with dogs and cats.
Now, for your comments about the higher education system here, which were rather insulting, the moron that just recently left the president's office possessed a Yale undergrad degree and a Harvard MBA and frankly, he's one of the dumbest fucks I've ever heard speak and appears to have little/no buisiness acumen. Honestly, what does that say for a Yale undergrad/Harvard MBA? Students come from all over the world to attend the gaming/hotel/restaurant management program at UNLV, and every once in a while we have an awesome basketball team.
Not that it has anything to do with the price of peanuts, but Ensign spends far to much time in front of a mirror.
I have been thinking that for a week now. Since he has been in front of the camera on this stimulus deal. I wonder if he and Boner share the same tanning bed. Maybe they got a deal on two of them.
I'll bet Ensign has a big picture of himself in his dressing room!
I blame you,
you blame me,
the nation will go bankrupt
with no responsibility
With a great big fist
from the taxpayer to you,
Don't you both have jobs to do?!
Umm...you're not an American taxpayer.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Bloomberg's budget for the year is cutting 23,000 city jobs, two-thirds (15,000!) of which will be teachers. Gov. Patterson is also cutting $770 million in school funding to NYC. So Ensign's only completely full of it....
I'm not too sure I can trust Bloomberg's numbers? :-)
What Cooked the World's Economy?
Snip - "Interestingly, the company that put the basic hardware and software together for pricing and clearing derivatives was Bloomberg."
By James Lieber
Tuesday, January 27th 2009 at 2:46pm
>>> http://www.villagevoice.com/2009-01-28/news/w...
Study the symptoms not the virus...
Rep. Frank might have had in mind our city's latest proposal from the Boston Public School Superintendent eliminating more than 900 positions, just less than 1 in 10 of the city's 4,668 teachers. Cutting almost all music and arts funding and requesting a freeze on all teacher wage increases, while administration will take a 3% cut. Interesting to note that this language of cuts vs. freeze which has been in the papers here makes it seem like the administration is being self-sacrificing, while in actuality it generally will mean a higher loss of percentage of negotiated wages for the teachers than the bureaucrats.
Funding for social services is clearly too complicated for the good Senator to understand, 700,000,000,000 for banks on the other hand, no prob.
He's a veternarian, he's used to talking to dogs and cats.
Yesssssssssssss, Senator Ensign, do go on. I love hearing from the experts...
me-oww!
You could not find a crazier bunch of people in a mental hospital.
These republicans and their media cronies are just batshit crazy and paid fucking liars.
to hell with the republican party !
Ha ha ha. I had no idea they were dating. I thought Frank had better taste in men.
me-oww!
Now that's some gay bashing because that gay bashed these Republican Obstructionists with some facts
STEELE: No, it's not a job. A job is something that -- that a business owner creates. It's going to be long term. "
Dear "New and Improved" RNC Chairman Steele: please explain to the 163,662 Americans who were laid off **IN JANUARY ALONE** from the private American companies below how their jobs are actually long term ones and that "when [these jobs] go...they come back". We'll wait, just like these out of work Americans are waiting. Take your time, sir!
Sears-300.
Caterpillar-22,110.
Broadcom -200.
IGT--200.
Kodak --4500.
Textron --4,600.
Ford --1,200.
Black&Decker -1,200.
ESPN--200
Disney-400.
Boeing --10,000.
Starbucks ---6,700.
Target --1000.
AOL--700.
Merillat--70.
TX Instruments-3,400.
IBM-2,800.
Lincoln-540.
Pfizer -19,000.
Sprint--8,000.
Home Depot -7,000.
GM - 2,000.
Deere-502.
Abercrombie--50.
Harley-Davidson -1100.
Microsoft --5000.
Huntsman--1600.
Burlington-2,500.
UAL-1100.
SPX --400.
Intel--5,000.
Disney-600.
Wynn--53.
Eaton--5200.
WarnerBros--800.
Clear Channel--1,850..
ConocoPhillips--1300.
Hertz -4000.
WellPoint-600.
AMD--1100.
Xerox -275.
MeadWestvaco-2000.
Autodesk-750.
Marshall & Ilsley -830.
GE-1000.
Ecolab-1000.
Delta-2000.
Motorola--4000.
Google--100.
Cummins--800.
Pfizer -800.
Mosaic-1000.
Textron--2000.
Best Buy -500.
Precision-40.
Oracle-500.
Boeing-4500.
Freeport-1550.
Butterball-75.
Union Pacific-230.
Bath Iron-179.
Eaton--79.
Walgreen-1000.
EMC-2400.
Alcoa-13,500.
Aqua Glass-30.
Cigna-1100.
US Steel, 50.
(All numbers from FORBES.)
Tell that to the people of California. John Ensign is playing partisan politics and is nothing more than a no good bald faced liar. 2010 will be much worse than ‘06 or ‘08 if the Republicans don’t change their lying ways.
thanks to an inept gov and a corrupt and insanse legislature
but that isnt the reason that we are bankrupt
we are bankrupt because we send more money in taxes to the fed, and get less back
we are bankrupt because the fed allowed companies like enron to rape us
we are bankrupt because the fed hasnt done its job in regards to illegal aliens and prosecuting employers
we are bankrupt because we cannot compete with other states who steal away our industries by offering huge tax breaks
we are bankrupt because we dont vote repug and are therefore being punished
i say that we need to seceed from the union and keep all of our money and industry
fuck the rest of the country...you people make me sick
some of us are former residents and love the great state of Cali. You are right in all that you say, but please know that there are those of us out here who have your collective backs.
I wish that were true. But the facts are that at least in my state the people are so ignorant that they sent mitch the scum mcconnel back for another 6 years of screwing the people.
I don't believe you can find and intelligent republican!
Its against their nature.
Are we not smarter after these last 8 years control by the worst politicians in history in all houses?
40.5% of our total monthly taxes go to the country business, while the rest goes to all our military, bombs and all. Should it not be the other way?
Let’s stop the military build up. We need to stop invade other Nation and care for our people.
Lets get 1 single payer medical insurance. Nothing else will work. Remember that Tricky Dick Nixon was the one who agree to HMO!
All the Bush cabinets were train under Nixon. It is really tell us where they learn their crooked manipulate trade.
cut them off at the knees.
These guys absolutely hate the truth. Oh yes, this is all the Dems' fault! Because the Republicans fought so hard...for Bush.
NOBODY 2012
I've been reading for the past few weeks that GOP govs have been pushing congress for assistance and to pass the bailout legislation. Barney made an short, not very specific remark about his home state of Mass., but if Governors from most states are calling on congress to get this spending bill through to help them out then their needs are rather dire and the circumstances are obviously much, much worse than Ensign says they are.
Just with respect to my home state of Maryland, I've been reading that Gov. O'Malley has issued a hiring freeze and furloughs have been handed out for the past couple of months.
Not good, and certainly a hell of a lot worse than Ensign, with his rosy Reagan glasses on, tells the nation the situation currently is.
Were they playing Barry Manilow in the background?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
How we said it that growing up:
"Excuse me for interrupting the beginning of your sentence with the middle of mine."
me-oww!
but I love it. I think I'll will assimilate it into my arsenal.
Do you mind?
...always make everything sound so terrific! The way he hyped this clip you'd think the stimulus package was passed and was actually going to pay for health care, education, food stamps, mortgage relief, job programs, etc... Instead, we get a very short and very weak "talking to"...not even worth a mention on this site--its inclusion insults the real problems that real Americans are facing right now.
for a different perspective, go here: http://theinternetisnotatruck.blogspot.com/
I guess you all notice that the banks are going to get another whack of cash with no strings attached, again. But when it comes to helping the American People, big debate ensues. We are so fucked.
If it protects our accounts, checking, savings, and retirement, I say go for it.
But people making less than roughly $60,000.00 a year do need help.
Interesting thing is while reports are saying the American consumer isn't consuming, savings are going up.
And it doesn't matter how cheap a product is if too many American lack jobs and funds for essentials.
Any word yet of the return of a new Glass-Steagall act?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Nope, but I've heard of the "Glass ceiling" and things are lookin up... not to mention transparency! :-)
Study the symptoms not the virus...
The link below is to a local CA newspaper. Santa Maria is a small city between San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara. Sadly, it's all too easy to find articles across the state about how many teachers may need to be laid off next month.
Based on this article, our state faces losing thousands of teachers next month.
Scared now, Senator?
http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2009/...
Why do they lie so easily? I guess he hasn't heard what they have done to this country. Stockton CA is preparing to lay off 29 Police officers. Not to mention the statewide state employee furlough program which started on friday. All (most) CA. state employees will be taking 2 days per month off. This measure is intended to save some billions of dollars.
I live in the Sacramento area and every day I read about some number of local city workers being laid off. As well as many medium to large businesses laying off 20-over 100 people. The real unemployment here in Sacramento is estimated to be 13% or higher. The politicians on both sides are fucking clueless.
Did this jackass realy say that? Never mind, I know he did because I saw it. Talking about being out of touch!!! But its a good thing. Obama and the Democrats need to get that video and start making commercials! Along with lists of teachers being laid off and firefighters being laid off. The Republicans are out of touch.
That jag off Ensign didn't just say the democrats were fear mongering. First of all the democrats are too cowardly to ever do that and secondly the republicans took fear mongering and made it into an art form as the main selling tool for the disastrous war on Iraq. This is the number play in the republican playbook, accuse you opponent of doing exactly what you do.
The good American people are sick to death of these liars.
I would SO MUCH LOVE to hear, JUST ONE TIME, one of these MSM pundits ASK EACH Republican in congress, who rails against government jobs and for cutting government, WHY, #1, he/she HATES THE US SO MUCH, AND, #2if they REALLY want to cut government JOBS so BADLY, why not AMMEND the constitution so that each state only gets ONE senator and 2 representatives AND that congress person who's being asked the question, #3, is that person ready to give up THEIR job when the change comes! For what we pay each of THEM, we could get 5 people who would be thrilled to get paid 1/5 of THEIR salary. 10 year olds are smarter than most of them.
Both parties have it wrong, both voted for the bailout, both were for trying to stimulate the economy (although differently), both are listening f******g Bernanke, Greenspan's ass-hat who has gotten everything wrong since he took office, both parties just need to go take a long walk off a short peer.
Bond market calls Fed's bluff as global economy falls apart
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/am...
IMF Says Advanced Economies Already in Depression
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206010...
We're entering the too late point now, our time has been squandered.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
It's always soooooo easy when the Dem's got the true facts and use them to beat down the Reslug talking point lies.
I don't know why anyone watches this stuff. Gregory was converted to gopper during the past eight years. Somewhere he got the idea was to take the RNC talking points each day and begin there. The Democrats must prove a lie wrong because Gregory begins with the RNC lies with each discussion. Gregory is in the tank with the liars, cheats, and idiots.
Ensign should either resign or vow to become better informed. I live in Florida and was told by my son whol lives in Orlando that the School District anticipates closing ten elementary schools. I doubt whehther they plan on retaining the teachers. I'm sure this is happening to School Districts statewide.
Much of the additional funds in "bloated" local budgets was spent on past capital expansion. The only place this money can now be taken from is current operating expenses.
I don't know how he can say they are not laying off teachers. Bristol CT is talking about laying off 71. Milford CT layed off 180 last year. Winstead and Jefferson County in the state both say they are likely.
in the largest school district in my state (which is something like the 10th largest employer here), I can't believe when I hear the reich-wingers say the jobs of teachers/firemen/cops aren't on the line. I can attest to the fact that my district is facing unprecedented shortfalls and cutbacks, is reducing staff positions, has eliminated all library positions, is eliminating intramural programs and extracurricular activities... etc., etc., etc.
It's the craziest thing I've ever seen... we have a dramatic shortages of teachers, fewer and fewer professionals are willing to put up with the headache of high-stake testing/No Child Left Behind/etc., and conventional wisdom is that education is a "safe" field... Well, so much for that line of thinking... In fact, tomorrow morning, our staff meeting will commence with a "special announcement" about the budget cuts. Some of us joked that maybe we all lost our jobs and the kids, who know everything anyways (jr. high students), can just finish up the year on their own... ;)
I, for one, am planning on substituting next year, finishing my master's, and enjoying getting my life back (and not being stressed out all of the time). I imagine there will be a great demand for subs, too (as those few teachers left standing crumble under their mighty burdens).
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