federal deficit

Road to perditionJeff Fitzgerald is only the latest example of the old maxim that one man's trash is another man's treasure. The measure in this case being legislative success.

Fitzgerald, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker and candidate for the GOP's US senate nomination, last month dissed Tammy Baldwin, the Democratic nominee for Senate. He said that over her seven terms as a member of Congress, she "only" sponsored 105 bills, with just three of those enacted into law.

Paul Ryan and the other John Boehner, Paul Ryan and the rest of the Republicans talk a good game now about the need for fiscal responsibility and reining in spending. But they have been a big part of the problem, Lisa Lerer writes on Bloomberg

... [Speaker John Boehner], House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell all voted for major drivers of the nation’s debt during the past decade: Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts and Medicare prescription drug benefits. They also voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, that rescued financial institutions and the auto industry. Together, according to data

Paul Ryan: On the roadThe New Republic magazine, which increasingly has trended conservative after decades of moderate-left commentary, gets it right about Rep. Paul Ryan and his new-found preoccupation with ending deficits. Jonathan Chait:

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/86893/remembering-when-paul-ryan-worried-the-debt-was-too-small

Who's going to keep tabs on the self-appointed fact checkers at the state's largest newspaper?  For example:

How much does deficit slayer Rep. Paul Ryan want to cut from the federal budget?  Here in Ryan country, his cheerleaders at the Journal Sentinel more than double the actual number.

How do they do it?  They inflate it by using the amount Ryan wants to cut from the amount of spending proposed for this year, rather than the amount actually passed by Congress.  Note the difference between JS coverage and national newspapers which did not get fooled:

JS:  Ryan eyes $74 billion in cuts during the current fiscal year

By Lee Bergquist of the Journal Sentinel

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan proposed spending cuts on Thursday for the remainder of the current fiscal year totaling $74 billion.

NY Times:  32 Billion in Budget Cuts Proposed

 By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN