The Wall Street Journal editorial page talks about how Blue Dog Demorcrats "abet Pelosi's spending agenda." Read an excerpt here:
How's this for a neat trick? Hours before Congress departed for its Memorial Day break last Friday, House Democrats approved another $116 billion in new welfare and other spending, raised $82 billion in new taxes on investment and business, and increased the national debt by another $54.7 billion. None of this was offset with spending cuts.
Yet Blue Dog Democrats are celebrating this latest fiscal blowout as a triumph. Gerald Connolly of Virginia even declared that from now on "there is going to be a fiscal standard that is, frankly, much more rigorous." When exactly?
The real story here is that the Blue Dogs again rolled over to abet their liberal party leadership. Early last week the Blue Dogs joined Republican complaints that the original "jobs bill" from Ways and Means Chairman Sander Levin was too expensive at $191 billion. But instead of insisting on spending cuts to pay for unemployment benefits, farm subsidies and corporate welfare, House leaders cleverly split the spending and tax package into two separate bills so the debt totals would look smaller.The first bill included business tax cut extensions, the welfare spending and the $82 billion in business tax hikes. That passed with 215 votes, including 34 Blue Dogs.