GOP: Dems pushing ‘big myths’ about economic recovery

“Liberal policies”  — and the “myths” guiding them — are expanding
the federal debt and stunting economic recovery, Rep. Kevin Brady
(R-Texas) stressed in his party’s radio address this week.

Consequently, the “Democratic doctrine of spending more, borrowing more and higher taxes” has also severely troubled families and crippled small-business owners, many of whom are still struggling to weather the ongoing economic downturn, the congressman said.

{mosads}“There are three big myths hurtling around Washington these days: no jobs equals an economic recovery, government-run healthcare will make it more affordable, and deficits don’t matter,” said Brady, the ranking Republican on the Joint Economic Committee. “The American public – to their credit – isn’t buying any of these.”

Brady’s harsh reproach arrives on the heels of a week overflowing with mixed economic news. It began Wednesday, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average shocked lawmakers and surpassed 10,000 points — the first time it has broken that threshold since before the economic meltdown.

However, the week ended on a considerably more dismal note: The Treasury Department on Friday released a report that officially pegged last fiscal year’s federal budget deficit at more than $1.4 trillion — its highest ever.

The Obama administration also briefly celebrated new data that revealed about $16 billion of stimulus money saved or created about 30,000 jobs. But overshadowing that announcement, it seemed, were Republicans’ growing criticisms that the country’s 9.8 percent unemployment rate meant the stimulus had failed.

All of that economic uncertainty seemed to underscore Brady’s critical radio address on Saturday — the GOP’s latest attempt to chide the White House for what it sees as a botched recovery effort. The Texas lawmaker hit on each of the Democrats’ key talking points, and he alleged the White House could have more efficiently addressed those important issues without burying future generations’ “children and grandchildren… under a mountain of debt.”

“Under the Obama administration’s budget, our country is set to rack up $6.7 trillion in debt over the next decade — almost equal to all the federal debt accumulated in our nation’s history,” Brady said, adding that Democrats’ proposed healthcare reforms would further incapacitate the nation’s economy.

“Republicans remain hopeful that this deep and painful recession will soon run its course, but Americans deserve better than a jobless recovery, which is no real recovery at all for American workers and their families,” the congressman added. “Americans deserve affordable healthcare. And they deserve a nation that can pay its debts and live within its means.”