A Texas Republican and the Stimulus Plan

I have spent a half century in Texas. I watched this state go from Democrat to Republican. In just twenty years I have watched us go from Ann Richards to George Bush…From George Bush to Rick Perry. For the last decade Texas politicians have on a number of occasions made George W. Bush sound like a Rhodes  Scholar.

But the justifications for coming out against the President and the Congressional Democrats in the last couple of weeks are just lame…

“I support President Obama’s call for swift action to revive the nation’s economy and put Americans back to work. Unfortunately, this proposal fails on both accounts and instead relies on bloated Washington programs, digging our country deeper and deeper into debt, and passing the IOUs to our children and grandchildren. This is unacceptable.

“I am disappointed that what could have been a bipartisan success has resulted in a bill narrowly passed by the Senate with the support of only three Republicans. Overspending is what landed our nation in the economic turmoil we find ourselves in today, and the partisan spending bill passed by Senate Democrats only exacerbates this irresponsible behavior—increasing our nation’s debt limit by nearly two trillion dollars to $12.14 trillion.

So here we have a Texas Senator who voted against the stimulus because it would add 20% to the debt run up by a Republican Administration in just eight years…So we broke it, but we won’t vote to pay to fix it ’cause it’s just fiscally irresponsible…Gotta love the circular logic in that.

Then we have this reason from the Senator’s Press Release…

  • As written, the current legislation would create a new refundable tax credit called “Make America Work” that would be unavailable to individuals who earn $70,000 or married couples who earn $140,000 jointly.
  • Sen. Cornyn believes that tax relief should be provided to all taxpayers who pay income taxes.

So since I don’t qualify for a tax credit this year, and the good Senator doesn’t qualify, and the other 5% of American families don’t qualify…We shouldn’t do it? I am beginning to think that in the Republican world view, we are all just pawns to bail out the banking CEOs.

And come on Senator…Capital Gains Taxes.

Sen. Cornyn proposes expanding the current zero tax bracket for long-term capital gains to include individuals who make up to $75,000 and couples who make up to $150,000.

Exactly who will this help?

via United States Senator John Cornyn, Texas : For The Press.

Gary Boyd