Rep. Pence Blasts State Aid Package As A "Bailout" AND "Takeover"

Earlier this week, after the Senate overcame a GOP filibuster to pass a state aid package that would save an estimated 140,000 teachers' jobs, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced that the House will return from its recess next week to vote on the bill.  In response, Republican lawmakers have thrown a collective hissy fit, attacking the measure as a "bailout" for "special interests." 

On Fox News today, House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN) continued the GOP's assault, saying the aid package reflects the Democrats' philosophy of "borrowing," "bailouts," and "takeovers." 

PENCE: [W]e're going to continue this process next week of more borrowing, more spending, more bailouts, and continue to sustain this policy of takeovers that's been characterized in this Congress.  And we've just got to try something different.  It's time for fiscal discipline in Washington, DC, and it's time to preserve the tax relief of the recent past and even talk about passing tax relief that will create jobs.  But this more spending, more bailouts is not the answer. 

Watch:

Pence isn't known as a stickler for policy details, but this is silly even for him.  The bill does not require any borrowing, as it is fully paid for and will actually reduce the deficit by $1.3 billion.  Meanwhile, characterizing aid for public sector employees — such as teachers and police officers — as a "takeover" is absurd.   

Furthermore, while Pence demands "fiscal discipline," his idea of a solution is just plain reckless.  Preserving the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, which helped create the huge deficits we have today, would only worsen the nation's bleak fiscal outlook.  And Pence wants even more tax cuts on top of that, without saying how he would pay for any of it.

There are real fiscal conservatives out there, but Pence isn't one of them.