From Tuesday’s “Review & Outlook” editorial in the Wall Street Journal:
“After signing a $787 billion economic stimulus and embracing two annual blowout budgets that will double the national debt over 10 years even before ObamaCare, President Obama is poised to pivot next (election) year and denounce the horrors of deficit spending. So the White House is now floating a bipartisan commission to reduce federal borrowing, and much of the political class is all for it.”
To that end, Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) has introduced a bill “to create a bipartisan fiscal task force to address the nation’s long-term budget crisis.” The Bipartisan Task Force for Responsible Fiscal Action Act of 2009 “establishes an 18-member task force comprised of ten Democrats and eight Republicans.”
Back to the WSJ:
“We only hope Republicans aren’t foolish enough to fall down this trap door, though some are already tempted. A budget deficit commission is nothing more than a time-tested ploy to get Republicans to raise taxes. In the 2009 version, Republicans are being teed up to hold hands with Democrats and agree to become the tax collectors for Obamanomics.”
Not just tempted. Indeed, 14 Republican U.S. senators were foolish enough to fall for this oldest trick in the liberal book by co-sponsoring the Conrad bill to make the commission a reality, including….
Nevada Sen. John Ensign.
Remind me again why it’s so important for conservatives, Republicans and Nevadans to keep this man in the Senate instead of replacing him with Rep. Dean Heller?