http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/hoyer-reads-gop-the-riot-act-for-creating-enormous-us-debt.php?ref=fpaHouse Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) offered an unusually blunt assessment of the sources of U.S. debt in a Monday speech before an audience of Republican and Democratic elder-statesmen -- calling Republicans on the carpet for creating systemic deficits, then holding U.S. creditworthiness as hostage to a highly contentious right-wing ideological agenda.
(snip)
"It is not tenable for us to hold ransom the creditworthiness of the United States," Hoyer said, adding that the GOP's negotiating posture "ignores that some of their own policies helped get us where we are today."
(snip)
These policies combined with the economic collapse that took place under President Bush's watch starting in December '07 are still the greatest drivers of our deficit.
Why else would some falsely insist that their agenda -- cuts to Medicare and other programs for the most vulnerable, and tax cuts for the wealthy -- are the only possible answer to our debt?