With Eric Cantor walking out of the high-level debt ceiling negotiation, I thought it’d be interesting to look back and figure out how many times the House Majority Leader and his colleagues voted to raise the debt ceiling under George W. Bush. One would figure, because they are fiscally conservative, they probably only voted to raise the debt ceiling once or twice under the eight-year tenure of George W. Bush. The GOP hypocrites raised the debt ceiling 19 times 7 times [the original number was an error, sorry. One of my commentors pointed this out. The best data that I have found comes from the Congressional Research Service.](and added over $4 trillion worth of debt) under George W. Bush and not once did they hold the president hostage to debt ceiling negotiations.
Think Progress has more:
After pushing the government to brink of shutdown last week, Republican Congressional leaders are now preparing to push America to the edge of default by refusing to increase the nation’s debt limit without first getting Democrats to concede to large spending cuts.
But while the four Republicans in Congressional leadership positions are attempting to hold the increase hostage now, they combined to vote for a debt limit increase 19 times 7 times during the presidency of George W. Bush. In doing so, they increased the debt limit by nearly $4 trillion.
At the beginning of the Bush presidency, the United States debt limit was $5.95 trillion. Despite promises that he would pay off the debt in 10 years, Bush increased the debt to $9.815 trillionby the end of his term, with plenty of help from the four Republicans currently holding Congressional leadership positions: Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl. ThinkProgress compiled a breakdown of the five debt limit increases that took place during the Bush presidency and how the four Republican leaders voted:
June 2002: Congress approves a $450 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $6.4 trillion. McConnell, Boehner, and Cantor vote “yea”, Kyl votes “nay.”
May 2003: Congress approves a $900 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $7.384 trillion. All four approve.
November 2004: Congress approves an $800 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $8.1 trillion. All four approve.
March 2006: Congress approves a $781 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $8.965 trillion. All four approve.
September 2007: Congress approves an $850 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $9.815 trillion. All four approve.
Database searches revealed no demands from the four legislators that debt increases come accompanied by drastic spending cuts, as there are now. In fact, the May 2003 debt limit increase passed the Senate the same day as the $350 billion Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.
When Bush was in office, the current Republican leaders viewed increasing the debt limit as vital to keeping America’s economy running. But with Obama in the White House, it’s nothing more than a political pawn.
[…] voted to raise the debt ceiling nineteen times in eight years during the Bush administration. Nineteen times in eight years. Stop playing games, […]
The democrats need to be going to the media every hour and hammering this home to the public. Democrats keep missing the boat when it comes to blasting the hypocracy of repugs and the teabags
remember that the corporate media doesn’t want to hear criticism of the status quo. Therefore, it is hard for Democrats to get on the air and discussed the multitude of problems which face the average American. Instead, if you just want to give lip service to this problem are that problem been sure they’re happy to have you on but if you want to seriously address some of the issues that are facing Americans the corporate media is not interested. Look at the coverage of Clarence Thomas and his ethics violations, almost nothing from the corporate media. The average American continues to struggle to keep a job and pay his/her bills yet, the corporate media is happy to tell us about violence in videogames and Ron Paul’s silly proposal about selling gold from Fort Knox. The corporate media needs to be replaced with alternative media like blogs.
Thanks for your comments.
This really needs to be spread abroad…EVERYONE should see this. It proves their main objective which is to unseat obama no matter what the cost, even if it means they have to cause a global financial meltdown and damage the USA for years.
[…] […]
Before posting something like this, be sure to check the so-called “facts” first!
BS: During the Bush administration (when the budget surplus was squandered and debt piled up), the Republican leaders in Congress voted to raise the national debt ceiling 19 times
FACT: During the Bush administration, the debt limit was raised a total of SEVEN times!
FACT: Four of those debt limit increases were when the Republicans held majorities, three of those increases DEMOCRATS controlled both houses of Congress
BS: [A]ccounting for nearly $4 trillion
FACT: The Republican Congress during the Bush administration raised the debt limit by $3.01 Trillion in SIX YEARS
FACT: The Democratic Congress during the Bush administration raised the debt limit by $2.350 Trillion in TWO YEARS
FACT: TWELVE YEARS of Republican Congresses under Clinton and Bush resulted in debt limit raises that totaled $3.765 Trillion
FACT: FOUR YEARS of Democratic Congresses under Bush and Obama have racked up a whopping $5.329 Trillion
But let’s not allow facts to get in the way of some good BS demagoguery.
Some more facts, if you are interested:
FACT: When Bush assumed office, the public held debt stood at $3.388 Trillion
FACT: When Bush left office, the public held debt stood at $5.780 Trillion, an increase of $2.392 Trillion
NOTE: When Democrats took control of Congress, the public held debt stood at $4.570 Trillion, meaning that with SIX YEARS of a Republican Congress the PHD grew by $1.182 Trillion. BUT in TWO YEARS of Democratic Congress the PHD grew by $1.21 Trillion, meaning Democratic control of Congress did more damage in two years, with Bush in the White House, than what Republicans managed in six years!!!
FACT: Just two years of a Democratic Congress and an Obama administration, public held debt rose to an astounding $9.023 Trillion, meaning that in just two years Obama-Pelosi-Ried managed to raise the public held debt by a whopping $3.243 Trillion.
NOTE: When you add the two additional years that Pelosi-Ried-Obama controlled Congress, the public held debt grew by $4.213 Trillion, meaning that the damage wrought by the Democrats began in 2007, when they won the Congress, not in 2009 when they took occupancy of the White House.
Facts can be fun; but they can be stubborn b!tches too.
Ivan
I love the way that you haven’t give us one link to verify your facts! Thanks for stopping by! – Fact.
Let me add some facts (since you like them so much) – here is the list of the number of times that the debt ceiling has been raised over the past 11 years. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31967.pdf
My point was that the GOP didn’t put up a huge fuss when Bush was in office and the budget was in the red. There wasn’t even a hint of a threat to shutdown the government while Bush was spending and spending. I find it funny that you write all of that but never address the central point of my post.
Again, thanks for stopping by and the post has been corrected.
Our country is in peril because the Republican Party has lost its direction and is only interested in keeping the Obama administration from having any success, therfore admittingly damming the American public in the process. The Republican-Obstructionist party may well succed in stopping the Obama administration from succeeding and begin the process of destroying our American way of life as we knew it.
Joe DeMarco
World War 2 Vateran
From what I can see, most die-hard right-wing supporters care less about facts and more about “facts,” with intentional quotation marks. Most Republicans I know will spout complete nonsense that can be easily debunked with a quick internet search, and will become even louder and more insistent about the truth of their nonsense upon learning what they’re saying isn’t true. They are not interested in learning the truth; it is easier to believe sensationalized falsehoods. I’ve given people links to such sites as opencongress.org, where the text of legislation can be easily accessed, but people seem too lazy to bother reading it. I’ve been regularly called a socialist, liberal elitist and other things for even suggesting that the Republican party and their media talking heads are far less than honest with the public. It’s as entertaining as it is maddening.
I think many on both sides are not interested in the facts. Republicans are more susceptible to accepting whatever Fox news tells them than anybody else in our society. We have to fight through this. It is important for our country that we fight through this.
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. I truly appreciate them.
thank you for your service.. I truly appreciate it.
Your comments are 100% correct.
“Facts all come with points of view; facts won’t do what I want them to”
~Talking Heads
It’s funny- the Repubs have used plenty of rock songs to fire up crowds without asking permission from the Artists or Publishers… Often I takes a formal complaint to get them to stop. Yet Fox news has *yet* to steal this tune for their theme. Seems so appropriate to me…
There is no limit to their hyocracy . I am glad that you upheld your duty as a diligent and honest Reporter .Keep up the good work .
Do you really think that all of these hedious fuking wars were the Dems idea? You truly are a numskull…..
The GOP is currently acting like we are still on the Gold standard. To create jobs (and what has worked in the past) is for the Government to spend, not less. When unemployment drops below 5% you can fix things with the budget. Grand Old Pompous bastards. They don’t even have the economic knowledge of a high school student….
I just wonder how and why so many Americans do not see through this Republican hypocricy and why do Republicans vote against their own financial interests by supporting these right wing nutjobs in the republican party who really do not care about the middle class or poor people.
I have tried to phone Boehner, McConnell and Cantor, but ohhhhh….their
lines are busy or you hit an endless loop. I’m furious!! I’m a conservative
who voted for Obama because of the Bush years. Hey Bush…eight years
of tax cuts for the wealthy….WHERE’S THE JOBS??
Ivan, proving again that the only facts that matter are those he makes up when he should be working. But then, you’re a good Teapublican, Ivan, so you adhere faithfully to the “Make up the facts to suit our narrative” practices of the Faux News crowd. Not a single link to anything at all, just you persistent mantra of Fact: and Note:, which I trust not in the least.
Are the cost of wars included in your data? Frequently for some odd reason the cost of wars are not included in the debt. Should we not of had any stimulus packages?
I don’t need a whole lot of facts to tell me that the current debt is due to both the house and senate (both parties) legislating according to short term needs, and doing this over a period of many decades–all the while the health of the American economy was slipping away. Lending became the great false economy over the past decade, and ever since that bubble popped, the Republican party has been enraged that Democrats were in the leadership majority. Politics before country at a time like this, is just too sickening. “United we stand, divided we fall,” is still true today.
You are so right. thanks for your comments.
Both Republicans and Democrats bought into the self-regulating market. They both bought into deregulation. Many bought into the fact that tax cuts would “pay for themselves.” Deregulation, tax cuts, two wars and before you know it your economy is in shambles.
Again, thanks for your comments.
what do you mean? Their friends, Wall Street CEOs and Fortune 500 CEOs, all have jobs.
thanks for your comments.
You are exactly right. We need to spend our way out of these recession doldrums.
Thanks for your comments.
Quoting the talking heads – brilliant
of course the liberal morons fail to mention that democrats controlled the house and senate since 2007 and for two years prior to that it was an even split.
You morons asked where the outrage is? Look who many republicans have been voted out of office BY REPUBLICANS and replaced since then because of their spending records.
Obama and the dems promised not to raise the debt, to be transparent, not one thin dime of new taxes to the middle class, end Iraq, stop the patriot act, close gitmo etc… and look what you got. All lies.
Now is the time to start to force spending cuts. When Obama loses in 2012 you can bet if the new president does not cut spending he will get it even worse. Obama is just using this to try and have something to run on since his record is one of complete failure.
You not smart enough to google search the facts yourself or just afraid?
Everything he said is public record and undeniable at least to honest people so that lets dems out.
oh bull.
Obama got everything he wanted for the first two years and it has been a complete disaster. The midterm elections are helping to stop some off the Obama mess but we need one or two more to really be able to stop the Democrat train wreck.
Lets not forget the Republicans will raise the debt limit. They are only asking that Obama live up to his own promise to cut the debt.
I guess asking a democrat to keep his word on anything is really asking them too much.
Wow Bill- I’d never realized I was a moron until you told me. Thanks for raising the level of civil discourse; that certainly helps solve our country’s problems!
Part of the problem is that when obama makes a suggestion on how to cut the debt repubs throw it off the table. Telling him what they will accept as a means to reduce the debt. Keeping his options limited to that which he can’t accept he ask for compromise and they tell him he can they won’t.
Yes, I agree.. blogs are a great alternative. But, I think blogged VIDEOS are a better idea–they go viral. Just simple videos that break down the most poignant facts..
This is the problem; you’re twisting reality. Obama most definitely did NOT get everything he wanted the first 2 years. He made compromises that pissed off his own party.. (Purely public healthcare, for example.)
Obama is living up to his end.. The Republicans are REFUSING to negotiate. Again, Obama is willing to make cuts that will piss off Democrats, but the Republicans are refusing to do things like cut subsidies to oil companies that are making BILLIONS. These same companies are paying 17% in taxes! How anyone can defend this is beyond me!
[…] My really busy week continues. I have a really nice post on GOP hypocrisy. […]
The first 232 years of this Republic the debt to GDP was 40%
Since Obama took over the Debt to GDP is 65%
Any further argument is all BS
Obama is a Marxist that hates this country and wants to bring it down and run it like a commie or socalist country
The corporate media,NBC,CBS,and NBC and all it’s affiliates are all HARD LEFT WING outlets for Obama
All Obama has to do is lift the phone and call Redstone of CBS,Iger of ABC or Immeldt of NBC and a car would be rushed over to pick him up and put him on TV
When is the last time you saw a GOP person on one of those networks in prime time,not 6:30Am on the Today Show
C’mon dude the Democrats have not published a budget since they took over
They are afraid to do it-the sticker shock would cause cardiac arrest to most Americans if they did
If he cuts subsidies or taxes to corporations they will encompass them in the price you pay for their goods or services
YOu might want to read a book on economics-Economics 101 for a statrter
I really would stick to medicine,if I were you champ-your economic and finance grades are an F here
You mean Fortune 500 companies like GE’ Immeldt who adores Obama,and he him, paid no tax on $5 billion dollars in US profits last year
Want more-test me
PS: GE owns NBC
Hello again Mr Economics-
Of the 7 times the debt ceiling was raised-now get this
4 times the Dems controlled the house and 3 times the GOP controlled the house
So 4 out of the 7 times the debt ceiling was raised the DEMs could have voted against it
Thats the central point of my post
Hey Bill
As they say “You can’t fix stupid”
Libs are not formulated on facts-they run on emotion,and as such see facts as a roadblock to entitlements.etc
They would never visualize someday the US could mirror Greece’s debt to GDP of 142.5%
That would be way over their heads
Go to the library and look it up-and stop living on my dime which most of you Libs do-have other people take care of you from the cradle to the grave
Really, a Marxist. I’m sorry, your premise is so asinine that it doesn’t deserve comment. This blog is for serious discussion. I’m sure you can go and find some other blogs where your name-calling will be looked at as thoughtful conversation.
I’m not sure that your thoughtful and pithy answer “oh bull” jives with reality. Just a superficial glance at health-care reform and economic stimulus reveals that Obama got very little of what he wanted. In the economic stimulus he wanted little or no tax cuts. In the final “compromise” more than a third of the overall stimulus came through tax cuts. President Obama caved on multiple different occasions to Republican demands with respect to health care reform. He wanted to be able to negotiate drug prices. That language is nowhere in the bill.
Right-wing Saint Ronald Reagan piled up more national debt in his two terms than had been accumulated from Washington to Carter.
So, it’s all Obama’s fault for trying to save the economy from an unemployment rate of 15-20%. Shame on him.
[…] times without nearly as much rebellious and negative hoopla from congress. According to “Where is The Outrage“, President Bust accomplished raising the debt ceiling numerous times “with plenty of […]
[…] times without nearly as much rebellious and negative hoopla from congress. According to “Where is The Outrage“, President Bust accomplished raising the debt ceiling numerous times “with plenty of […]
Which country do you think the President most wants to emulate, Robert? By the way- do you know much about Marxism, Socialism and Communism in theory and in the way it has existed in practice? What are you basing your evaluation on?
What was it when President Clinton left office… and when President Bush left office? I’m not arguing anything here, so my question is not B.S.
I’d explain to you that the same thing happened among Democrats when Bush was President, but what would be the use? I guess you don’t understand partisan politics.
Oh, and then Senator Obama called raising the debt ceiling a failure of leadership. Since it applied then, why not now?
Not hypocrisy on both sides. I am left with the assumption that you are not smart enough to see that.
I seem to remember eight years of seeing some kind of GOPher on television all the time. Funny thing is, members of the GOPher party sang his praises on everything. Especially mentioning his vital work of clearing brush around the flash flood areas on his personal property. Keeping us safe in the event of a flood that might pose a danger to his solely personal possessions.
I currently see Newt, Palin, and other GOPhers all the time, and I don’t watch faux news. I dislike the obvious mind control methods they are using.
Ivan you must remember, when the dems were at the helm we were in Bush’s LIE about the war in Iraq. This is FACT.
The real waste was in the faux war which ballooned our debt. That is FACT. Also another FACT is that Bush took the helm in a different situation than Obama. He had a true stable economy which he ruined another FACT.
At the end of Clinton’s reign in 2000 we had a $237 billion surplus which was the third consecutive surplus and the largest surplus ever. Another FACT.
We shouldn’t be here but we are because of Bush and his war loving VP Cheney. Another FACT.
Also another fact, George Bush admitted that he didn’t know much about the economy … boy was he right!
And what about taxing the gigantic corporations do you believe they deserve to be tax free as many of them are paying less taxes then you and me. Or maybe you prefer “job creators” to have more power maybe we can go back to living on corporate property and making less money so that we basically all become endentured servants like when we started to rise as an industrial nation and no one had any rights and the companies had all the power. Is that what you prefer because thats were its going as we shift blame on each other the 1percent gets richer and we all struggle to get by and the politicians are helping them the whole way. Question: do you really believe a large corporation should pay less taxes than you? Think about it before you answer forget about fox news and just think about the simplicity of the question?”
[…] dose of Leftist revisionism and propaganda comes from Where is the Outrage: GOP Equals Hypocrisy — With Eric Cantor walking out of the high-level debt ceiling negotiation, I thought it’d […]
Republicans are like a** holes they all stink
I think the point of the commentary was that the debt ceiling has been raised by everyone, Democrats and Republicans, but now that Obama is in office, and at this very critical time, it is all of a sudden a huge issue to raise the debt ceiling. I 100% agree the spending of Congress is getting too out of control but there is a time and place to fix that problem. Raising the debt ceiling for now is crucial and should be done without anyone being held hostage or “giving in” to the other side. After the debt ceiling has been raised (as EVERYONE has done before) then continue with bipartisan (that means spending cuts and revenue increases) talks on how to reduce the deficit.
when the last Bush was president, it was raised 7 times in 8 years with pres. obama, 3 times so far, in 2.5 years, this would be the 4th time? sorry, I tire of people misleading by “forgetting” facts!
ummmm, the dem’s were in charge TWO years, yet we have more soldiers in the middle east?
Reagan raised the Debt ceiling 18 times; I don’t want to bore you with facts.
Nobody Important
Sadly, I don’t understand what politics have to do with governance.
Nobody Important
What is wrong with us? Why aren’t we heading to Washington en masse, our pitchforks and scythes held high to protest the bullying mechinations of the Republican party? Why aren’t we as outspoken and loud as the Tea Party twits? I am so frustrated and feel I can do nothing to change the direction of the government and the slow smothering death of the american “everyman”. I am so tired of hearing how the President is pushing us to the brink of disaster. My God, I think he’s done a wonderful job considering the crap he inherited from the Bush years debacle. Where does one go to sign up to fight the minions of the uber rich masquerading as our representatives in Congress and the House? How can we save ouselves from the Tea Party and Republican ?
How about some facts for people to look at for themselves.First the US population;http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.htmlSecond US Unemployment facts and history;http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000The debt ceiling history I just had a link to a federal site as well but will have to find it later but here are the numbers for you.Here’s a breakdown of debt ceiling increases before Obama by presidency:￭ Dwight D. Eisenhower (R): 4￭ John F. Kennedy (D): 5￭ Lyndon B. Johnson (D): 7￭ Richard M. Nixon (R): 7￭ Gerald R. Ford (R): 6￭ Jimmy Carter (D): 6￭ Ronald Reagan (R): 17￭ George H. W. Bush (R): 5￭ Bill Clinton (D): 4￭ George W. Bush (R): 7Bush Jr., took office with an unemployment rate of4.2 percent and left office with 7.8 percent or an increase of 3.6 percent while cutting taxes for the wealthy and businesses.His concepts were flawed and the result was a massive increase in unemployment, massive debt and that is what Obama inherited.Under Bush Jr. the National Debt went from roughly 5.6 Trillion to 10.6 and Bush Jr. passed TARP, not Obama.Why do people ignore facts? What is the matter with people? It should be clear that Obama and any other Democrat is as capable at finding our enemies and protecting this country from foreign and domestic threats.Bush Jr. was on watch when the 9/11 attacks happened, Obama found and dealt with Bin Laden.
Nobody Important
Present facts as I have.
Bush almost doubled unemployment while running up the National Debt to around 10.6 Trillion dollars.
First the US population;
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.htmlSecond US Unemployment facts and history;http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000
At current population rates Bush put 1,122,801,883 out of work during his tenure in office.
Nobody Important
When facts elude or fail to support the position of some individuals, they resort to name calling like a child throwing a tantrum.
Nobody Important
My decimal point was in the wrong place so here is the correction.
11,228,018 people out of work by G’Dubya
Nobody Important
But he does have a flag behind him and it is the image presented that counts.
Nobody Important
Nobody takes care of me except me. Your dime was stolen from the rest of us if you got it from Reagan,Bush/Chaney…..
Most “libs” of which, I am not one in some aspects and in other aspects I am quite liberal.
First, I don’t care what you and your boyfriend do in the privacy of your own home, what you two ladies do is just your business as long as it is consensual and you are both of legal age. Now if your boyfriend were to beat you up and rape you then that would bother me and he should be removed from our society until such time as can be proven he will never do that again; I got your back.
Now for people like Richard Allen Davis, the waste of breath and skin that raped a little girl and then killed her. No trial, take him out back and put a bullet in his head.
Contrary to what some may think, this is not about revenge and/or punishment. It is prevention and nothing more. Alternately, lock him up in a place where he can never escape for the rest of his life without possibility of release.
Is prison about prevention or punishment? Does punishment work? If not then punishment is not the solution to prevent crime.
Liberal about what two people do in their house because it isn’t my business, conservative about what an individual does to another.
BTW, there is no God; the concept is just a form of control. If you need a third party to tell you how to behave then you are weak minded and pretty darn stupid.
Nobody Important
Uhhhh, no. Bush was in the white house and he is a Republican and was “commander and chief”. He lied to the American people telling them that Iraq had WMD’s using information known to be false provided by the Brits about Saddam and fissionable materials; Bush lied.
He later downgraded WMD to include chemical weapons, i.e. nerve gas that everybody knew Saddam had but could not deliver to US soil aboard his little rockets as was demonstrated in the first gulf war.
Now Obama has to clean up the mess Bush left behind, like the massive unemployment that had not spiked when Bush left office [Jan. 2008 5.0 percent rising steadily to 7.8 percent in Jan. of 2009].
Obama attempted to arrest the spike but couldn’t. The National Debt was spiking during Bush [5.6T to 10.6T in 8 years] Obama tried to arrest the spike but couldn’t stop that either.
Obama tried to draw down the troops in foreign theaters of war but again, he could not just withdraw the troops from either country because to do so would mean the war would have been fought for nothing because the countries would return to their previous state.
The Congressional and Senatorial Democrats thought they had it made because they had a Democrat as President and so screwed everything up with the help of the Republicans; Obama had to fight with his own party to get anything done.
The blame for most of this goes to the Democrats in the House and Senate for fighting their leader instead of backing him. The Republicans simply took full advantage of this and have now placed the good of their party’s future ahead of the good of the public’s future.
The Democrats in the House and Senate had their opportunity to demonstrate the difference between them and the Republicans but they squandered that opportunity and the public is left to pay the freight.
Nobody Important
So what you are saying is the Dems placed the good of the Country ahead of their own self interest. I am glad we have been able to clear that up.
Nobody Important
ewwww, you invoked “Fox News”….
Of course Fox has admitted on television that most of their “news” programming is actually entertainment and not news.
Nobody Important
why no outrage today why is the recipients of these social program and environmental action not moving to the streets………
It’s the R’hypocricy Party … pass it on.
Thanks for sharing!
That’s funny, if you knew anything about economics you’d know that the market sets the price, period, contrary to your statement.
This comment was perfect. Plenty of facts. To the point. I love it!
Thanks,