Even in Recess, Congress Can’t Help Spending Billions for Bailouts

Stephen Keen / August 09, 2010

Not satisfied by the billions in federal bailouts already passed, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently announced that she intendeds to bring the House back from the August recess to pass yet another multi-billion-dollar federal bailout. This version—costing taxpayers $26.1 billion—is touted as aid “to save teachers’ jobs, help seniors and children.” Perhaps anticipating a backlash against additional billion-dollar bailouts (the national debt recently polled on par with terrorism as threats to the United States), congressional Democrats were quick to claim that this would all be “paid for.”

Unfortunately, even a cursory look at the details reveals these claims for the gimmicks they are.

First, the bill will almost certainly not be paid for. The largest “cut” in spending is an $11.9 billion reduction in spending for the food stamp program, but this is directly at odds with information from the Huffington Post: “Democrats told HuffPost they will work to prevent the food stamp cuts from ever taking effect.” In reality, this bailout, like the many others that preceded it, will likely add billions to the burgeoning national debt. (more…)