Politico Bio Of Kent Conrad: Prone To Betray His Constituents, Mixed Record On Deficits
And that “mixed record on deficits” part is being nice. Here’s Politico’s description of Conrad’s efforts on shrinking the deficit listed under his “biggest triumphs.”
Each year since Conrad became chairman in 2007, Congress has approved a budget, including President Barack Obama’s $3 trillion spending blueprint for 2009. That’s no easy task, given that in 2004 and 2006, when Republicans controlled Congress, the budget was not passed because of infighting between the two chambers.
But passing a budget is not Conrad’s ultimate goal: He ran for office vowing to control the budget deficit, which is projected to hit $1.75 trillion in 2010. If he can bring that under control, Conrad’s tenure as chairman could be viewed as a success; if not, he very likely will share the blame for contributing to the nation’s unparalleled $11.8 trillion national debt.
Conrad has been chairman of the Senate Budget Committee from 2007 to present. Every year our deficits have gotten bigger. This year, tremendously bigger.
Call me crazy, but that’s not much of a “triumph.” Unless Conrad’s goal was to explode deficits.
Now for Conrad’s “Achilles Heel” per the article:
Even though he’s not afraid to break with party orthodoxy, Conrad has shown that he ultimately may bend to pressure from the White House and the Democratic leadership in Congress. For instance, he was opposed to including language in the budget resolution this year permitting Congress to approve a health reform bill under a fast-track process that is not subject to a filibuster. But Conrad caved on the issue and ultimately supported the final budget resolution that included it. “The last time I checked, the Budget Committee chairman doesn’t outrank the president of the United States, the speaker and the majority leader,” Conrad said.
That’s a pretty lame excuse on Conrad’s part. Last time I checked, Conrad didn’t have to vote the way the President, Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader told him. If he truly opposed passing health care reform on a mere majority vote in the Senate (and given that his constituents are overwhelmingly opposed to this health care “reform” his opposition actually would have lined up well with their will) he would have voted that way. He didn’t. Meaning that he betrayed his constituents to please his fellow liberals.
Kent Conrad is a joke that isn’t funny any more. He claims he’s a deficit hawk while presiding over and voting for the biggest deficits in history. He claims he’s a moderate willing to buck his party, and yet when the order comes down from the top of his party he toes the line.
