Expect More Budget Busting Votes

During our debate on  WTVD earlier this week, Congressman Etheridge told voters that he voted to balance the budget 13 years ago, in 1997, and added, “I look forward to working across party lines again. We did that to balance the budget … I cast the first vote. I went to Washington to help balance the budget.”

Unfortunately, Congressman Etheridge got his facts wrong.  He actually voted against final passage of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (Roll call 345) – the bill in which Bill Clinton and the Republicans agreed on $100 billion in budget cuts to balance the budget.  More to the point, back in 1997 it took a Republican majority in Congress to act as a check and balance on a Democratic President – Bill Clinton – to get a balanced budget.

By comparison, today, we have a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress where legislators like Bob Etheridge vote with President Obama 97% of the time.  And if Bob Etheridge returns to Washington we can expect more of the same budget busting votes that cost us jobs.

Congressman Etheridge can talk all he wants about working across party lines – but actions speak louder than words.