Fischer Fibs On Her Budget Plan; Omaha World Herald Verifies It Was A Fabrication

Chris Triebsch, Press Release

Fischer First Embraces 18% Spending Plan, Then Runs from It by Trying to Change Number

OMAHA – Following last Friday’s debate, State Senator Deb Fischer falsely told reporters that her budget proposal would set federal spending at 19.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product. The Omaha World Herald reported today that Senator Kerrey was right that Fischer’s plan would set spending at 18 percent of GDP.

Further, The Omaha World Herald pointed out that Fischer embraced 18 percent spending at the State Fair debate last month.

“Fischer is running away from her spending plan because she knows Nebraskans are figuring out what it would mean to Medicare, Social Security, Pell Grants, Rural Development, Veterans benefits and important assistance for working mothers,” said Paul Johnson, Kerrey Campaign Manager.

“She recently celebrated her budget plan over cupcakes and champagne with her billionaire benefactors in Washington, D.C. But her plan isn’t being celebrated by Nebraskans, so she is fudging the numbers. It is time for her to be honest with Nebraskans.”

According to numbers from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and the Congressional Budget Office, State Senator Fischer’s budget plan would result in between $6,200 and $8,000 more in out-of-pocket costs for seniors because of the cuts that would be required to Medicare and Social Security under the Fischer plan.

Excerpt from the Omaha World Herald:

A dispute erupted after the debate over how much Fischer wants to cut the federal budget. Kerrey has repeatedly accused Fischer of wanting to trim back federal spending to 18 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) — a charge he made several times in the debate.

Kerrey said such a cut would have a “drastic” impact on popular federal programs that Fischer says she supports and would require wholesale cuts to veterans and agricultural programs.

Kerrey based his assertion on Fischer’s support of a Republican bill in Congress known as Cut, Cap and Balance, a measure that stalled in the U.S. Senate.

Fischer says the bill would reduce spending to 19.9 percent of GDP — a substantial cut, but somewhat less than Kerrey’s claim. (Currently, federal spending is 25.3 percent of GDP.)

Who’s right?

We think Kerrey has the better argument on two fronts.

Fischer bases her assertion on the spending-limit portion of the bill. It would have ratcheted down federal spending to 21.7 percent of GDP for fiscal year 2013, then drop it to 19.9 percent of GDP by 2019.

However, Fischer ignored a second key component of the bill that would require Congress to submit to the states a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That portion of the bill offered up several possible scenarios, including a possible spending cap of 18 percent of GDP.

Fischer previously never raised an objection to Kerrey’s argument that she wants to slash federal spending to 18 percent of GDP.

In fact, in an August debate in Grand Island, Fischer appeared to embrace the idea, arguing: “We can reach 18 percent of GDP. We were at that in 2001. We do it by cutting spending.”

Omaha World Herald 9-30, 2012