Want to see (and hear) how truly far apart Democrats and Republicans are on the ongoing debt-ceiling, default-crisis debate? Look no further than Colorado’s own congressional delegation. Republican Doug Lamborn shared his views on KRDO radio Wednesday night, and Democrat Jared Polis will appear tonight on Fox Business Network’s Stossel Show with John Stossel.
The Stossel Show airs tonight at 8 MT and re-airs Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Stossel enlists “a panel of experts to assess the ‘Stossel Solution’ to the debt crisis facing the United States and how it compares to other plans that have been proposed in Washington,” according to a Fox press alert.
Guests include Polis; American Enterprise Institute President Arthur Brooks; Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist; Public Notice Executive Director Gretchen Hamel; and City Journal City Editor Steve Malanga.
“While most of the media obsesses about the debt ceiling and whether it will be extended [by the Aug. 2 default deadline], Stossel has a different take: he’ll just make the cuts and solve the debt,” according to the Fox website. “Stossel says it’s not that hard to eliminate the entire deficit. He’ll break out the giant scissors and chop into the national debt.”
Meanwhile Lamborn, speaking to KRDO reporters Lindsay Watts and Mike Lewis Wednesday night on KRDO (1240 AM), said he is “leaning toward supporting the [House Speaker John] Boehner plan because, although it is not perfect by any means, it is better than the alternatives.”
Lamborn and other Republican members of Colorado’s congressional delegation have been hammering on the Senate’s outright rejection of their “Cut, Cap and Balance” plan last week despite White House indications the bill was largely symbolic and would be vetoed.
Boehner has haltingly been working out a compromise plan that’s meeting stiff resistance from rank-and-file Republicans. The speaker is hoping for a vote as soon as tonight.
“It’s not a perfect plan,” Lamborn said of the Boehner plan Wednesday night. “There are things I would change about it, but it’s better than what I see the alternatives as being. One alternative is to go into this slowdown about Aug. 3.
“The other would be to let [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid put out his Senate plan, which frankly frightens me. It basically ‘saves money’ by cutting defense and then some budgetary gimmicks. It does not solve any problems and actually makes things worse, so in lieu of the bad alternatives, I’m leaning towards supporting [the Boehner plan], yes.”
To hear the entire Lamborn interview, click here
According to the Denver Post, both of Colorado’s Tea Party freshmen, Republican Reps. Scott Tipton and Cory Gardner, have said they will support Boehner’s plan tonight.
Polis issued a statement on the debt limit vote in late May:
“Congress must work in a bipartisan, responsible and fair way to reduce the federal deficit and debt while strengthening our economy and creating jobs. House Republicans have instead chosen a partisan path and may endanger our economic recovery with their sham debt limit vote …
“Addressing the debt limit isn’t about new spending; it’s about paying off a debt largely incurred by Republican policies, such as the Bush tax cuts and the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Every responsible economist has made clear that failing to raise the debt limit is irresponsible and risks shattering our fragile economic recovery. I have called for a clean, up-or-down vote on increasing the debt limit, which I support.”
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