Is this Fiscally Responsible?

Recently Senator Kent Conrad had this letter in the Fargo Forum. A response to a letter critical of him for supporting Obama. In it Conrad claims Obama has a long term plan to resolve national debt.

President leaves nation deep in debt
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. Washington
Opinion - 02/25/2008

Renae Mitchell’s letter, “Debt has a moral dimension,” (Feb. 16) is correct to raise alarm bells about our growing federal debt. I share her concerns. That is why I have been warning about the threat of debt for years. In fact, addressing this issue has been one of the central tenets of my Senate career.

Unfortunately, the next president is going to inherit a fiscal mess from President Bush. His deficit-financed tax cuts and deficit-financed Iraq war spending have exploded our national debt at the worst possible time -- just as the baby boom generation is beginning to retire. In the years ahead, the combination of the baby boom retirement and rising health-care costs will further raise our national debt to an unsustainable level.


In response, most recently, I have introduced a bipartisan fiscal task force bill along with my Republican counterpart on the Senate Budget Committee, Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. Our bill would create a bipartisan panel of lawmakers and administration officials tasked with crafting a legislative proposal that would address the long-term imbalance between federal spending and revenues. Everything would be on the table. The task force’s proposal would be considered on a fast-track basis and, unlike other commissions, would require an up-or-down vote by Congress.


My concern about debt and our long-term outlook is one of the chief reasons why I support Sen. Barack Obama’s candidacy. Obama is committed to confronting our long-term fiscal challenges and, importantly, supports the general approach of my bipartisan fiscal task force bill. We need a president who won’t be afraid to make the tough choices that lay ahead. Obama is the best candidate to put our country back on a sound fiscal course.

An alarming and unknown peice of legislation that is making its way through the Congress in a stealthy manner is this Gobal Poverty Act S. 2344 sponsored by Senator Barack Obama.

An Accuracy in Media article discuss the fiscal impact of the bill.

A nice-sounding bill called the "Global Poverty Act," sponsored by Democratic presidential candidate and Senator Barack Obama, is up for a Senate vote on Thursday and could result in the imposition of a global tax on the United States. The bill, which has the support of many liberal religious groups, makes levels of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations.

Senator Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has not endorsed either Senator Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton in the presidential race. But on Thursday, February 14, he is trying to rush Obama's "Global Poverty Act" (S.2433) through his committee. The legislation would commit the U.S. to spending 0.7 percent of gross national product on foreign aid, which amounts to a phenomenal 13-year total of $845 billion over and above what the U.S. already spends.

Obama’s Global Tax Proposal Up for Senate Vote -Cliff Kincaid February 12, 2008

This is truly alarming and completely fiscally irresponsible for our nation to begin such an incredible financial commitment to the United Nations. In addition, this give a substantial amount of power to the UN.

This bill is heralded as Obama's hallmark legislation, and is really the only significant piece of legislation that Obama has had his name attached too. This is pretty telling of Obama's real philosophy and true left leanings. It also calls into question Senator Conrad's supposed commitment to national debt stablization and relief.