Bryant, Armey Know How to Spend Money
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ed Bryant got back to his Washington roots Tuesday and Wednesday when he traveled around the state with former U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey. The former congressional colleagues spent much of their time espousing their brand of Washington free-spending economics. “We don’t need Armey — one of Don Sundquist’s good friends from Washington — telling us how to manage our business,” Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Bob Tuke said. “Dick Armey, Ed Bryant, and Van Hilleary voted to raise the federal debt by more than $500 billion when they were in Congress.”
Tennessee is “doing fine” under the fiscal management of Governor Phil Bredesen, Tuke said. “State spending has slowed dramatically now that Sundquist is out of office. We’re making progress in education. And our Rainy Day Fund has gone from ‘zero’ to its highest level in our state’s history.”
Rather than the “crass political gimmicks” Armey and Bryant propose to impose fiscal responsibility on governments, Tuke said the way to hold down spending and avoid raising taxes is to “manage government and set aside money to prepare for tough economic times — which is exactly what Governor Bredesen and the General Assembly have been doing.”
What Tennessee doesn’t need, according to Tuke, is Beltway ideas like those pushed by Armey and Bryant. “If Dick Armey wants to lecture someone on deficit spending, he needs to go back to Washington and talk to the Republican leadership that has driven up federal spending and debt to record levels,” the chairman said.
The Bush Administration and Congressional Republicans last week raised the federal debt limit to almost $9 trillion.
