Obama To Argue For More Gov't Spending In SOTU?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is finally moving to reconvene The US Senate tomorrow, Jan 25th,  at 10 AM. He still has NOT announced his legislative agenda. A resolution concerning the shootings in Tucson is expected to be offered by Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ).

Today, also marks in Washington D.C. the 38th Annual March for Life.  Before the march, Sen. Republican leader McConnnell released the following remarks: “Today Americans all across the country reaffirm the fundamental principle that every human life is precious and worthy of protection under law. I warmly welcome those from Kentucky and across the nation who have brought this message to Washington today and every year since 1974. They remind us of the dignity of every human person, but particularly the most vulnerable, and they should find new encouragement in the fact that so many newly elected members of Congress share their deep respect for human life at all its stages.”

The Washington Post reports today, “The debate that will define this year and is likely to set the terms for the 2012 elections began in earnest over the weekend, with President Obama and Republican leaders presenting competing visions for reducing the deficit and expanding the economy. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Sunday that Republicans will do everything in their power to stop the new spending increases that Obama says are necessary in a video preview of his State of the Union address sent to supporters late Saturday.”

"[F]or the first time, our national debt has surpassed $14 trillion -- a dubious and shameful record. Even more astonishing, the past two presidents, one from each major political party, are responsible for half of that monstrous sum. As an Associated Press story noted, 'about half of today's national debt was run up in the past six years. It soared from $7.6 trillion in January 2005 as President George W. Bush began his second term to $10.6 trillion the day President Obama was inaugurated and to $14.02 trillion now.' In this era of hyper-partisanship, it is comforting to know that there is one thing both parties have agreed upon -- spending the nation into insolvency. It is clear that $14 trillion is an amount is so astronomical as to be literally incomprehensible.... Unfortunately, that does not stop us from racking up such sums. Doubtless, the two phenomena are somehow related. So deduct another $45,300 from your salary. That is what the national debt amounts to for every man, woman, and child in America. ... For decades, the government has been spending our wealth -- first everything we made, then everything we ever going to make, and now everything our children and their children will ever make. How future generations will judge us for the theft of their prosperity is not hard to guess." --Matt Patterson, Capital Research Center

According to The New York Times, “Mr. Obama will use the State of the Union address to argue that government should be a tool for creating jobs and strengthening a fragile recovery through spending in areas like high-speed rail, scientific research, clean energy programs and college grants — a message that appeals to Democratic voters. In effect, Mr. Obama is trying to wall off those areas from spending cuts and is daring Republicans to defy him.”

In response, The Times notes, “In a series of carefully choreographed appearances on Sunday morning talk shows here, Republicans sought to draw the battle lines for the Tuesday night speech over government spending. With Mr. Obama planning to call for ‘investments’ of tax dollars in specific areas like education, infrastructure and technology, Republicans insisted that ‘investment’ was just another name for spending that the nation can ill afford.”

Yesterday, appearing on Fox News Sunday, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell did very well and stayed on the conservative message.  One suggestion for   Sen. McConnell and other Republicans is to stop using the words " our Democratic friends" and related terms. McConnell told Chris Wallace, “With all due respect to our Democratic friends, any time they want to spend, they call it investment, so I think you will hear the president talk about investing a lot Tuesday night. We've got a huge spending problem here. We've had over $1 trillion annual deficit each of the last two years… the American people think that we need to do something about this and start doing it now.”

The president’s call for investment sounds a lot like the failed $814 billion stimulus bill from two years ago. As Leader McConnell said, “If government spending would have solved the problem, we'd have a rip-roaring economy right now… And that's what we've been doing the last two years: the stimulus bill, massive borrowing and spending in order to try to advance the economy. I think there is scant to no evidence that the stimulus bill had any impact on the private sector. And look, everybody knows the only way we're going to get out of this economic trough is to get the private sector growing again.”

Floating new spending as the way forward misses entirely the message Americans sent Washington just two months ago. As The Washington Post notes, “McConnell said on ‘Fox News Sunday’ that new spending defies the message sent by voters in November, when Republicans took control of the House and gained six seats in the Senate. ‘We'll take a look at his recommendations,’ McConnell said. ‘But this is not a time to be looking at pumping up government spending in very many areas.’”

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