2007 Des Moines Register Democratic debate: on Budget & Economy

Barack Obama: Bush & GOP dug budget hole; need years to dig out

A: Over the last seven years, what we’ve seen is an economy that’s out of balance because of the policies of George Bush and the Republicans in Congress. Not only do we have fiscal problems, but we’ve got growing inequality. People are working harder for less and they’re seeing costs go up. So what I want to do is get the long-term fundamentals right. That means that we are investing in education & infrastructure, structuring fair trade deals, and also ending the war in Iraq. That is money that can be applied at home for critical issues.

Q: So a priority to balance the federal budget, or not?

A: We are not going to be able to dig ourselves out of that hole in 1 or 2 years. But if we can get on a path of sustained growth, end the war in Iraq, end some of the special interest loopholes and earmarks that have been clogging up the system, then I think we can return to a path of a balanced budget.

Barack Obama: Save $150 billion in tax cuts for people who don’t need them

Bill Richardson: Balanced 5 state budgets; priority to balance federal budget

A: Well, as a governor, I have to, by law, balance budgets. I’ve balanced five. And it would be a major priority of mine. And this is what I would do as president. I would advocate for line-item veto authority for the president, a constitutional amendment to balance the budget. But most importantly, I believe balancing the budget should be viewed as an opportunity to have economic growth in this country.

Bill Richardson: Supports restricted Constitutional balanced budget amendment

But I think what is critically important is that when we talk about our most urgent national priority: we’ve spent $500 billion in this war. And these are funds that could go to our domestic priorities--to health care, to kids, to education, & to improving our schools.

Bill Richardson: Save $150 billion in tax cuts for people who don’t need them

Chris Dodd: Federal budget much more complicated & diverse than states’

RICHARDSON: Well, as a governor, I have to, by law, balance budgets. I’ve balanced five. And it would be a major priority of mine.

DODD: Well, listen, the federal government’s much different than a state government, I say respectfully to Bill Richardson here. It’s much more complicated and diverse. I’ve been a strong supporter, authored, in fact, pay-as-you-go budgets back in the early 1980s, which failed. I was a strong supporter of Gramm-Rudman, which is designed as well to inject some fiscal discipline into the process. So we need to have an economy here that’s driving to growth, creating jobs, which is the best social program anyone ever created. And then, simultaneously, bring an end to the war in Iraq, & begin to put that discipline back into our process. But the national government is a very different entity than a state government; requires a lot more flexibility to it.

Hillary Clinton: Look back to 1990s to see how I’d be fiscally responsible

A: Well, fiscal responsibility is a very high priority for me. We don’t have to go back very far in our history, in fact just to the 1990s, to see what happens when we do have a fiscally responsible budget that does use rules of discipline to make sure that we’re not cutting taxes or spending more than we can afford. I will institute those very same approaches. You can’t do it in a year. It’ll take time. But the economy will grow again when we start acting fiscally responsible. And then we can save money in the government by cutting out private contractors, closing loopholes, getting the health care system to be more efficient. We’ll do all of this at the same time, but the results will take awhile for us to actually see.

Joe Biden: Balancing budget is about priorities; GOP made wrong choices

A: You don’t have to make a choice of balancing the budget and/or leading with the priorities that most of us feel strongly about, from health care, to education, to the environment. And I’ll just put it in real stark terms: It’s about priorities. Just by eliminating the war, & eliminating the $200 billion in tax cuts that goes to the top 1%, if you add it all up, [with $350B in cuts to military special programs], that would allow me to do everything I want to do -- my priorities on education, health care and the environment -- and still bring down the deficit by $150 billion. So, the Republicans are trying to sucker us into this, “You either have to balance the budget and do nothing to make people’s lives better, or you’re going to balloon the deficit.” They have ballooned the deficit with their bad priorities.

Joe Biden: Save Pentagon spending by getting the troops out of Iraq

John Edwards: Get rid of structural deficiencies in American economy

A: Well, first of all, what we have to do is get rid of the structural deficiencies in the American economy. And we have to create jobs, protect American jobs. We have to strengthen and grow the middle class, which is struggling mightily in this country today. And one of the reasons that we’ve lost jobs, we’re having trouble creating jobs, we’re having trouble growing & strengthening the middle class is because corporate power and greed have literally taken over the government. And we need a president who’s willing to take these powers on. It is the only way we’re going to strengthen & grow the middle class, have universal health care, have a trade policy that actually works for American workers, have a tax policy that’s not favoring big multinational corporations, but instead favors the middle class and working people.