2012 Virginia Senate Debates: on Budget & Economy
Tim Kaine:
Tea Party's reckless economic policies create uncertainty
Tea Party activist Jamie Radtke hit the former one-term senator for voting to add an expensive prescription drug program to Medicare and backing No Child Left Behind, two initiatives sought by Republican
President George W. Bush. "Tim Kaine will not run to the right of me on spending," Radtke said, subtly criticizing the budgets Allen voted for during his previous Senate term.
Kaine's campaign responded to the repeated criticism following the debate. "Virginia voters heard the Tea Party contenders push reckless economic policies that would damage
Virginia's economy, create more uncertainty for our businesses, and make our nation less globally competitive," a Kaine spokeswoman said.
Source: Washington Examiner on 2012 Virginia Senate debate
May 25, 2012
Jamie Radtke:
Congress should have reformed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
According to Radtke, auring his Senate term, Allen "voted for every single spending bill, added $3 trillion to the national debt, and he voted for his own salary increase when we were deficit spending. He took money from Fannie and Freddie
Mac and refused to support reform, and we're still reeling from that, even today. And he voted for the largest expansion of entitlements since Lyndon Johnson's Great Society." Allen stuck to what he called his "positive agenda,"
focusing on small business and job creation. He said he'd support "policies that actually make it easier to invest and create jobs, including simple, fair and competitive tax laws, reasonable regulations, affordable, plentiful
American energy, and empowering education opportunities that will send a message to the world that America is open for business again."
Source: The Virginian-Pilot on 2012 Virginia Senate debate
May 12, 2012
Jamie Radtke:
Focus on cutting spending; Allen voted to spend trillions
Radtke railed against Allen's time in Washington from 2001 to 2007 and blaming him for deficit spending. "We cannot return a politician like George Allen who voted for trillions of dollars in spending and spent our children's money,"
Radtke said. "We need someone who is going to focus on cutting spending in these serious times." Allen didn't respond to any of his opponents attacks personally.
Instead, he defended his term by pointing out proposals to curb spending by supporting a line-item veto, and introducing a balanced budget amendment.
He said the economy was out of control "because of the overspending, over-regulating big government policies of President Obama, Tim Kaine and the Washington liberals."
Source: Hampton Roads Daily Press on 2012 Virginia Senate debate
May 11, 2012
Jamie Radtke:
We need someone who is going to focus on cutting spending
Radtke railed against Allen's time in Washington from 2001 to 2007 and blaming him for deficit spending. "We cannot return a politician like George Allen who voted for trillions of dollars in spending and spent our children's money,"
Radtke said. "We need someone who is going to focus on cutting spending in these serious times." Allen didn't respond to any of his opponents attacks personally.
Instead, he defended his term by pointing out proposals to curb spending by supporting a line-item veto, and introducing a balanced budget amendment.
He said the economy was out of control "because of the overspending, over-regulating . big government policies of President Obama, Tim Kaine and the Washington liberals."
Source: Hampton Roads Daily Press on 2012 Virginia Senate debate
May 11, 2012
George Allen:
No future debt-limit increases until spending is restrained
Allen said the country's economic and fiscal climate is different than it was when he voted for debt limit increases during his Senate term. "The credit-worthiness of America for the first time in our history has been downgraded. The annual deficits are
now over a trillion dollars every single year. When I left the U.S. Senate, the annual deficit was about $160 billion." Allen said he would not support future debt-limit increases unless they come with "concrete ironclad spending restraints."
Source: The Virginian-Pilot on 2012 Virginia Senate debate
Apr 29, 2012
George Allen:
Stimulus spending failed to create promised jobs
Radtke lambasted Allen during the debate for his Senate spending record. "When I left the Senate, the annual deficit was about $160 billion, on the course to getting to a balanced budget," he said afterward. "Talk about how much of spending
is being borrowed, and the estimates are about 33 cents of every dollar is being borrowed. In 2006, it was 5.9 cents--an exponential increase in spending. This stimulus spending was promised to create all these jobs and has not."
Source: Washington Times on 2012 Virginia GOP primary Senate debate
Apr 28, 2012
Jamie Radtke:
If we do not deal with spending, nothing else matters
Tea Party activist Jamie Radtke lambasted Mr. Allen during the debate for his spending record in the U.S. Senate--as she has done since entering the race. "If we do not deal with spending, nothing else matters," she said,
alluding to Mr. Allen when she blasted "fiscal irresponsibility of career politicians in both parties who say they're for a balanced-budget amendment but then turn and vote for trillions of dollars in spending."
Source: Washington Times on 2012 Virginia GOP primary Senate debate
Apr 28, 2012
Tim Kaine:
I cut state spending $5B while investing in infrastructure
During a discussion on the tax code, Allen proposed a "freedom to choose" flat tax, in which people could choose either a flat tax--though Allen stopped short of naming an exact rate, or which deductions might still exist--or the present tax code,
if they thought they could get a better deal by itemizing various deductions. Allen predicted that over time, most people would migrate to the flat tax. For his part, Kaine pointed out that Allen was unable to come up with a number.
Source: Eric Kleefeld reporting on 2012 Virginia Senate debate
Dec 7, 2011
Page last updated: Dec 05, 2018