As the Virginia Senate race grinds into gear, former Virginia Govs. Tim Kaine and George Allen have started drawing lines on the major topics du jour – the recent budget compromise, for example, or how Congress should go about raising the debt ceiling.
Now? The nation’s long-term deficit.
President Barack Obama has laid out a plan to cut the deficit by $4 trillion over the next 12 years that involves letting the Bush-era tax cuts expire for wealthy Americans while leaving entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid largely intact.
Kaine said the president’s proposal is “far preferable” to a House proposal “that would weaken key programs like Medicare and jeopardize the recovery.”
Republican Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan, which has cleared the U.S. House of Representatives, would cut about $6 trillion in spending over the next decade, and would eventually turn Medicare into a voucher program and give states control over Medicaid.
Allen, along with many Republicans, blasted the President’s proposal as a plan to raise taxes.
“The best way to raise revenue is with a vibrant economy that has its people working and businesses prospering rather than imposing higher taxes,” he said.
Allen also commended Ryan’s leadership for offering what he called a “constructive plan.”
“Many tough and smart decisions need to be made to spur economic growth and stop the endless spending that is burdening our children and grandchildren with unsustainable debt,” said Allen. “I have been a longtime advocate of reducing the tax on job creators to encourage investment and job creation. Rather than fear mongering, it is time for Democrats to come to the table and offer constructive solutions to make America more competitive.
Kaine, meanwhile, said the the most hopeful development is the work a bipartisan group of Senators, including Mark Warner, D-Va., known as the “Gang of Six,” who are huddling to craft their own deficit reduction plan.
“The good faith dialogue that Sen. Warner and others are engaged in is far preferable to a strategy of brinksmanship where threats of government shutdown and default on financial obligations are used as political leverage,” Kaine said. “I support the bipartisan effort to look at all strategies for responsibly reducing the deficit and hope that process reaches a resolution in the near future.”
