Kerry says he would cap federal spending

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/lateststories/index.ssf?...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat John Kerry said Wednesday if he is elected president he will not let government programs outside of security and education grow beyond the rate of inflation, even if it means cutting some of his own campaign promises and existing government programs.

"When I say a cap on spending, I mean it," Kerry said in a speech prepared for delivery Wednesday. "We will have to make real choices — and that includes priorities of my own."

Kerry said he would freeze the federal travel budget, reduce oil royalty exemptions for drilling on federal lands, cut 100,000 federal government contractors, and cut electricity used by the federal government by 20 percent, among other programs.

Kerry said with the growing deficit, he'll have to "slow down" some of his campaign promises or phase them in over a longer period. He cited proposals for early childhood education and a program that would have provided tuition to students attending state colleges in exchange for two years of national service, although he didn't say how much they would be scaled back.

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[David Dunham]

1. Kerry is following Clinton's example of responsible budgets.

[aquart]

2. That was a given. Good thing he said it, though.

LOVE that he's after cutting "contractors." Only 100,000?

[PROGRESSIVE1]

3. I agree. We cannot keep on spending like "Druken Republicans"!

[jpak]

5. Correction

Drunken Red Ink Republicans...

[Bandit]

4. Health Care for All ~ D'oh maybe a "slight" Delay on that one.

He has to stick to the main theme and Health Care for all is it. It will reduce spending not add to it. Don't let the GOP continue the lies. Preventative Maintenance works whether it is on your personal health or your automobile. Why can't this simple fact get traction?

[OneBlueSky]

6. the place to save money is the military budget . . .

I'm all for a strong military, but when we're spending more than the other nations on the planet combined, I think things are more than a little out of whack . . . we need to abandon the BushCo goal of dominating the world and cut back our forces to what we really need for defensive purposes . . . imo, the military budget could easily absorb a 25% cut, and probably more over time . . .

[Voltaire99]

7. LOL! OK, which campaign promises are not promises, then?

Democrat John Kerry said Wednesday if he is elected president he will not let government programs outside of security and education grow beyond the rate of inflation, even if it means cutting some of his own campaign promises and existing government programs.

Sigh.

Was it only last winter that we were talking about social and economic justice as the themes of a Democratic renaissance in the wake of the destructive Bush years?

And out of Kerry now it's a) cut corporate taxes; b) cut government spending; c) increase troops in Iraq.

Kerry's script is tailored to please the editors of the Wall Street Journal, and to outflank criticisms that he's a tax-and-spender. I can understand that in a tactical context.

But if he wants my vote, I expect more from him than GOP-lite.

[jpgray]

8. I believe I could replace you with a 'Voltaire99 template' at this point

To answer your points:

a) Cutting corporate taxes to keep jobs here won't really work well at all, but it's good for the campaign, and it's much more honest than saying tax cuts and deregulation will keep jobs here.

b) Every primary candidate was in favor of balanced budgets, and every one wanted to cut spending. This isn't 'tactical', it's common sense.

c) He called for 40,000 more troops in general, not in Iraq. Kerry expressed concern about the national guard units called up, the reservists, the overtextension of personnel. And he's right. For Iraq he has a similar plan to Dean (and now Kucinich) that involves phasing the UN in and phasing the US out.

The only one I can see dismissing as tactics is (a).

[legin]

9. Super !!!

With Iraq going down the tubes, and me sitting around dreading a massacar in Falluga this is just the speech I wanted to hear about the phenominally important subject of 'Federal spending caps'.

Kerry is such a smeghead.

[JI7]

10. some people can do and think about more than 1 thing

and the caps was in response the questions about balanced budgets.

[struggle4progress]

11. Makes sense: we're the party of fiscal responsibility.