Democrats Refuse to Tackle Fiscal Crisis

"Last June, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, made an observation that may have surprised some people. A day after Democrats here in the Senate refused to allocate tens of billions of dollars in unemployment assistance unless the costs could be added to an already unsustainable debt -- he said that, in his view, the biggest threat to our national security is our debt.

"A few months earlier, the President himself identified the debt as a looming crisis. He pointed out that almost all of our long-term debt relates to the cost of Medicare and Medicaid. And he said, `If we don't get control of that, we can't get control over our budget.'

"But the co-chair of the President's debt commission may have put it best just six weeks ago. Speaking about the consequences of the fiscal path we're on, Erskine Bowles said simply, "It's the most predictable crisis in history.'

"The most predictable crisis in history.

"That was a Democrat talking.

"And yet Democrats in the Senate don't even want to talk about it.

"Yesterday, here in the Senate, Democrats rejected every single proposal we've seen on our nation's fiscal future. They took a pass.

"They've chosen to ignore this crisis just like they ignored the last one.

"Three years ago, as the financial crisis approached, the Senior Senator from New York was holding press conferences trying to link the War in Iraq to what passed for an economic slowdown at the time.

"The Majority Leader was postponing votes that we all knew would fail so Democrats who were running for president could be here to vote on them.

"Now, in the face of a looming crisis we all admit is coming --they're doing the same thing.

"This crisis is staring us right in the face.

"The Democrats themselves -- from the President on down -- say they see it. Yet, once again, they're so focused on the next election they refuse to do anything to upset the status quo.

"They're more concerned about their own jobs than preventing a economic catastrophe that could affect everybody's job.

"They want to wait this out -- while they hammer anybody who proposes a solution. They rejected their own President's budget. They rejected three Republican budgets. And they haven't even bothered to offer a budget of their own.

"They're just marking time.

"So I think Democrats have lost the right to express concern about this crisis.

"Until they propose some solution of their own, they are part of the problem.

"The American people didn't send us here to hide in a corner until the next election.

"They sent us here to act on their behalf.

"And this is their message: If you see a crisis coming, you better do something about it."

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