U.S. Rep. Lee Terry’s campaign has hit the airwaves with a thirty-second ad that highlights a key difference between the congressman and his opponent: Terry has voted to reduce spending by trillions of dollars while John Ewing promises to spend trillions more that the country doesn’t have and will have to borrow.
“There is a big difference between John Ewing and me on spending,” Terry said. “I have a record of voting to cut spending. My opponent has endorsed policies that mean trillions more in spending. ‘Ewingnomics’ is more spending, more debt, fewer jobs and continued economic stagnation for years to come.”
Terry’s ad points to the failure of the 2009 “stimulus” program, an $800 billion initiative that was sold to the public as a way to drive unemployment below eight percent, but never came close to doing so. Numerous stories have surfaced in the past year of fraud and abuse in the program, with billions of dollars in questionable loan guarantees going to firms like Solyndra, a California-based manufacturer of solar panels that went belly-up after receiving aid from the Obama administration.
Terry voted against the stimulus in 2009. Ewing supports the stimulus and incredibly has stated he might go for another one.1 “The only thing the stimulus program grew was government,” Terry said.
Terry’s record on cutting spending is beyond dispute. In the past three years alone, he has voted 157 times to cut spending from bills that came to the floor of the House. These include votes to reduce federal spending $7 trillion below current levels.2
Ewing, on the other hand, only feeds the spending appetite by supporting the 2009 stimulus and the 2010 federal healthcare law ($1.7 trillion in cost). He supports the Obama Administration, which by their own projections add $10 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.3
The ad crystallizes this key difference. “Cut spending now,” Terry says, followed by the narrator: “John Ewing: Just charge it.”
Terry’s ad has a substantial placement on Omaha broadcast and cable stations, according to Dave Boomer, campaign manager. Titled “Spending,” the text of the ad follows.
Lee Terry: Washington borrows and spends too much. It has to stop.
Female Announcer: Congressman Lee Terry has worked to do just that.
Voting 157 times to cut spending. Seven trillion dollars more in cuts.
John Ewing? He backed the failed 800 billion dollar stimulus program. And could support another one.
Trillions more in new spending and trillions more in debt.
Lee Terry: Cut spending now.
Female Announcer: John Ewing?
Male Announcer: Just charge it.
Lee Terry: I’m Lee Terry and I approve this message.
1 Omaha World Herald, ”Howard, Ewing agree on most debate issues,“ news article by Robynn Tysver, January 21, 2012
2 House votes from 2009-11; the complete list of all 157 votes is available on Terry’s web site (www.leeterry.com) and includes $7 trillion in reductions below current law over ten years.
3 The Wall Street Journal, “The Kempian Roots of Ryanomics,” op-ed by Stephen Moore, August 13, 2012, page A13.
