Wilmington News-Journal: Castle taking heat for vote against jobs package
Wilmington News-Journal: Castle taking heat for vote against jobs package
Nicole Guadiano
December 18, 2009
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20091218/NEWS02/912180339
Delaware Republican says he opposes increased spending during recession
WASHINGTON — Democrats are blasting Republican Rep. Mike Castle for voting against a $154 billion job creation bill, saying he’s siding with Wall Street over Delaware workers.
Delaware Democratic Party chairman John Daniello called Castle’s vote “a true betrayal of Delaware workers.”
“More than 37,000 Delaware workers are still unemployed, and the programs funded by this bill could make real progress in getting Delawareans back to work,” he said in a statement.
Castle, a candidate for Senate next year, joined House Republicans and 38 Democrats in opposing the bill, which passed Wednesday on a 218-214 vote. The Senate isn’t expected to take up the bill this year.
Castle said he voted for a separate measure to extend unemployment insurance and COBRA subsidies for Delawareans in need. But he opposed this second stimulus for the same reasons he opposed the first $787 billion stimulus package in February.
“We cannot spend our way back to economic prosperity,” Castle said in a statement. “While many of the programs have my support, this administration continues to promote deficit-financed spending instead of promoting long-term job growth.”
The jobs bill is designed to steer money from a financial bailout program to infrastructure projects and job-creation and job-preservation efforts while extending unemployment benefits and subsidies for COBRA insurance for laid-off workers.
Eric Schultz, communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said Castle’s vote against the bill will be “a part of the narrative we tell on Mike Castle” during his Senate campaign. Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, Vice President Joe Biden’s son, is expected to run for his father’s former Senate seat. The seat is now held by Sen. Ted Kaufman, who plans to retire.
“This is a new Mike Castle,” Schultz said. “I believe this will be a seminal vote.”
Republicans say the bailout funds are dedicated by law to reducing the national debt and any “son of stimulus” money would have to be borrowed.
The House narrowly passed a measure Wednesday to increase the debt ceiling by $290 billion, with all Republicans and 39 Democrats voting in opposition.
Castle had proposed a budget amendment to keep spending from increasing more than the cost of living, which he said “continues to be ignored.”
“Delawareans are saving at record levels and making tough choices for their own budgets, and governments should follow their lead,” he said. “This Congress and administration continue to create debt at record speed instead of developing bipartisan policies for sustainable economic growth.”