HOLIDAY TALKING POINTS FOR DEMOCRATS

Florida Democratic Party - December 2007

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DEMOCRATS ARE DELIVERING A NEW DIRECTION

• Democrats in Congress are as committed to change as the American people are, and we are equally as fed up with the unprecedented obstructionist tactics of Bush Republicans.

• The more the President and Bush Republicans issue reckless veto threats and deploy legislative roadblocks, the more evident it becomes that they are not interested in addressing America’s priorities.

• Bush Republicans are ignoring America’s priorities, refusing to fund critical needs at home while pouring more money into Iraq.

HEALTH CARE

• President Bush has repeatedly turned his back on America’s children, vetoing two bipartisan health care bills. Democrats will continue to fight to ensure that this one man and a handful of Bush Republicans cannot stand in the way of 10 million low-income children and the health care they need.

• Even when we try to pass non-controversial, widely supported measures – such as help for those suffering from ALS, paralysis or traumatic brain injury – Republicans stand in the way.

ECONOMY

• Even as our country’s subprime mortgage and foreclosure crisis grows, Republicans continue to stand in the way of a bill to help as many as 200,000 Americans at risk of losing their homes.

• Republicans missed a chance to create a new energy economy, blocking investments in renewable fuels and an initiative to supply clean, renewable electricity.

• As gas prices continue to rise, Democrats are working to solve our grave and growing energy crisis. But Republicans would rather protect oil companies than work for the American people  

IRAQ

• All of our Democratic presidential candidates will get us out of Iraq in a thoughtful, responsible manner while all of the major Republican candidates agree with President Bush. Republicans want to stay in Iraq and waste billions of dollars there, some of it on contractors like Blackwater and Haliburton, but deny 10 million children the doctors’ visits or medicine they need right here at home. That is wrong.

• The surge has not achieved the intended result of political reconciliation and the war has already cost our country more than we can afford. Yet Bush Republicans continue to pour more borrowed money into and commit more American troops to an open-ended civil war at the expense of our country's security and priorities at home.

• The Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs agree that our current Iraq strategy is hampering our ability to succeed in Afghanistan and in the hunt for Bin Laden. We need a change in war strategy so that we can more effectively fight al Qaeda, return to the hunt for Bin Laden, win the war in Afghanistan, and rebuild the readiness of our Army and Marine Corps.

• Democrats have and will continue to ensure our troops have the resources they need to do their jobs and will continue to fight for a war strategy worthy of their sacrifices.

• Last month we provided this Administration with $460 billion to fund our nation’s defense while offering a proposal for an additional $50 billion, provided the President works with us to change course in Iraq. Bush Republicans have refused.

• Bush Republicans are so afraid of being held accountable for their failed war policy that they would rather leave our men and women on the battlefield shorthanded than work with us to adjust this disastrous strategy.

IRAN

• The recent National Intelligence Estimate on Iran is another example of this President’s dangerous record of making misleading comments like those that got us into the Iraq war.

• America’s senior intelligence analysts have concluded that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003, directly challenging some of this Administration’s alarming rhetoric about the threat posed by Iran and further diminishing the credibility of a President with a dangerous record of overstating threats.

• President Bush’s heated rhetoric on Iran – including comments about a potential World War III – are even more outrageous now that we know the intelligence community had informed the President that it believes Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program.

• The Administration refuses to appropriately adjust both its rhetoric and policy with regard to Iran. It must accurately explain what it knew and when it knew it, and finally undertake the diplomatic surge necessary to effectively address the challenges posed by Iran.

ENERGY

• Democrats are proud to have raised fuel-efficiency standards for the first time in a generation, but we will not be satisfied until Republicans join us to put what consumers need over what Big Oil wants.

• We will continue fighting to create a long-term strategy that invests in renewable energy, lower gas prices, makes America more energy independent, reverses global warming and strengthens our national security.

FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

• We continue working to pass fiscally responsible spending bills, but Bush Republicans continue to stand in the way of funding America’s priorities.

• America’s gross national debt is now $9.17 trillion. Since 2001, Republicans increased the privately-held debt by $1.8 trillion, 68% of it borrowed from foreign sources.

• Because of the Bush Administration’s economic and fiscal policies, we have removed approximately $131 billion from the 2007 revenue base to pay interest on new debt.

• Since President Bush took office, the gross national debt has increased by $3.427 trillion. That’s $41.54 billion per month, $9.57 billion per week, $1.37 billion per day, $56.93 million per hour, $948,907 per minute or $15,815 per second

• Since President Bush took office, we have borrowed $1.23 trillion from foreign sources. That’s $15.45 billion per month, $3.54 billion per week, $505.6 million per day, $21.07 million per hour, $351,113 per minute or $5,852 per second

• This year we will have paid $239 billion in interest on the national debt. The same amount would pay for any of the following:
• Stocking every U.S. family’s refrigerator for seven months
• Filling every U.S. gas tank for 10 months at today’s gas prices
• Providing four years of in-state public tuition for 10.2 million students
• Paying one year’s salary for 8 million new teachers

• The federal government has sent $709 billion abroad in the form of interest payments since President Bush took office – $155 billion in 2007. The same amount would fund any of the following:
• 12,000 new elementary schools
• 7,000 new veterans’ clinics
• All road and bridge construction and improvements for 10 year