Maggie Hassan has approved a new “message” with which to interrupt my television viewing. That’s not why, though I’d be flattered. No, the purpose of the ad is to lie about her record on spending and taxes.
As a reminder, Ms. cross-the-aisle voted for the Biden line almost 98% of the time.
And when it comes to fiscal matters, I’m not sure if there’s a spending or grow-government bill Maggie Hassan doesn’t like.
Club for Growth focuses on economic freedom, the opposite of growing government, and Hassan’s latest score is a zero. Her lifetime score is a two. In contrast, since we are talking about fiscal matters, Senator Rand Paul’s score is 100 (the best you can do).
I want to make sure you can feel the difference.
Fiscally-responsible-Maggie voted to increase the federal debt limit so the government could spend more. She voted for continuing budget resolutions and voted for the Biden Christmas tree omnibus bill.
Another 1.5 Trillion Omnibus Bill passed in March 2022 (H.R.2471) loaded with garbage, including 13.6 Billion for Ukraine. In April 2022, Biden came back for another 33 Billion for Ukraine, and congress passed a larger aid package than requested in May (for 39.8 Billion). Hassan voted yea for both.
Responsible?
In 2016 when Hassan was elected to the US Senate, the Federal Debt was 19.5 Trillion or 105% of GDP. As of 2021, it was 29.6 Trillion or 124% of GDP, before all the omnibus bills and Ukraine Bailout billions. The national debt is over 30 Trillion and climbing. Debt that Hassan has laid at the feet of generations not yet born. Spending that a fiscally responsible voice of the people would have blocked.
Sorry, I’m quite sure she voted to block spending to build a wall along the southern border, which is open and one of the most dangerous places on the planet.
How exactly any of that makes Hassan a fiscally responsible fighter for New Hampshire or anyone else remains a mystery, but that’s the line she’s selling.
Oh, and it is true that the Magster did not request any earmarks, but neither did she vote against bills top heavy with everyone else’s pork. That makes her responsible for all that spending too.
A Look Down Memory Hole Lane
As for cutting taxes in New Hampshire, she was forced to do that by the Republican legislature. Governor Hassan’s budget would have extracted as much as $59 million more from businesses. She also rolled in a number of other tax hikes into her plan, from tobacco to vehicle registrations, that would remove nearly 100 million more dollars from the pockets of businesses and residents and divert it to government spending.
When the legislature came back with something else that included business tax cuts, Hassan not only vetoed the bill, but the business tax cuts were a key reason she vetoed the bill. She called them “unpaid-for-tax giveaways to big corporations, many based out-of-state, at the expense of critical economic priorities.”
It took a few determined Republicans to keep Hassan from getting her way. We ended up with the cuts and a compromise that had a sunset provision if they failed to produce revenue as promised. A feature Republican legislatures since have remedied.
Those legislatures have since lowered business taxes further, along with other cuts that sparked an economic golden age that continues to make NH a beacon of hope in New England and across America, even in the face of record inflation and high energy prices.
Except for the covid shutdowns, revenues have been consistently over projections.
That was thanks to tax cuts Governor Maggie Hassan opposed and was forced to accept.
And now she’s taking credit for them?
Sorry Mags, that’s not going to fly.
