Klein's State of the Union (or State of Boca)

Nearly two weeks after President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address, Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, gave his own today.

Klein spoke about bills he helped pass in the past year, namely legislation that (his words, mine):

• Toughen restrictions on abusive practices by credit card companies. OK. We've all been hurt by unfair practices.
• Provide the largest expansion of student aid for college in history -- making over 4,000 students in the 22nd District eligible for Pell Grants. Largest expansion = more federal funding = more spending = higher taxes ...
• Open the door to innovative stem cell research to create jobs and cure disease at facilities like the Scripps Research Institute and Max Planck Institute in Jupiter. This was our original plan when I worked with the Governor bush to bring Scripps here to South Florida, and with the new law, we will see these high-tech facilities and their spin-offs make real strides. Scripps was an expensive project. Does "open the door ... to create jobs" mean more tax dollars went to Scripps? And why haven't these institutes made "real strides" already? What have they been doing? (And "the" Gov. Bush?)
• Create jobs with an economic stimulus package that gave tax cuts to 95 percent of working Americans. Many folks don't realize this, but 2/3 of the money spent by the stimulus went directly into the hands of the families in the form of tax cuts. And frankly, that's the way it should be; we need to be creating jobs in the short term and providing tangible benefits to our community in the long term. Frankly, you're damn right about creating jobs that have quick turnaround results and benefits. But why are spending money on the stimulus only to give families a tax break? Why not have the tax break without the stimulus? They seem to cancel each other out ...
• Will close the prescription drug "donut hole" and deliver a 50 percent credit on the cost of brand-name medications. I authored an amendment that said seniors who currently have a Medicare Advantage plan they like should be able to keep it. Well, thank you for letting senior citizens keep their own plans!
• Allows states to come together and pool their [environmental] risk in order to bring down costs. ... This is not a Democratic or Republican issue -- I am proud to say our bill is co-sponsored by over 50 Members of Congress, representing both political parties and more than 25 different states. So, what happens if five earthquakes happen in California, but Florida doesn't see any hurricanes? Do Floridians have to help pay for California's cleanup?

Yes, I'm a critic, but I hope Klein proves me wrong. I know he has good intentions. And I really hope I can believe him when he says this:

Like any family facing tough times, Washington has to be willing to tighten its belt. As a deficit hawk and fiscal conservative, I believe in this principle, and I believe we should review the federal budget line-by-line and squeeze out every possible penny of savings, including cutting programs that aren't working or that duplicate each other.

"Deficit hawk and fiscal conservative"? Come on, even Republicans have said that, and they fooled us all!

Click here to read Klein's speech.