House OKs debt bill; Tierney opposes measure

Massachusetts Sixth District Congressman John Tierney, D-Salem, speaking to the Item Monday night soon after the U.S. House approved the deal to raise the debt ceiling to avoid putting the nation into default, said he opposed the measure because it stands to drastically compromise America’s Defense, National Security and punish the poor and middle class while leaving the nation’s wealthiest unscathed.Tierney also expressed disappointment in President Obama, who brokered the deal with Republican leaders in Congress.The measure, which passed in the House by a 269-161 vote, calls for $917 billion in federal spending cuts over 10 years and a bipartisan Congressional committee to report by November how another $1.5 trillion in cuts should be made. It does not include what Obama had insisted on for weeks, an increase in taxes for those earning more than $250,000 a year.The Senate is expected to vote on the measure today as the clock ticks toward the midnight deadline set by the White House for the nation to default on its debt.”I think it’s a loss for the American people to think we have to make all of these substantial cuts and expose of all the domestic discretionary programs, things that constitute the very fabric of this country,” Tierney said.Tierney said veterans’ services are among those at risk in the initial $917 billion in cuts and safety net programs or so-called entitlements including Social Security and Medicare will be exposed in the subsequent round of cuts.”There are no jobs in this deal and there’s no shared (sacrifice) aspect of this at all. This is all going to fall on the middle class,” Tierney said. “Corporations get away with their tax loopholes and the super-wealthy get to keep all of that money and not pay their fair share of taxes.Referring to the 87 so-called Tea Party Republican freshmen in Congress who demanded trillions in cuts with no new taxes, Tierney said, “This manufactured crisis was about a small group of people who were willing to take this country over the brink for the sake of their ideology.”But Tierney also directed criticism toward the President, whom he said should have had the fortitude to raise the debt ceiling on his own.”I know it’s a difficult job but I could have picked a number of places along the path that would have avoided this whole scenario,” he said. “I felt strongly we would not have gone into default. The President could have exercised his 14th Amendment right (to raise the debt ceiling) instead of going along with those who are willing to take the economy right over a cliff.”Tierney said the only bright spot Monday night was when Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords appeared on the House floor to vote, prompting thunderous applause from all members. It was Giffords’ first appearance in the House since January when a gunman shot her in the head at point-blank range during a district campaign event.”It was very good to see her,” Tierney said. “Seeing her struggle from the elevator to the floor you realize what a remarkable moment this was for her.”Tierney’s opposition to the debt-ceiling deal was further explained in a prepared statement e-mailed by his Washington office moments before he spoke with the Item. In that statement, Tierney said, “I have consistently proposed ways to address our long-term deficits that shared the burden of spending cuts fairly while allowing for a near focus on supporting job creation and economic growth. Earlier this week, I supported the Reid Budget Control Act that, while imperfect, at least cut war spending by $1 trillion and protected key domestic programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and education.”Yet, the twelfth-hour deal coming to the House Floor tonight is not a compromise. It is an attack on our families, seniors and students, a protection racket for special interests, corporations and the fabulously wealthy, and leaves further cuts to the whims of lawmakers who have shown their unwillingness to negotiate in good faith a