Chandler: Congress must keep stimulus money flowing
Republican Andy Barr, left, is challenging U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Versailles, in Kentucky's 6th Congressional District.
By John Cheves – jcheves@herald-leader.com
Now is not the time for Washington to stop spending money to stimulate the economy, U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler, D-Versailles, said Friday while taping a television program.
Despite concerns about the growing budget deficit, Congress should keep providing billions of dollars for extended unemployment benefits and aid to state governments, Chandler said during a taping of WKYT-TV’S Kentucky Newsmakers program. The show will air Saturday at 11 a.m.
Republicans in the House and Senate recently blocked such measures, arguing that it’s time for the federal government to dramatically cut spending.
“Before we can even begin to think about the deficit, we have got to get the economy moving again,” Chandler said during the taping.
In an interview afterward with the Herald-Leader, he added: “Show me any circumstance where you take money out of the economy and the economy gets stronger as a result. I just don’t believe that. If you pull money out of the economy now, the economy will lose jobs.”
Chandler is being challenged for re-election this year by Republican Garland “Andy” Barr, a Lexington attorney. Chandler said he doesn’t know Barr but expects to meet him during the campaign, including a joint televised appearance this fall on Kentucky Educational Television.
Barr recently canceled his own Kentucky Newsmakers interview. His campaign manager, John Connell, said Friday that there was a last-minute scheduling conflict, and Barr hopes to appear on the show soon.
Connell said Barr was traveling Friday and could not respond to Chandler’s comments. But in May, Barr called for an end to federal stimulus spending.
On other issues Friday, Chandler:
■ Opposed President Barack Obama’s plan to begin withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan in July 2011. Unlike the war in Iraq, which was “a war of choice,” Afghanistan harbored terrorists who attacked us, and it must not be left to fester, Chandler said.
“I would rather give Gen. (David) Petraeus a chance to do what he needs to do rather than give him an artificial deadline,” Chandler said.
■ Defended his vote last year in favor of a “cap-and-trade” plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from coal and other fossil fuels. The plan has stalled in the Senate.
Chandler’s vote was unpopular with Kentucky’s coal industry and its supporters.
“First of all, do we want a healthy environment? I think we do,” Chandler said. “I believe something has to be done — because the scientists say something has to be done — about climate change.”
Chandler said the cap-and-trade bill he supported includes $60 billion in assistance for the coal industry and its customers, including funds to develop clean coal technology.
If Congress does not act, he said, the Environmental Protection Agency will step in to cap fossil fuel emissions, and without the aid that Congress has tried to offer.
■ Opposed Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rand Paul’s proposal to block U.S. citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants born in the United States.
Chandler said he has voted to build a fence along the U.S.-Mexican border and for other border security measures. But the Constitution states that someone born here is a U.S. citizen, Chandler said.
“You keep the Constitution the way it is if you believe in the Constitution,” Chandler said.
In past campaign statements, Barr has called for U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan until “victory” can be declared. He also has opposed cap-and-trade, saying he would promote the use of coal aggressively.
About the Author: 
lou | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
Ben is for more gov’t control and higher taxes. Vote him out!
tim | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and expecting different results. Democrat ‘stimulus’ will never work because it does not target the job creators…….evil private sector businesses and the one who buy all that stuff…..you and me.
Instead they seem to target the unemployed, government projects, teachers, state and local governments with the bail outs and hand outs.
When stimulus does go the big business they come in and take it over. Government Motors for example. This is the Carter era all over again……maybe worse.
CG | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
“With Cap and Trade, your utility bills will necessarily skyrocket.” Paraphrased from President Barrack Hussein Obama
So Ben is for higher taxes, higher energy bills, and giving people an extended reason to not go back to work. People have quit looking because it is easier to just get a check. Lower taxes and businesses and they will start recruiting people back to work. Stop the redistribution of the money I have not even made yet! You can’t spend money you don’t have in your check book so why does the government think they can? Good bye, Ben
Prof. Gilligan | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
Headling: “Chandler: Congress must keep stimulus money flowing”
NOOOOO!!!!
WE CAN’T AFFORD ANY MORE “STIMULUS”!
Prof. Gilligan | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
The difference between Democrat “Stimulus” and Republican “Stimulus”:
* Democrat “stimulus” means the government is going to spend more of YOUR money.
* Republican “stimulus” means the government is going to let YOU spend more of YOUR money.
Really!! That’s the difference. Who is going to spend more of YOUR money; you or them.
snappy | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
“keep stimulus money flowing” whoa hahahah whoop hahahah ahah heehahahahah ahahahe ahahah what a doofus who does not understand what he is doing hahhwhwhwhwhwh aoaoao aheheh whooh ahahahaha haw haw haw haw haw heee hahahahahahahahahahahaha hahaha ehehhaha ahhahahahahahahahah.
(catch breath) Actually, I think he is just towing the party line.
mgarvey | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
A politician named Ben
Didn’t know when to say “When”
He spent and he spent,
So back home he was sent.
‘Bye Ben.
Sam | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
Yeah, we’ve seen what the bailout for Billionaires by the Republicans did. In 1937, the Republicans said stop spending, and the Great Depression returned.
We’re now starting–starting to pull out of the worst downturn since the Great Depression. Sure enough, the Republicans want our economy to sink again.
Those guys couldn’t manage a 3-car funeral, much less an economic policy.
Chandler will win because he’s a moderate, and doesn’t just spout the party line.
Barr will lose because he’s a pandering idiot who grew up in a whites-only country club he is still a member of.
chsmith1108 | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
Ben lost my vote. I want to spend my money and not let the government give it to those who will not work. They (govt) could cut spending by during one thing….cut out the welfare checks! Create jobs and force people to work for what they get!
Alex | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
Keep stepping in it, Ben. Keep stepping in it.
Bill F | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
Ben just doesn’t get it.
Big Ben 4 liberty | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
I am truly glad for my sense of decency and intellectual honesty that I am nothing like this Ben!
Mike | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
Is this guy for real? Apparently he doesn’t handle his family’s credit cards, or his family would be broke. You don’t keep spending, for any reason, if you’re having financial problems. You CUT BACK! Appears to be just another Obama minion.
Will | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
Should we also vote to end the tax cuts that make up one third of the stimulus bill?
William | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
“You keep the Constitution the way it is if you believe in the Constitution.”
Mr. Chandler doesn’t seem to understand that the Constitution included an amendment process. It was specifically designed to be changed if there was something in it that either (a) we think the founders got wrong or (b) needed to be changed for reasons emerging in the future. It even provided a nice little process for it.
Of course, Rand has correctly pointed out that the issue of children born in the U.S. automatically being citizens by virtue of the 14th Amendment is far from being settled law. But even if that is a correct interpretation of the Constitution as it currently stands, if it is bad policy, we can and SHOULD amend it. The Founders would want us to.
Chuck Knipp | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
Reminds me of the alcoholic father who tells his family “I’ve lost my job, we are bankrupt… the best thing we can do now is to run up our credit cards till they’re maxed out..”
The General | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
Any nation that issues its own currency does not have to worry about paying debt. The stimulus has led to what little economic growth we see. Contrary to the whackjobs, it has not been inflationary.
We need more stimulus. If you cut it off here comes the double dip, and it’s 1937 all over again. What ended the Great Depression? Government spending in WWII
CG | Jul 9, 2010 | Reply
Sam and the general don’t get it. You NEVER spend your way out of debt. This position requires the government to take more money from those of us who are working to SPEND on those who aren’t WILLING to work. In WWII general (although I don’t believe you are a general or have the ability to lead)all Americans pitched in during the war effort and everyone contributed. Look back at pictures from that era and you will rarely see obesity. Government subsidies breed laziness and take from the producers to give to the leeches of society. (There are exceptions out there who truly need help, we aren’t idiots and know who you are. Likewise we know who is gaming the system.) Yet our government liberal progressives want to buy your vote to keep you fat, lazy, and stupid so that they can remain in power. Eventually the system cannot support the weight (literally)of the abusers of the system and the greatest system the world has ever seen collapses. get off your fat, lazy, butts America and don’t buy the garbage this administration is trying to sell you. 18 mnths out and they are still blaming Bush for everything. It is their goal to divert attention away from their failures, never accepting any criticism of the fact that their policies are making things WORSE. The silver lining in this cloud is the fact that a balance of power will likely return in November, and if both the house and the senate get taken back, impeach this moron and throw ou the Chicago mafia with this racist administration. As the call the TEA Party Racist’s, they are ignoring voter intimidation by Black Panthers who call white people crackers and say blacks should kill whites and their babies. Some justice department we have now…
Mike Stephens | Jul 10, 2010 | Reply
The depression was brought on by taxes. It was furthered by more taxes and stimulus. The socialists that have taken over America need to be sent home, Ben included. they always fail and blame others. Government is the problem, not the solution.
phyre | Jul 10, 2010 | Reply
Ah to hear the screeching of the deficit hawks, so silent as W. drove the economy into the ditch. The greatest tax cuts to the wealthy is history. Did it create jobs? W. has the record for the worst job creation EVER! So we’ll cut the bloated defense budget? NEVER! Return the top tax rate to 39.5%? Heresy! Kentucky is a deadbeat among deadbeats taking back much more then it sends to the Federal treasury, but the economic geniuses here don’t want any stimulus money. It’s all you have had for generations welfare queens!
JeffLewis | Jul 10, 2010 | Reply
I have one thing to say to you blog-puppets going on and on about how “we can’t spend any more money”:
How much do you make a year, and how much did you pay in taxes?
In other words, either convince us that the government really is making you pay too much -
Or go on back to Glennbeckistan with the rest of the American Taliban.
Ben Chandler is being honest about the stimulus, and courageous about the environmental disaster the coal industry is trying to hide in plain sight in Eastern Kentucky.
When the Federal government decides to spend a few billion dollars to clean up Eastern Kentucky, they will hire more people than are working in the coal industry now – only about 15,000 total.
JeffLewis | Jul 10, 2010 | Reply
CG – we’re waiting for your proof that Black Panthers (!) are intimidating voters in Kentucky…or anywhere for that matter.
Maybe you need to climb up on the roof and adjust the dish. I think you’re getting some transmissions from…someplace way far out.
William | Jul 10, 2010 | Reply
Just to clear up any misconceptions that The General and JeffLewis are perpetuating, additional stimulus would be a DISASTER for economic growth. Pick up yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, next to last page in the main section, but an excellent explanation of why.
Right now, the biggest threat to economic growth (read: jobs) is the impending expiration of the 2001 tax cuts. A sudden rise in income tax rates, the reinstatement of the estate tax, and increases in the capital gains rate are causing considerable apprehension among business owners…both large and small. They’re not investing right now because they know what’s coming. They know either that the current tax rates will expire, or they will have to be raised at some point in the future in order to pay for an exponentially expanding deficit. Adding that to the anti-business rhetoric and ever-expanding regulatory state, it’s an increasingly negative business environment. And that is stunting growth.
William | Jul 10, 2010 | Reply
You may be right, The General, what little growth we have had has perhaps been from the stimulus (though that is perfectly questionable). But the above facts are why it has been such LITTLE growth. And why additional stimulus would either maintain our current stagnation or lead to the dreaded double-dip.
Read the WSJ article. It will clear this issue up if you’re undecided on this matter (granted, most people on here probably aren’t undecided). The idea that deficits just don’t matter is so irresponsible that it’s actually immoral.
The General | Jul 10, 2010 | Reply
Government spending does create wealth. FDR created the TVA which increased the wealth we have here in Kentucky. Think of all the businesses which were created here in Kentucky because of TVA. Look at Toyota. Do you think Toyota is here because they thought KY was pretty? It wasn’t cheap. You all ought to know, you bought it. No body denies the benefits they have given our state.
Now as to tax increases, it is possible they could cause economic slowdown. However Reagan raised taxes and it didn’t slow down the economy. The biggest threat to our economy is less spending. When the private sector cannot implement recovery then the government must do it.
This video of Fox Business News contributor Mike Norman explains it: http://www.youtube.com/user/mikeydoggy#p/u/16/mmI4r2lbKqE
William | Jul 11, 2010 | Reply
The General,
At its core, this is just the debate between Keynes (you) and Smith/Hayek (me). We’ll see which prevails.
Michelle | Jul 11, 2010 | Reply
Some economists believe that putting money back in the hands of the ultrawealthy will give them the opportunity to create business=economic growth. This is what GWBush did in 2001 with the tax cuts to the ultrawealthy.
Other economists believe that the ultrawealthy, in times of ecomomic stress, become ultrahoarders. These economists believe that money distributed to the unemployed (through work projects and unemployment benefits) will stimulate the economy because those people can NOT hoard the funds, but must spend it to live.
This is the fundamental difference (as far as I can tell) between the GOP and DNC views on economic recovery. Bush gave stimulus funds to the banks to get them to give money to the people. Obama gave money to the people.
I’m not an economist, so I don’t have an educated opinion on which one is correct. I know that the stimulus to the banks did not loosen the reins on credit. I am buying my house directly from the owner because fradulent statements on my “credit report” make me ineligible to get a loan, even after the stimulus from GWB.
William | Jul 11, 2010 | Reply
Michelle,
Arthur Laffer had an opinion on this very issue in the Thursday edition of the Wall Street Journal (he, of course, is a well-known economist, which liberals will scoff at precisely because he is Arthur Laffer…which baffles me, because ultimately one of his theories, embodied in the “Laffer Curve,” is fundamentally sound). It makes a very strong case for the folly of increasing unemployment benefits as a “job creation” stimulant (as Nancy Pelosi had suggested earlier in the week), and the fact that doing so is simply a “zero sum game” in terms of the money injected into the economy, while simultaneously damaging the incentive to work by making not working more attractive. Based on simple economics really, it is an eye-opening article, well worth a read if you can get your hands on it. He is a much more educated economist than either The General or myself.
William | Jul 11, 2010 | Reply
I should note that Laffer’s article does NOT argue that unemployment benefits should be wiped out or made unavailable. He was simply arguing against Pelosi’s argument that the level of unemployment benefits should be increased (i.e., the amount that the unemployed receive). His point is that it should be no more than a safety net in times of crisis; the unemployment insurance program should not be used as a weapon of economic growth, in other words.
The General | Jul 11, 2010 | Reply
Arthur Laffer failed to predict the housing bubble. On top of that he went around conning people in the 1980s into believing the economy was going to collapse: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949094,00.html.
On top of that even Milton Friedman thougt FDR was right to stimulate the economy with the New Deal.
Also William do you not think Kentucky benefits from TVA? Do you not think it benefits from Toyota. You probably don’t like the governments rescuing GM and Chrysler, but it was subsides by various governments to other automotive companies that gave them a competitive advantage.
Stateside | Jul 15, 2010 | Reply
I don’t think repugs will be happy until we have enough poor unemployed people to become our own third world country. Have a conscience people, not just greedy thoughts.
engraved gifts | Apr 19, 2011 | Reply
I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to start my own Blog
African Mango | Apr 20, 2011 | Reply
Happy to see your blog as it is just what I’ve looking for and excited to read all the posts. I am looking forward to another great article from you.
true religion jeans | May 4, 2011 | Reply
thanks for such a wonderful blog
Cheap Christian | May 6, 2011 | Reply
I am looking forward to another great article from you.