HAWAII CANNOT AFFORD COLLEEN HANABUSA IN CONGRESS #1

Hanabusa Supports $26b State Bailout That Brought Nothing to Hawaii

From www.GOPHawaii.com

HONOLULU-- In her recent ad, Colleen Hanabusa boasts that she would have voted for the $26 billion state bailout bill that put Hawaii taxpayers on the hook for bailing out fiscally irresponsible state and municipal governments. HRP Executive Director Dylan Nonaka issued the following statement on the ad:

“In these difficult economic times, Hawaii's residents should be able to trust their elected leaders to ensure that their tax dollars are being spent wisely, not simply saying 'yes' to every new spending proposal.  The reality is that even though Hawaii's budget was balanced and no teachers' jobs or schools were in danger of being lost or closed, Colleen Hanabusa would still have supported bailing out other states that had not been nearly as responsible.

“Hawaii can't afford to have another rubber stamp for the big government and big spending agenda on Capitol Hill. What's more, Hanabusa has extolled the virtues of 'ohana' in her ads as well, but there is nothing more destructive to our collective 'ohana' than taking resources from the poorest of the poor through the food stamp program to bail out fiscally reckless state and municipal governments.”

Background: The State Bailout bill, H.R. 1586, - had little to do with schools. Instead, the bill bailed out fiscally irresponsible states by increasing taxes, cutting food stamps and cutting the payroll tax credit—hitting the poorest in society during a recession.  By bailing out states, the bill encouraged irresponsible budgeting of state resources and made local school districts more dependent on the federal government—precisely the wrong direction to take public education.

Hawaii had been responsible with its resources.  There were no Hawaii schools in danger of closing. No Hawaii teachers were in danger of losing their jobs. The furloughs had already ended. Instead of helping Hawaii, the bill used Hawaii taxpayers to bail out fiscally irresponsible states. To pay for the bailout, the bill increased taxes and increased our crushing national debt. In addition, the bill cut nearly $12 billion from the federal food stamp program and another $1.1 billion from the earned income tax credit

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