Melder's Musings

Texas Governor Rick Perry appears to beg former Congressman J.C. Watts for something. Hell...just for fun...insert your own caption here. (Dallas Morning News photo)

Some time ago, I posted to this blog about an infomercial I happened upon during the middle of the night this past summer. Better late than never, and after seeing the infomercial again last night, I'm making good on my promise to fill in the details.

First, let me cut to the chase: former Republican Congressman J.C. Watts of Oklahoma is a liar and a hypocrite.

Let's get to the hypocrite part. While in the Congress, Watts, like other Republicans, made a big deal about smaller government, lower taxes, streaminglining spending, blah, blah blah. Now, out of the Congress, Watts is earning his keep by helping people get government grants.

As reported by The Hill and on another blog, Watts now works for the National Grants Reservation Service, an organization that claims to help people "qualify to receive government money." I guess for Watts, his public position all depends on who's buttering his bread. After all, as online magazine Slate contends, he's not the brightest crayon in the box.

The hypocrisy is so obvious it hurts. Now, for the lying.

J.C. Watts, when he's not pimping the same government grants he once worked to kill, is making commentary on allegedly liberal CNN. He's one of thier new slew of Republican talking heads. Fresh into his new job, he flat out lied about what the GOP has been up to lately.

During last night's coverage of the State of the Union address, Watts criticized Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. He said Kaine's Democratic response to the SOTU was wrong for claiming that Congressional Republicans are cutting funding for student loans and have tried to cut Medicaid funds.

While bantering with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, Watts said that "they ought to send Governor Kaine to bed with no dinner for saying they're cutting student loans and cutting Medicaid funds. You know, that is not the case."

The following truth, which proves Watts to be a liar, comes from a report by Media Matters for America.

In fact, bills already passed by the House and the Senate include $12.7 billion in spending cuts to student loan programs and approximately $7 billion in spending cuts to Medicaid.

On December 21, 2005, in a 51-50 vote, the Senate approved nearly $40 billion in budget cuts, including cuts of $12.7 billion to federal student loans and nearly $7 billion in Medicaid funding as part of the Republican-sponsored Deficit Reduction Act (DRA). Five Republicans and independent Sen. Jim Jeffords (VT) joined all 45 Democrats in voting "no" on the measure, forcing Vice President Dick Cheney to cast the tie-breaking vote. Senate Democrats forced small changes to the bill by using a procedural tactic known as the "Byrd rule" and sent it back to the House for a new vote . The House approved the new bill 216-214.

On January 27, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a report studying the effects of the proposed budget cuts and found, as a January 30 New York Times article noted, that the proposed Medicaid budget cuts would mean that "[m]illions of low-income people would have to pay more for health care under a bill worked out by Congress, and some of them would forgo care or drop out of Medicaid because of the higher co-payments and premiums." According to the CBO: "In response to the new premiums, some beneficiaries would not apply for Medicaid, would leave the program or would become ineligible due to nonpayment. CBO estimates that about 45,000 enrollees would lose coverage in fiscal year 2010 and that 65,000 would lose coverage in fiscal year 2015 because of the imposition of premiums. About 60 percent of those losing coverage would be children."

The DRA would also cut funding for student loans by $12.7 billion, mainly by raising interest rates on college loans. According to a December 21, 2005, Boston Globe article, "[t]he bill would cut the amount of loan money guaranteed by the federal government, pushing up interest rates. It would also impose a[n] insurance fee on student loans." The Globe further noted: "Student borrowers would be forced to pay a fixed rate of 6.8 percent on loans, and parents would have an interest rate cap of 8.5 percent, up from 7.9 percent. Further, Pell Grants would remain capped at $4,050 per student per year, despite earlier promises by the Bush administration to raise the cap to $5,100." The National Education Association and several others have called the reductions the "largest cut [in student aid] in history."

Mr. Watts, you suck.