Three months after he discarded his pledge to balance the federal budget in four years, John McCain on Monday renewed his vow to do so, saying his tax and spending cuts could kick America’s ailing economy into robust shape.
The Republican presidential candidate’s newly optimistic scenario for fiscal recovery came as he and his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, dueled over the economy.
McCain’s pledge also defied skepticism among fiscal analysts over whether he could balance the budget even within eight years, the more relaxed standard he set for himself in April amid dismal economic forecasts. Many say his proposed expansion of President George W. Bush’s tax cuts would put that goal out of reach.
Speaking at a voter forum in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, McCain vowed to get “government’s fiscal house in order.” Obama, the Arizona senator told the crowd, would raise taxes and “destroy jobs across this country.”
“The choice in this election is stark and simple,” McCain said. “Sen. Obama will raise your taxes. I won’t. I will cut them where I can. Jobs are the most important thing our economy creates. When you raise taxes in a bad economy you eliminate jobs. I’m not going to let that happen.”
In a swipe at Bush, whose unpopularity has been a drag on his candidacy, McCain accused the administration and Congress of failing to meet their management responsibilities, calling government’s growth since 2000 “inexcusable.”
McCain said a balanced federal budget would be a “catalyst for economic growth.” His campaign released a summary of his economic agenda that restored his abandoned pledge, but with no explanation for the revision.
McCain also hammered Obama for supporting budget “pork” for lawmakers’ pet projects.
The Obama camp immediately called the pledge to balance the budget “preposterous.”
“John McCain has voted for every one except one of Bush’s budgets in the Senate, added $10 trillion in spending. His budget deficit is over $400 billion by 2013,” Obama’s communications director Robert Gibbs said on MSNBC.
Obama, who made an unscheduled stop in St. Louis after his charter plane en route to North Carolina had mechanical trouble, ridiculed McCain’s economic plans. The Illinois senator said McCain’s pledge to pay for his new tax cuts by eliminating pork would leave him $282 billion short of balancing the books.
Obama also accused McCain of lavishing tax breaks on “big corporations and multimillionaires.”
“If this sounds familiar, it’s because it’s exactly what George Bush has done for the last eight years,” Obama said.
As for the deficit, Obama declined to set a date for eliminating it, saying, “I think it is important for us to make some critical investments right now in America’s families.”
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He repeated his call for a $50 billion stimulus package that included energy rebate checks to taxpayers and a fund to help families avoid foreclosure.