McCotter opposes bill to save teachers’ jobs

U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter (R-Livonia) is known for being a colorful character who often uses sarcasm and humor to convey his point. But he may regret his latest quip, aimed at a bill in Congress that would provide $23 billion in funding to local schools to help them avoid teacher layoffs due to budget cuts and flagging revenues.

Fox News reports on McCotter’s statement:

“When you look at the overall economy, that is really what undergirds the financing of education in the United States, both at the local level and at the state level. So as Washington continues to try to go toward emergency measures, three things become patently obvious: One, the stimulus has failed. Two, they’re delaying the real necessary restructuring of government that is required to have a sustainable tax base that is growing, for educators to be employed. And third,” McCotter added with a flash of deadpan humor, “given the Democrats’ record number of deficits, debt and spending, there does auger an argument for more math teachers.”

In fact, it appears that McCotter is the one struggling with the mathematics of the federal deficit. As the Congressional Budget Office recently documented, the bulk of the increase in the federal debt since President Obama took office stems from Bush-era policies and the recession Obama inherited, not from increased spending since taking office.

Here is the chart the CBO put out showing the various causes of the deficits over the next 9 years:

More than 2/3 of this year’s deficit is due to four primary factors — the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush-era tax cuts, the TARP fund and the bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (both of which took place under Bush) and lower tax revenue due to the recession. Less than 1/3 is from the stimulus package pushed through last year by Obama and the Democrats.

And after this year, the percentage of the deficit due to those four factors goes to more than 80 percent and gets higher every year through 2019.