Billy Long Continues the $100 Billion Lie at Greene County Lincoln Day

Yesterday, Republicans gathered in Springfield, Missouri for the annual Greene County Lincoln Day. Congressman Billy Long was there fresh from what I describe as a failure, but Long continues to describe as a success through the insistent lie. From the Springfield News-Leader:

[Billy] Long, of Springfield, touted the freshman class and credited his fellow members for a proposed $100 billion reduction in spending. He said it is a testament to the clout of the new members.

"They know we're there, and we know they know we're there," he said.

So now Long is using the verbiage "proposed $100 billion in reduction of spending." That's about as misleading as saying Obama is a great president who follows the Constitution. You see, the proposed $100 billion in spending cuts shrank to $61 billion in spending cuts, and Long knows this. Yet he still throws around the $100 billion like its fact, hoping all the minions in Southwest Missouri won't notice the Republicans didn't even come close to meeting their goals.

Why? Well perhaps it was Billy Long's opposition to cancel federal funding for NASCAR teams and other wasteful federal spending that got in the way of achieving the $100 billion in cuts.

Let's look at the second part of this quote. Long tries to blend into the collective of freshman signatures claiming to have this big voice. "They know we're there, and we know they know we're there," he said.


Looking at the proposed spending cut amendments of HR1, no one knew Billy Long was there. He didn't have the courage to propose on amendment that offered any spending cuts--not one. What happened to the guy who was "fed up" and was going to Washington to do something? I mean I am not sitting in Washington collecting a huge federal check, but if Long had called me up, I could have offered a number of amendments for federal programs that need to be cut so the Republicans would have been successful at achieving their goal of $100 billion and then some, and Long could have put his name on it. (He seems pretty good at that).



"We got the $100 billion cut. It's like Bette Davis said, 'Fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy ride."

No Billy, you only cut 61% of your promise, and that equals a D- in my grade book--barely passing.