Senate Democrats' claim as stated by Michigan's Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow:
I first want to thank the chair of our committee, the budget committee, for doing such a terrific job in bringing us all together. My colleagues on the committee, as we all know, we worked very, very hard together in order to be able to put together a balanced budget that reflects the values of the American people, that’s fair, that’s balanced in values and approach as well as in numbers, and we did that.”
— Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), remarks on the Senate floor, May 8, 2013
According to the facts provided by Washington Post's The Fact Checker, the claims by Democrats that their budget was "balanced, doesn't pass the smell tests and they give Stabenow's assertion three Pinocchios.
So how can Stabenow even begin to refer to this as a “balanced budget”? It comes right out the Budget Committee’s news release: “This budget takes the balanced and responsible approach to our fiscal challenges that every bipartisan group has endorsed and that the American people support.”
See that word “balanced”? Democrats clearly want to have their cake and eat it too, using a nice, poll-tested word that resonates with voters without making the cuts or tax increases needed to get there.
Cullen Schwartz, a spokesman for Stabenow, said she misspoke and did not mean to suggest that the budget is balanced, numbers-wise, though she certainly said it was “balanced in values and approach as well as in numbers.”
“Senator Stabenow was referring to the fact that the Senate budget takes a balanced approach to reducing the deficit by making sensible spending cuts while also cutting tax loopholes and giveaways to millionaires and special interests,” Schwartz said. “On the other hand, the Republican budget seeks to reduce the deficit by putting virtually all of the burden on middle class families and seniors. The budget debate is all about the choice between these different approaches.”
The Pinocchio Test
We always appreciate an admission of mistake by politicians. This is clearly a case of being hung by your own spin.
Democrats have thrown around the word “balanced” because it sounds good, but it is a real stretch to use that term for a budget plan that does not even come close to being “balanced,” as most Americans would understand it. And yet Stabenow claimed that the budget was balanced not only in terms of values, but also in “numbers.”
When you play with fire, it’s easy to get burned. It would be best to stop making claims of “balance” when the deficits barely get nicked.
Speaker of the House John Boehner responds to this latest fact checker ruling by calling Democrats the "Party of Pinocchios," then continues:
Democrats routinely tout “balanced” approaches and budgets that are nevertheless loaded with more wasteful spending and debt. For example, Senate Budget Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) said her budget “takes the balanced and responsible approach to our fiscal challenges,” even though it wouldn’t “do anything to erase the nation’s deficits.”
And Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) echoed President Obama’s claim that he’d taken a “balanced approach” – even though the president himself admitted his budget never “reaches balance.”
“It would be best to stop making claims of ‘balance’ when the deficits barely get nicked,” wrote the Fact Checker. As Speaker Boehner put it, “there’s nothing ‘balanced’ about a budget that never gets to balance.”
Stopping wasteful spending and balancing the budget (for real) are just two of the ways Republicans are working to build a stronger, healthier economy for all Americans. Read more here.
It is no wonder Washington cannot balance the budget when the party controlling the Senate and the White House, Democrats, don't know what the word "balance" even means.