As South Dakotans, we take people at their word. Rep. Kristi Noem told reporters last Thursday:
She will not vote in favor of raising the nation’s debt ceiling unless it is attached to significant spending caps or a balanced budget amendment. (The State Column, 4/25/11)
Let’s take a trip down memory lane…remember the radical FY 2012 Budget authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)? We sure do – it’s the one that guts Medicare and ends a vital safety net for millions of vulnerable Americans. It also automatically raises the debt ceiling 10 times in the next 10 years. Yeah – you read right – Noem already voted to raise the debt ceiling on April 15, 2011, before telling folks back home she was against it.
Raising the debt ceiling isn’t necessarily bad. Offering excuses as to why your stories don’t match up is, well, unbecoming.
It seems Noem just can’t break that bad habit of providing lip-service to South Dakotans while voting to serve her Washington puppeteers.