Senator Kirsten Gillibrand sure is receiving flack from unlikely quarters for her vote yesterday against raising the federal debt ceiling on the grounds that it wasn’t a “balanced” approach.
First, State G.O.P. Chairman Ed Cox remarked on Gillibrand’s “political transformation.”
“In just over 2 years in the United States Senate, she has gone from upstate conservative Democrat Congresswoman to downstate liberal, representing the views of the most radical elements of her party,” he said.
Then, Fred Dicker mocked her for running for President in 2016 (Gillibrand has not said she is running for President, ever.)
And now State Sen. Ruben Diaz wonders if Gillibrand couldn’t vote for the debt ceiling deal because it didn’t contain new revenues from upper income earners, how come she didn’t speak out in favor of a millionaire’s tax in Albany?
Diaz:
After voting ‘no’ on the Debt Ceiling vote, United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has publicly criticized this legislation as an “unbalanced approach” that “did not include new taxes on the wealthiest Americans and the elimination of loopholes benefiting corporations.”
But I never heard her nor any Democrat from New York City (except for Senator Tom Duane and me) criticize Governor Andrew Cuomo for not including a Millionaires Tax in the Governor Cuomo’s Budget that was clearly balanced on the backs of the poor and needy.
To the contrary, Democrats praised Governor Cuomo for passing his Budget. Even Tea Party activists applauded him!
Senator Tom Duane and I were the ONLY symbolic Democrat dissenters on this issue. Except for the two of us, the entire NYC delegation of Senators praised the Democratic Governor for his Budget while Senator Duane and I were seen as pariahs.
The Albany Budget and the Washington debt ceiling deal are not exactly equivalent, but there are parallels to be made. Both resulted in deep spending cuts, and just as it happened New York, there were no tax increases in Washington to raise the debt ceiling.
Now it is the same people who are criticizing Washington for doing the very same thing that Governor Cuomo did to New York. This is the Janus-faced nature of some of my colleagues in government trying to have it both ways.
Let’s remember that Governor Andrew Cuomo started the whole thing. He has set the trend.
Ladies and gentlemen, you cannot have your cake and eat it too.”
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What a dopey comment. She explained her vote in the precise opposite context–against an unbalanced bill based on biased philosophy that pins the responsibility for excess solely on low and medium income wage earners, effectively absolving the well heeled and overly comfortable of any financial or moral responsibility for where we are. Diaz and Cox know this full well. Their hypocrisy and cynicism, not to mention disrespect for the intelligence of the voter are hallmarks of the Republican Party.
Diáz is so blinded with rage over the issue of marriage equality that he’s not making sense about anything anymore. Gillebrand is our Senator. She has nothing to do with state tax policy and she has enough federal issues on her plate to fight for in the gridlocked Congress. Gillebrand opposed the deal precisely because it didn’t include any revenue solutions. Any chance that Diáz will get a primary challenge?
Shouldn’t that headline be “Now you are FOR tax hikes for the rich?”LOL Lame.