The Associated Press reports that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) suggested that Congress will not be able to afford to extend the tax cuts for the middle class. I wonder if they would have been able to do if not for the unprecedented spending binge the federal government has been on since late fall of 2008 beginning with the TARP bailouts, then the expansion of SCHIP, the "stimulus", "Cash for Clunkers", and more recently the brand new health coverage entitlements in the so-called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
But Representative Hoyer has long had a bias toward spending. NTU Foundation's BillTally program examines the cost or savings of each bill a Member either sponsors or cosponsors. The table below shows the number and cost of increase bills and cut bills that Hoyer has supported in each Congress since the 107th. Over that that time period, he has sponsored an average of 44 proposals to hike spending and just one to reduce outlays per Congress.
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| Increases and Cuts Sponsored or Cosponsored by Representative Steny Hoyer over the Past 5 Congresses (in billions of dollars) | |
| Congress | # of Increase Bills | Increases | # of Cuts | Cuts | Net Spending Agenda | |
| 111th | 16 | $2.4 | 0 | $0 | $2.4 | |
| 110th | 36 | $46.1 | 3 | ($0.6) | $45.5 | |
| 109th | 47 | $57.1 | 1 | ($0.04) | $57.1 | |
| 108th | 62 | $97.8 | 0 | $0 | $97.8 | |
| 107th | 60 | $36.0 | 3 | ($0.6) | $35.4 | |
| Average | 44 | $47.9 | 1 | ($0.25) | $47.6 | |
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A detailed list of the bills sponsored by Rep. Hoyer is available here, and go here for more information on BillTally and to look up reports on other Representatives and Senators.
