Robin Carnahan Now Likes TARP

In an interview with the Sedalia Democrat, the liberal Robin Carnahan said concerns about stabilizing the economy in 2008 made a good case for the TARP emergency funding package supported by President Obama and her brother, Congressman Russ Carnahan.

"As we suspected all along, Robin Carnahan now admits she would have voted for TARP to 'stabilize the economy,'" said Blunt spokesperson Rich Chrismer. "Robin Carnahan has made a multitude of false statements about TARP even falsely asserting that Roy Blunt supported a $700 billion bailout package that her brother Russ Carnahan and Barack Obama supported, but Blunt did not."

The New York Times reports that Robin Carnahan's statements on TARP fail to mention that Barack Obama and her brother, Congressman Russ Carnahan, both supported the TARP package.

Robin Carnahan's claims about "strict controls" also ring hollow. Carnahan has been silent about Roy Blunt's successful initiatives to cut hundreds of millions in funding out of the bill for groups such as ACORN and his demand for greater oversight. Roy Blunt demanded that the package be split in two so Congress could review how the Administration spent the emergency funds they claimed were necessary to prevent a global economic crisis that could have been worse than the Great Depression. Almost all of this $350 billion has been paid back with interest for the taxpayers.

"Robin Carnahan now says this short term investment which has almost all been paid back with interest was needed to 'stabilize the economy,'" said Chrismer. "Unfortunately, the more than $3 trillion in new big government spending Carnahan supported, including the government takeover of health care and the failing so-called "stimulus," is money that will never be paid back, piling more debt on future generations.

"This election is not complicated. If Missourians want to continue the irresponsible spending of Pelosi, Reid and Obama, they ought to support Robin Carnahan. But if they want someone who will fight for Missouri jobs and against wasteful spending, they ought to support Roy Blunt."