On debt, two Nevada pols find they agree

By Lisa Mascaro

Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009 | 2 a.m.

An ad campaign in subway stations near the Capitol includes posters of a man dressed as Uncle Sam, but with tattered clothes, holding a cup and pleading “defeat the debt.”

Forget holiday shopping specials or the latest eggnog coffees at Starbucks. This town runs on policy and politics pitches, even during the holidays.

In one of its final votes before recess, the House passed an increase in the nation’s $12 trillion debt ceiling, allowing the U.S. Treasury to borrow just a little more to cover its bills. The increase is needed so the government does not default on its obligations.

Raising the debt limit is nothing new. During George W. Bush’s presidency, Congress lifted the debt ceiling eight times, according to OMB Watch, a fiscal watchdog group in Washington.

But this year Republicans, hoping to make gains in the 2010 midterm elections, are finding a potential campaign issue in the debt. Polls show government spending is a concern, and it has fueled much of the outrage of the tea party protesters.

President Barack Obama entered office saddled with rising debt after Bush led passage of the $848 billion bank bailout. This year Congress added to the load with the $787 billion economic recovery act and other recessionary aid.

Fear of the debt has created an unlikely alliance between Nevada lawmakers, as Republican Rep. Dean Heller and Democratic Rep. Dina Titus both voted against lifting the ceiling.

Heller’s opposition is nothing new. Since he first won election to Congress, after narrowly emerging from a tough primary against conservative Sharron Angle, Heller has tacked to the political right.

Heller has said he has always been a conservative, despite conflicting recollections from those who knew him as politician in Carson City. Heller guided the floor debate during last week’s vote, acting as traffic cop as he called up one Republican colleague after another to denounce the legislation.

As Americans have chipped nearly $30 on average off their annual holiday shopping budgets, Heller said Washington could do the same.

“You would think that during these tough times when most Americans are forced to tighten their belts, that Congress would also,” Heller said on the House floor. “Not a chance under this majority.”

Republicans were unsuccessful in halting the legislation. But the vote was close, thanks to Democratic defectors, including Titus, who was among 39 from her party who joined virtually all Republicans in voting no.

Titus, too, has made a noticeable political shift since taking office last year in the Southern Nevada district that had never before sent a Democrat to Congress.

The candidate — whose opponent during her 2006 run for governor dubbed her “Dina Taxes” — has increasingly chipped away at that image. She has voted against several tax initiatives and for fiscal restraint, even when it riles her Democratic supporters.

“Congresswoman Titus believes that we need a comprehensive strategy to address the country’s growing debt,” spokesman Andrew Stoddard said. But “raising the debt limit here and there is not a real solution; it just kicks the can down the road.”

That is about as far as the Nevadans’ voting similarities go.

The House’s final vote last week was to take unused bank bailout money to help fund a $150 billion job creation package. Titus (and Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley) voted yes. Heller voted no.

Lisa Mascaro can be reached at 202-662-7436 or at [email protected].