GOP hopefuls call Braley's support for balanced budget 'election-year conversion'

A pair of Republicans who hope to challenge Rep. Bruce Braley are calling his support for a balanced budget amendment an election-year conversion.

Braley, who is seeking a fourth term in the U.S. House, announced May 16 he is signing on to a Republican-authored plan to amend the Constitution to require a balanced budget. He called it the “only viable way” to rein in federal spending and the growth of the national debt.

However, Republicans Ben Lange and Rod Blum, who are competing for their party's nomination to challenge Braley, aren't buying his new-found support for a balanced budget.

“It is no coincidence the week after our campaign launched a district-wide radio ad calling out Bruce Braley and the current generation of political leaders for the greatest social injustice of my lifetime, Braley would grab his umbrella to protect himself from the rain of outrage his constituents have been voicing and run for cover,” Lange said.

“Don't read his lips. Read his voting record,” Blum added. “Don't pay attention to what he's doing now, three months before the election. What's his voting record been over the last three terms? Very liberal.”

A spokesman for Braley expressed surprise at the negative reaction from Lange and Blum “since a balanced budget amendment is something we all agree on.”

“You'd think these two could put politics aside for once and follow Bruce's lead to endorse this common sense balanced budget plan,” said Jeff Giertz of the congressman's staff. “It was written by a Republican, after all.”

However, Braley's support for the plan authored by Rep. Justin Amash, a freshman Republican from Michigan is a departure for him. The Waterloo Democrat has previously resisted similar efforts.

Amash's plan would peg federal spending to the average of the previous three years of revenue and phase in over 10 years. It has gained a measure of bipartisan support. Fifty-five lawmakers have signed on, including Iowa 2nd District Rep. Dave Loebsack, an Iowa City Democrat.

The plan would make allowances for inflation and population growth. It also could be waived in emergencies by a two-thirds vote of Congress.

It's hard to take seriously Braley's new found fiscal conservativism, Lange said.

“The fact is he was the only member of the Iowa delegation to vote against the balanced budget amendment, to support bailing out Wall Street on the back of Main Street, and to support increasing the national debt limit seven times without any cuts in federal spending,” Lange said. “He hasn't proposed a single bill or lifted a finger to resolve the defining issue of our age.”

Blum pointed out that over the last four years Braley has voted with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi 98.3 percent of the time.

“I don't think Nancy Pelosi's values in San Francisco and Iowa values are the same,” Blum said.