Tea Party hypocrisy on federal debt limit

As Congress gets ready to debate the debt ceiling again, it’s worth remembering that many of the GOP/Tea Party freshmen who are firebrands on fiscal issues have accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in personal debt.

Previous financial disclosure statements show that, among the 87 new Republican House and Senate members at least 30 had liabilities totaling $50,000 or more in 2010.

According to The Washington Post, those debts included large mortgages on investment properties, as well as student loans and credit card balances. At least seven freshmen had credit card debt exceeding $15,000.

These partisans preach the message that the nation spends too much and must reduce its debt burden immediately. But in their private lives these newbies have embraced debt when it’s used to grow ventures in real estate, farming or other businesses.

Rep. Farenthold

 “If they’re responsible for their own personal finances, then they may have a mind-set to be frugal with the federal Treasury,” Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, told the Post last year. “But if they can’t keep their personal finances in order, then you have to wonder how they’re going to handle the federal budget.”

At the top of the list of hypocrites should be Rep. Blake Farenthold, a Texas Republican, who opposed the 2011 debt ceiling increase without major spending cuts (which are now the sequester cuts).

“Like the rest of America,” the congressman said, “the government needs to tighten its belt and work within its means.”

But Farenthold’s 2010 disclosure forms show a different story: credit card debt of $45,000 to $150,000.