With Republicans bragging about their unity in opposing efforts at economic recovery, I thought it would be worth taking a look back at the GOP’s lockstep opposition to Bill Clinton’s economic efforts back in 1993. Crack ThinkProgress intern Matthew Finkelstein found the following:
– Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.), chairman of the Republican Conference, said that by “keeping our boys together” Republicans had shown “we can and will influence legislation this year.” [WaPo, 4/11/93]
– Senator Connie Mack (R-FL): “President Clinton’s economic program is not what he campaigned on and it’s not what the American people voted for. . . . He said his policies would grow the economy, but all he is doing is growing government.” [News conference, 4/29/93]
– Senator Hang Brown (R-CO): “The reality is the economy is sick, not because you don’t have enough government spending, but because you’ve got too much.” [CNN, 3/13/93]
Needless to say, the Clinton years in fact resulted in economic growth that was stronger than the Reagan years and much stronger than the miserable Bush years.
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