Biden vs. Perry

Houston Chronicle:

Vice President Joe Biden said Monday that economically strapped residents of Houston and Harris County are paying a price for Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s rejection of a portion of the Obama administration’s economic stimulus assistance.

“There’s lot of people hurting in Houston, there’s a lot of people hurting in Harris County who lost their jobs, who are in real trouble, and the fact (is) that they’re not able to get the money,” Biden said in response to a question during a telephone conference call with reporters. “It’s a shame that people in this kind of trouble are denied.”

“It would be one thing if the state had the money, and said 'I don’t want to take federal money. We’re just going to fund it ourselves,’ ” Biden said during a 45-minute question and answer session.

“It’s another thing when the states are hurting badly, and you decide you’re not going to take on the responsibility to put a few more cop in the street to keep the crime rate down, or keep more teachers in the classroom rather than increase classroom size.”

Biden, who was asked about Perry, insisted that he was “not commenting directly” on Texas’ GOP chief executive. “Each governor has his or her rationale.”

But Biden added: “I’m at a bit of a loss as to the rationale.”

Perry’s office defended the governor’s actions.

“Governor Perry believes the best way to address unemployment is to create new jobs, rather than discouraging job creation by raising taxes on employers through federal mandates tied to stimulus dollars,” Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said. “Texans who lose their job through no fault of their own are covered and will remain covered under the current unemployment insurance system in our state.”

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It is puzzling to me why Biden does not understand Perry's argument or at least attempt to address it rather than accuse him of wanting to hurt Texans. There is a legitimate argument to be had on the subject, but Biden has not engaged on the issue that is driving objections to raising taxes on small business in a time of economic distress. Instead he is ignoring the long term consequences of the policy he is pushing in hopes of short term political gain.