Line-by-Line Analysis of Brown, Mandel Campaign Platforms Shows $110 Billion Difference in Federal Budget Plans
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Ohio Senate candidates Sherrod Brown and Josh Mandel continue to stress their policy differences on the campaign trail, but how do their words translate to dollars? According to a line-by-line analysis from the non-partisan National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF), Brown's campaign platform would increase annual federal spending by over $6 billion annually, while the agenda Mandel outlined would reduce the federal budget by nearly $104 billion per year.
NTUF Senior Policy Analyst Demian Brady said, "Candidates make many promises to taxpayers in the course of a campaign; now NTUF's cost analysis can help citizens sort through the soft words and get to the hard reality of where Senate hopefuls would take fiscal policy."
Among the findings:
- Sherrod Brown's campaign promises to date would increase annual federal spending by a net of $6.2 billion. NTUF identified 15 of Brown's proposals as affecting federal expenditures; five would increase outlays, two would reduce them, and eight have costs or savings that were impossible to accurately determine.
- Major items on Brown's agenda include $6 billion in annual spending for "better classrooms" and a "comfortable learning environment," stemming from legislation he has introduced in Congress. He also advocates limits on federal subsidies to wealthy farmers, for a savings of $223 million a year.
- Josh Mandel's platform would, in its entirety, produce a net annual savings of $103.9 billion. NTUF found 11 proposals he made with a spending effect: three to raise expenditures, four to lower them, and four without quantifiable estimates of costs or savings.
- Mandel's single largest budget increase was $65 million annually, connected to a plan allowing purchases of health insurance across state lines. On the other end of the scale, Mandel seeks repeal of the 2010 health care law, scored for a reduction in spending of $63.9 billion each year.
Brown and Mandel also made proposals whose costs or savings are impossible to calculate – including "spending freezes" both of them offered that cannot be reconciled with current law.
NTUF is the research and educational arm of the 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union, a non-profit citizen group. Ohio's Senate race is one of several the group is examining; studies were conducted using independent sources and NTUF's BillTally legislative cost-accounting system. More information is available at ntu.org/ntuf.
SOURCE National Taxpayers Union Foundation
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