Congressman-elect Chip Cravaack Tuesday repeated his stance that major federal projects in the Duluth area have to be evaluated as to whether they’re “a need or a want, and can we afford it?” says the Duluth News Tribune.
Republican Cravaack, who defeated longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar in the 8th District, talked with reporters Tuesday alongside newly elected U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy, a Republican who represents the Superior, Wis., area.
Duffy’s been a big earmark opponent, while Cravaack has sounded more pragmatic: “The message I took away [from a Republican lawmakers conference] regarding earmarks (is) we have to separate what’s needed versus what’s wanted.”
Cravaack said he met with Duluth Mayor Don Ness Tuesday to discuss pending federal projects in Duluth, such as the Northern Lights Express high-speed railroad and a hiking/biking link between the Munger Trail and Duluth’s Lakewalk.
His stance, he said, remains: “Is it a need or a want, and can we afford it? That truly is the bottom line. … Mayor Ness understands that as well.”
“Maintains his fiscal conservatism”? To my understanding, Mr Cravaack has not taken a vote yet; we don’t know if he is a “fiscal conservative” or not. But we will know, if and when he votes on whether to deepen the deficit by extending the windfall transfer of public funds to the most fortuned via the Bush tax cuts. As for projects in the Duluth area, a fiscal conservative supports capital investments that provide the foundation for future prosperity and quality of life. Evaluate each project on its merits. Mr Cravaack’s invocation of “need or want,” one of the vacuities currently circulating on the Right (no doubt from a Frank Luntz memo), doesn’t say that he is a fiscal conservative, it just says that we’re still awaiting evidence that thoughtful policy deliberation will supplant the simplistic ideological cant and truth-shading that got him elected.