Republican presidential candidates Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee sparred over their spending records during Tuesday’s GOP undercard presidential debate on Fox Business Network.
After Jindal said he was the only candidate who has cut government spending, Huckabee responded, “a lot of us have cut things, and during the recession of 2001 through 2003, when 91% of our state budget was basically three things, educate, medicate, and incarcerate, we ended up cutting 11% out of the state budget, through that recession, so we didn’t have to go in and raise a bunch of taxes, and there were people who thought we should. So, it’s just not accurate to say nobody else up here has ever cut. I believe every governor has probably had to make tough decisions, I’m guessing my colleague Governor Christie has, as I’m tossing him the ball like Arkansas did to Ole Miss the other day.”
Jindal responded, “Mike, with all due respect, I admire your social views, I share many of those views, your record as governor tells a different story. It was during your time as governor, spending in Arkansas went up 65%, number of state workers went up 20%, the taxes for the average citizen went up 47%. That’s not a record of cutting, I’m saying we’ve actually cut, we’ve reduced the size of our budget, so wanting to cut is one thing, actually cutting is a different thing. Facts don’t lie.”
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