During her eulogy at former President Jimmy Carter’s funeral a few weeks ago, Kamala Harris falsely claimed Carter as a fellow liberal, painting him as a pioneering progressive who championed all the same causes that she now champions. Here are some of the facts about Carter that Harris conveniently ignored:
-- Carter signed the Hyde Amendment, which banned the federal funding of abortion.
-- Carter opened 100% of Alaska’s coastline for oil and natural gas exploration. He did this in exchange for Congress’s agreement to designate 157 million acres as protected wilderness areas or national parks, a reasonable compromise that liberal Democrats would excoriate.
-- Carter approved a record amount of oil and natural gas drilling. In 1980 alone, more oil and natural gas wells were drilled than in any previous year in American history.
-- Carter pushed for a large increase in coal production.
-- Carter increased defense spending every year he was in office. Defense spending rose by 10% in real terms, i.e., after inflation, during Carter's four years. That was one of the reasons the liberal wing of his party was upset with him, and one of the reasons Ted Kennedy challenged him in the 1980 Democratic primary.
-- Carter strongly supported the development of the B-2 stealth bomber, the Trident D5, the F/A-18 Hornet, the Aegis radar-weapon system, and the MX missile. He approved the deployment of air-launched cruise missiles. Nine of the first 10 Los Angeles-class nuclear fast attack submarines were commissioned under Carter, seven of them in the last two years of Carter’s term. The first three Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarines were launched or laid down under Carter.
-- Carter stationed medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe aimed at the Soviet Union, a move that the Soviets and their American liberal apologists deemed “provocative.”
-- Carter pushed through large increases in military pay: 6.2% for 1978, 5.5% for 1979, 7.0% for 1980, and 11.7% for 1981. Reagan was hailed for signing a 14.3% military pay hike for 1982, but that pay hike had been submitted in the last Carter defense budget.
-- Carter pushed through massive deregulation. He deregulated entire industries, including air travel, trucking, railroads, natural gas, and long-distance telephone service. He needed strong support from Republicans in Congress because so many Democrats opposed his deregulation efforts.
-- Carter reduced the number of federal employees from 3.2 million to 2.9 million, and reduced the number of federal agencies/bureaus/offices from 1,900 to 1,500.
-- Under Carter, the economy added 9.8 million non-farm/salaried jobs (10.1 million total), for an average job growth rate of 211,000 per month, which was a higher job growth rate than under Reagan, Ford, Bush Sr., Bush Jr., and Obama.
-- Carter reduced the federal deficit and added less debt to the national debt per year than Reagan, Ford, Nixon, Bush Sr., and Bush Jr. Notes Joe Renouard,
Under Carter, the annual federal deficit was consistently low, the national debt stayed below $1 trillion, and gross federal debt as a percentage of GDP peaked below 40%, the lowest of any presidency since the 1920s. During his final year in office, the debt-to-GDP ratio was 32% and the deficit-to-GDP ratio was 1.7%. In the ensuing twelve years of Reagan and Bush (1981-1993), the debt quadrupled to over $4 trillion and the debt-to-GDP ratio doubled. (Jimmy Carter: The Last of the Fiscally Responsible Presidents)
-- Carter ended the 1977-78 coal miners’ strike by invoking the Taft-Hartley law and ordering the miners back to work. He even cut off food stamps to miners who defied the order. Carter invoked Taft-Hartley after the miners’ union rejected two contract offers brokered by Carter. Following Carter's return-to-work order, the union soon accepted a new contract.
-- Carter pushed for zero-based budgeting, a frugal type of budgeting advocated by conservatives and loathed by liberals, but was never able to get Congress to cooperate.
I could mention other conservative actions/policies that Carter pursued, but this post is already long enough.
-- Carter signed the Hyde Amendment, which banned the federal funding of abortion.
-- Carter opened 100% of Alaska’s coastline for oil and natural gas exploration. He did this in exchange for Congress’s agreement to designate 157 million acres as protected wilderness areas or national parks, a reasonable compromise that liberal Democrats would excoriate.
-- Carter approved a record amount of oil and natural gas drilling. In 1980 alone, more oil and natural gas wells were drilled than in any previous year in American history.
-- Carter pushed for a large increase in coal production.
-- Carter increased defense spending every year he was in office. Defense spending rose by 10% in real terms, i.e., after inflation, during Carter's four years. That was one of the reasons the liberal wing of his party was upset with him, and one of the reasons Ted Kennedy challenged him in the 1980 Democratic primary.
-- Carter strongly supported the development of the B-2 stealth bomber, the Trident D5, the F/A-18 Hornet, the Aegis radar-weapon system, and the MX missile. He approved the deployment of air-launched cruise missiles. Nine of the first 10 Los Angeles-class nuclear fast attack submarines were commissioned under Carter, seven of them in the last two years of Carter’s term. The first three Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarines were launched or laid down under Carter.
-- Carter stationed medium-range nuclear missiles in Europe aimed at the Soviet Union, a move that the Soviets and their American liberal apologists deemed “provocative.”
-- Carter pushed through large increases in military pay: 6.2% for 1978, 5.5% for 1979, 7.0% for 1980, and 11.7% for 1981. Reagan was hailed for signing a 14.3% military pay hike for 1982, but that pay hike had been submitted in the last Carter defense budget.
-- Carter pushed through massive deregulation. He deregulated entire industries, including air travel, trucking, railroads, natural gas, and long-distance telephone service. He needed strong support from Republicans in Congress because so many Democrats opposed his deregulation efforts.
-- Carter reduced the number of federal employees from 3.2 million to 2.9 million, and reduced the number of federal agencies/bureaus/offices from 1,900 to 1,500.
-- Under Carter, the economy added 9.8 million non-farm/salaried jobs (10.1 million total), for an average job growth rate of 211,000 per month, which was a higher job growth rate than under Reagan, Ford, Bush Sr., Bush Jr., and Obama.
-- Carter reduced the federal deficit and added less debt to the national debt per year than Reagan, Ford, Nixon, Bush Sr., and Bush Jr. Notes Joe Renouard,
Under Carter, the annual federal deficit was consistently low, the national debt stayed below $1 trillion, and gross federal debt as a percentage of GDP peaked below 40%, the lowest of any presidency since the 1920s. During his final year in office, the debt-to-GDP ratio was 32% and the deficit-to-GDP ratio was 1.7%. In the ensuing twelve years of Reagan and Bush (1981-1993), the debt quadrupled to over $4 trillion and the debt-to-GDP ratio doubled. (Jimmy Carter: The Last of the Fiscally Responsible Presidents)
-- Carter ended the 1977-78 coal miners’ strike by invoking the Taft-Hartley law and ordering the miners back to work. He even cut off food stamps to miners who defied the order. Carter invoked Taft-Hartley after the miners’ union rejected two contract offers brokered by Carter. Following Carter's return-to-work order, the union soon accepted a new contract.
-- Carter pushed for zero-based budgeting, a frugal type of budgeting advocated by conservatives and loathed by liberals, but was never able to get Congress to cooperate.
I could mention other conservative actions/policies that Carter pursued, but this post is already long enough.
