HYPOCRISY ALERT: Heller Votes to Add $300 Million to Deficit While Fundraising on Fiscal Restraint

Las Vegas, NV - This is rich. Yesterday, Rep. Dean Heller (R-Washington, DC) sent a fundraising email to his supporters touting his "concern" over the federal budget deficit.

Concern? You wouldn't know it.  Turns out Heller failed to mention his vote yesterday to add $300 million to the deficit by spending that money on a school voucher program for the Washington DC school system.

“Dean Heller might be getting a little too settled in Washington, considering he’s more willing to spend money on schools there, rather than investing in Nevada. His vote to add $300 million to the deficit while calling for fiscal restraint is blatant hypocrisy that will not create a single Nevada job,” said Zach Hudson, Communications Director for the Nevada State Democratic Party.

 

“Heller has consistently voted against creating Nevada jobs, citing his concern over the deficit, but he has no problem adding to the deficit when the money goes outside of Nevada.”

 

The voucher program, called the Scholarships for Opportunity and Results Act, would cost $300 million over five years by allocating $20 million per year for five years to pay for vouchers to send DC students to private schools, $20 million per year to DC charter schools, and $20 million per year to DC public schools.

“Heller needs to stop pandering to the extreme TEA Party wing of his party in his effort to avoid a competitive Republican Primary and start working to help Nevada’s economy recover,” Hudson added.

“Nevada has serious problems and needs a Senator who is focused on creating jobs here, not running for his next one.”