Kucinich blasts Issa's stimulus critique

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich harshly scolded Rep. Darrell Issa this week, questioning the California Republican’s criticisms of the stimulus.

In a sharply-worded letter, the liberal Democrat said he was “disappointed” that the incoming chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform committee called the $787 billion stimulus package “walking around money.” He demanded that Issa prove it, or retract the statement.

“While one may quarrel with the use to which the economic stimulus has been put, or even whether fiscal stimulus is an appropriate governmental response to the worse economic recession since the Great Depresseion, it is not possible to argue that the economic stimulus resembles ‘walking around money,’” Kucinich wrote. “There is no evidence with which I am familiar which substantiates your claim, and much which refutes it.”

The broadside marks an early preview of House Democrats' intent to throw political brush-back pitches at Issa, who has vowed to launch hundreds of investigative hearings touching all corners of government. Kucinich, who sits on the committee Issa is slated to chair, said the Republican’s words are “dangerous for the oversight process and for our government.”

Kucinich on Thursday said that he wants to meet with Issa when Congress reconvenes for the lame-duck session later this month to caution him against recklessness. “You just have to have a proper amount of caution,” when you wield that much power, Kucinich told POLITICO.

Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Issa, said “we'll have plenty of time to settle these questions in the new Congress."

By Jake Sherman and Jonathan Allen