Ami Bera, Bill Enyart and Ann Kirkpatrick are among the Democrats hit by the ads. | AP Photos Dems cry hypocrisy on GOP ads

House Democrats who helped Republican leaders raise the debt ceiling in recent years are receiving a strange thank you: attack ads.

The National Republican Congressional Committee and a few GOP groups are running advertisements criticizing Democrats for taking votes that helped Speaker John Boehner pass bills to avoid a calamitous default on the U.S. debt in 2013 and 2014.


It’s certainly no surprise that Republicans are criticizing Democrats in the middle of an election year — both parties do it — but a handful of senior Republican and Democratic insiders both on and off Capitol Hill scoffed at the ads, saying they were hypocritical and represented poor strategy.

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When asked whether the NRCC believes the ads are honest, a spokeswoman for the committee, Andrea Bozek, stood by them. “Absolutely. Voters outside the Beltway want to have an honest discussion about Democrats’ addiction to wasting their money.”

These ads are not just targeting one member of Congress. They’re sprouting up all over the country.

In Illinois, Democratic Rep. Bill Enyart has been hit by the NRCC for being a “bust” for the middle class, highlighting his vote to raise the debt ceiling “three times.” The advertisements make no mention that two of those debt ceiling bills listed senior Republican chief sponsors and authors.

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Another spot says Enyart “took Nancy Pelosi’s orders, voting three times to increase the debt ceiling.” Senior Republicans gave similar orders. Crossroads GPS, the Karl Rove aligned group, piled on, too, saying Enyart “has voted again and again to let the debt increase.” The group has cut nearly identical advertisements against Democratic incumbents across the country.

In and around Sacramento, California, voters might see an NRCC advertisement that says Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) votes too often with Pelosi and President Barack Obama, adding that the first-term lawmaker voted to “increase the debt ceiling, just like Pelosi.” But the ad doesn’t say that vote came during Republican control of the House.

Allison Teixeira, a spokesman for Bera, called the NRCC’s ads “even more ridiculous” because “his opponent, former Congressman [Doug] Ose, voted to raise the debt ceiling himself multiple times when he was in Congress and voted for an unfunded war and tax cuts for the wealthy that turned America’s record surplus into a record deficit.”

In the San Diego area, the GOP is criticizing Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) for voting with “Nancy Pelosi in Washington to raise the debt ceiling, while debt increased over a trillion.” Peters wasn’t even in the House when Pelosi was speaker — that vote came under Republican control of the chamber. Boehner and other top Republicans also voted to raise the debt ceiling.

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Alex Roth, a spokesman for Peters, said in an email: “Only the Tea Party could support the reckless policy of allowing the United States to default on its debts, which would be crippling to the U.S. economy. Carl DeMaio’s support of these dangerous policies is one of the reasons why the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is backing Scott Peters, not DeMaio, in this election.”

In Arizona, Republicans are whacking Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick for increasing the debt limit four times. Three of those votes came when Republicans controlled the House.

“This type of hypocrisy is exactly why Arizonans are fed up with Washington insiders,” said D.B. Mitchell, Kirkpatrick’s communications director, in an email. “The NRCC hopes voters don’t realize that Republican leadership voted for the same thing they’re now attacking Ann for supporting. The fact is, this vote was a responsible, bipartisan effort to stop our country from defaulting on its financial obligations. On the flip side, the reckless Tea Party tactics supported by [House candidate] Andy Tobin led to a government shutdown that hurt the local economies across District One and all of Arizona.”

Congressional candidate Stewart Mills, a Republican in Minnesota, has an ad criticizing Rep. Rick Nolan (D-Minn.) for raising the debt ceiling, saying he “wastes our tax dollars.”

It’s nothing new that campaign advertisements are filled with misstatements, understatements and half-truths. But the line of attack illustrates the gap between campaigning and governing. Without the votes of Democrats like Eynart, Kirkpatrick, Peters and Bera, the nation could’ve been one step closer to default. It’s like biting the hand that feeds you.

The NRCC stands by the ads.

“Democrats and Republicans couldn’t be further apart on the issue of spending,” Bozek said in an email. “Democrats caused the problem we are in with the policies they support, like Obamacare and the failed stimulus, and want to continue to give President Obama a blank check. Republicans know Washington has a spending problem and will continue to fight for a balanced budget.”

The debt ceiling must be lifted again in the first half of 2015, and then it will become clear if there might be real-world implications to Republicans running these ads. If Democrats feel like the GOP will criticize them for lending a hand, they could be less willing to assist in the future.

History shows that could cause problems for House Republicans. They have frequently struggled to muster the GOP votes to lift the debt ceiling, leaving Democrats to bring it across the finish line.

In fact, the NRCC ads highlight several instances in which Republicans were unable to pass a debt-limit increase with the requisite 218 Republican votes. On Jan. 23, 2013, 199 Republicans and 86 Democrats voted to lift the debt cap. On Oct. 16, 2013, just 87 Republicans voted to lift the debt ceiling as part of a deal to end the government shutdown — 198 Democrats, on the other hand, voted yes. And on Feb. 11, 2014, just 28 Republicans voted to raise the debt ceiling. One-hundred-ninety-three Democrats voted for that bill.