Congressman Andy Harris says he is not optimistic about the budget battles that loom within the coming months.
The Eastern Shore Republican told the Salisbury Daily Times that he expects that there will be another stopgap spending bill in January that maintains the current spending levels.
But his Democratic challengers took Harris to task for voting against the measure that reopened the government after a 16-day partial shutdown.
John LaFerla, a physician from Chestertown, called Harris an “extremist” for whom the word compromise is a caustic word.
He told the paper that he would have voted to reopen the government.
Harris who responded to the paper’s in writing charged that President Obama and Senate majority leader Harry Reid are not willing to the federal budget deficits or debt, including such programs as Medicare, Medicaid and other mandatory spending.
LaFerla said that with the nation still recovering from the recession…this was not the time for fiscal austerity.
Meanwhile, the other Democratic challenger is retired attorney and businessman Bill Tilghman.
In a statement he said that congress needs to deal with spending issues entitlement reform and health care but called Harris an “obstructionist” who had not learned from the latest budget crisis.
