Rep. Chris Van Hollen criticized former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for not publicly criticizing the economic policies of his brother, President George W. Bush, in a Friday opening statement to a hearing on tax policy.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, noted that hundreds of thousands of Americans were losing their jobs in the months before former President Bush left office in 2009, and said Bush's policies tipped the scales toward the wealthy and Wall Street.
"I’ve searched the record, and as far as I can tell, during that eight-year period you did not challenge the Bush administration’s handling of the economy, criticize the excessive spending or the rising deficits," Van Hollen told Jeb Bush, a former Florida governor, at a morning hearing.
"It lifted the yachts, but the rest of the boats ran aground," Van Hollen said about the former president's economic policies during his opening statement.
Van Hollen spoke for more than seven minutes.
"I didn’t come to criticize anybody, just for the record," Bush noted in his opening statement.
"I’m not used to the 9:00 a.m. food fight that starts bright and early in Washington," Bush said. "I’m from Florida, where we don’t start that way in life. But it's great to be here."