Ben Nelson Unveils War Bonds Proposal, Calls For 'Shared Sacrifice And Fiscal Discipline'

Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) has formally introduced his war bonds bill, proposing to finance the Afghanistan surge and other military efforts through a targeted borrowing endeavor.

Nelson is pitching this as an alternative to war-tax proposals that have been floated by liberals.

"I believe that we need shared sacrifice and fiscal discipline in financing the war effort," Nelson said in a statement. "I don't believe our first instinct should always be a rush to tax. The government has gone to great lengths to address the economic downturn and adding new taxes right now could undermine those efforts."

As we reported last week, Nelson previously told reporters: "Some people jumped right out and said you need a war tax, and I said, Whoa! We didn't have a war tax in the Second World War." In fact, taxes were increased during World War II, in addition to the war bond campaign, thought the tax increases were not literally called a "war tax."