Predictably, the President is already claiming that his tax hike on the “rich” isn’t enough. I have news for him: the moment that he and virtually every elected Democrat in Washington signed off on the terms of the current arrangement, it was the last word on taxes. That debate is over. Now the conversation turns to cutting spending on the government programs that are the real source of the nation’s fiscal imbalance.But there's something in this whole frame that McConnell and other Republicans want you to forget. They're acting as if the latest fiscal cliff negotiations were the first time they've fought this issue out with the President. That's obviously not the case. It really wasn't that long ago that Republicans took us to the brink of disaster with the last debt ceiling fiasco. The deal reached at that time included some things McConnell and Republicans want you to forget about.
The reason President Obama said he got these tax increases on the wealthy for free is because he'd already agreed to a huge down-payment on spending cuts as part of the last deal.
- More than $900 Billion in Savings over 10 Years By Capping Discretionary Spending...
- Includes Savings of $350 Billion from the Base Defense Budget – the First Defense Cut Since the 1990s
That's the kind of balance President Obama is insisting on going forward. The Republicans would like us to forget this very recent history. Let's not let them get away with that.
Yes. By Mitch's logic the next time Obama negotiates he can pretend he did not get 600 billion in revenue. Great!
ReplyDeleteThat's precisely what he's going to pretend.
DeleteThe sequester was a fraud. The President was disingenuous in its creation. He intends to subvert the spending cuts through ever higher taxes on the 1%.
Republicans would do well to abandon high-stakes, time-sensitive negotiations with him and simply work to remediate the sequester during normal budgeting work.
Mitch ain't too bright. What's wrong with the Republicans in Kentucky? They should feel ashamed of themselves. Mitch is going to make a deal for more revenue if he wants to keep those defense contractors happy.
ReplyDeleteVic78