Well, my friends, after a FEW bold moves from Republicans in the 112th Congress, it appears that reality has now fully returned:
Some veteran Republican House members are pushing back against conservative deficit hawks who are pushing for endlessly deep spending cuts, saying the right wing of the party is creating unnecessary divisions for the GOP majority.
That didn’t take long. Not that Tea Partiers expected career Republicans to suddenly become conservative, but that doesn’t make it any less aggravating.
For me, this quote highlights the need to fundamentally change the makeup of Washington, regardless of party:
“Yep, it is surprising,” Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson said of the difficulty convincing hard-liners that the leadership is cutting large amounts of spending. “I mean, this is three weeks; we’re cutting $6 billion. You know? It is surprising. This is the only time in my life where I can cut $6 billion in a three-week period and be called a liberal.”
Do you know why that is, Rep. Simpson? Because the American people are finally awake to the game you’ve been playing for so long. And now that we are, we’re no longer going to let you do things like take a few pennies from the government budget, throw them back at us, tell us to be quiet, and call yourself a conservative.
Just for fun (or total depression), let’s take a closer look at how Republicans are “cutting large amounts of spending.” $6 billion of cuts over three weeks equates to $104 billion in a year. That represents 6.7 % of the 2010 budget and 0.73 % of the national debt. If those are the “large amounts” Republicans are proud of having cut, we have precisely ZERO chance of ever closing the budgetary black hole sucking in our nation faster every day.
Someone explain to me again why a government shutdown would be a BAD thing at this point.
Cross-posted at http://redstatevirginia.com
