By Jason Easley
House Republicans overwhelmingly voted against the fiscal cliff deal, and they got busted today for trying to take credit for it, by using the $600 billion in new revenue in Paul Ryan’s budget.
Tea Partier Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and his party got busted by Ryan Lizza on CNN’s Starting Point this morning for hypocritically trying to use the fiscal cliff tax increase on the wealthy to make Paul Ryan’s magic budget work.
RYAN LIZZA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I think it’s fine as a statement of priorities for Republicans to say we disagree with Obamacare and our budget repeals it. I think that’s reasonable. Did you vote against the fiscal cliff deal?Ryan’s budget assumes the repeal of Obamacare, but includes the additional $600 billion in revenue that will be generated by the fiscal cliff deal. When asked why they are using a tax hike on the wealthy that they fought against for nearly two years to their own advantage, Chaffetz was at a loss for words.
CHAFFETZ: Yes, I did.
LIZZA: Is this budget going to assume the $600 billion in new revenues in that fiscal cliff deal?
CHAFFETZ: Well, we haven’t gotten to the final product. Paul has not yet released it. The Budget Committee – well, it potentially will.
LIZZA: It potentially would?
CHAFFETZ: Well, I want to look at it, in totality. When you do a budget, I’m not trying to punt, I’m trying to say you have to look at all of the things – I was a kicker in college. But look, at the end of the day you’ve got to put numbers on a piece of paper and achieve balance. So I think there’s a mix there -
LIZZA: Speaking to America’s frustration, Republicans voted overwhelmingly against a deal that raised $600 billion in revenue, and now it sounds like they’re going to put out a budget that pockets that $600 billion and put that up for a vote. So I think that paradox is – is a little difficult to understand.
CHAFFETZ: We have won some things and we’ve lost a lot of things, OK
Why is it fine for Ryan’s budget to assume that one thing that was upheld by the Supreme Court (Obamacare) will be repealed, while another thing that Republicans have desperately fought against will be the law of the land?More importantly, Republicans can’t explain how Barack Obama’s tax policies made it into their budget.
The Ryan budget will essentially endorse President Obama’s balanced approach to increasing revenue. The truth is that House Republicans know that they can’t balance the budget without more revenue. Their cut and never raise taxes mantra makes for a great campaign slogan, but it doesn’t work in the real world. As President Obama consistently stressed during the 2012 campaign, the numbers don’t add up when a cuts only approach is used.
House Republicans will continue to fight to the death against raising more revenue, while quietly constructing a budget that only works if more revenue is added.
The Ryan budget is providing the best argument for why President Obama’s balanced approach is the only way to go.
Just don’t tell House Republicans that the budget they are about to loudly champion is based on Obama’s policies.
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