| The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's most recent estimate says that the Democratic health measure would reduce the deficit by $143 billion over the coming decade, savings that would disappear if the law is repealed. Republicans counter that that figure is unrealistic. |
Handicapping the odds of GOP fulfilling some promises – Seattle Times and AP
Consistently if you asked newly elected candidates who promised to cut taxes and spending just which spending they would cut … none gave a specific answer.
Well, as others have said, if you are interested in the ins and outs of congressional politics and political governance, these next two years should be very very interesting.
Republicans have already violated some of the vows they made in taking stewardship of the House.
Their pledge to cut $100 billion from the budget in one year won't be kept.
And for a coming vote seeking to repeal the health care overhaul, the first major initiative of the new Congress, lawmakers won't be allowed to propose changes to the legislation despite Republican promises to end such heavy-handed tactics from the days of Democratic control.
Is business as usual really back so fast? That's not clear one day after Democrat Nancy Pelosi yielded the gavel to the new Republican House leader, John Boehner. The GOP came to power in the House with an agenda that, if carried through, would in fact change how the government spends, taxes and does its legislative business.
But those with long memories may have the feeling they've seen this movie before.
After the GOP won control of Congress in the 1994 elections, the House churned out a series of votes aimed at fulfilling promises made in the party's "Contract With America." Most hit a dead end in the Senate.
The GOP's new governing document, "A Pledge to America," covers many of the same themes and faces many of the same problems.
The effort to repeal the health care law, for one, is expected to pass in the House and fail in the Senate, going nowhere.
A look at some of the Republican promises in the campaign that delivered them control of the House, and their prospects now:
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"House Republicans yesterday found themselves in a bit of trouble when they tried to explain that the $100 billion in spending cuts that they have been promising was only “hypothetical,” and they intend to actually cut about half of that from the budget.
ReplyDeleteBut for weeks, the GOP has been repeating over and over that it intended to lop $100 billion from the budget once it came into power, in line with the plan laid out in the much-hyped “Pledge to America.”
"Republicans are arguing that since the continuing resolution passed by the House in December covers government spending until March, they only have half of the fiscal year to work with, thus they can only achieve half their promised savings. However, Republicans knew full-well that a continuing resolution was in place, but still consistently promised to cut $100 billion all the way into the new year. Cantor himself repeated the $100 billion number one day before Republicans were sworn in and adjusted their estimates.
ReplyDeleteEven the conservative Daily Caller noted the GOP’s budget flub, writing, “Republicans would have known this would happen way back in the fall when they first started using the $100 billion figure. That raises the question of why GOP communications shops did not start using a different figure weeks ago, at the very least, and explaining why it had changed. Instead, it popped up on the day that the national spotlight on them was brightest.”
- Pat Garofolo