I read every post Dan Riehl writes. Today I saw, and I stopped everything and read it.
What struck me the most was some of the language used.
A Democrat-controlled Senate and White House will never pass the kind of serious plan we want as Conservatives.
Or said another way, “We are only half of a third.”
Today, on the Rush Limbaugh Show, Speaker Boehner called in, here is part of that exchange:
SPEAKER BOEHNER: Well, listen, now we’re getting into budget talk. It’s $7 billion in budget authority below the current year. It’s $26 billion below in actual outlays that go out the door — and again, remember, we made big cuts from last year into this year. We’re gonna make more cuts going into next year. When have you ever seen a Congress in that one-third of the budget actually spend less from one year to the next? And we’re gonna do it two years in row, and frankly we might even get to three years in a row.
RUSH: Okay. So we’re gonna raise the debt limit in this deal through probably — you think it will probably go to next March or April, somewhere?
SPEAKER BOEHNER: Yeah. First, if this bill were to pass, the President could ask for an increase in the debt limit up to 95% of the cuts. Remember one of the principles here: We are not gonna increase the debt limit by anything more than what we’re willing to cut spending. I’ve said the cuts have to exceed it, he’d have to ask for it.
RUSH: He gets the new trillion dollars.
SPEAKER BOEHNER: Trillion dollars roughly and will take them probably into February, maybe March.
RUSH: Right, so he gets that immediately but the cuts are spread over ten years?
SPEAKER BOEHNER: That is correct. That is correct.
It sounds to me like we are handing Obama a trillion dollars and we get 7 billion in spending cuts out of it. Sorry if I’m not towing the line here, but many House members promised over and over again that they would cut $100 Billion in the first year. Then that got reduced to 38.5 Billion, and then 356 million. Now, we are promised $1.2 Trillion in discretionary spending cuts over 10 years which means actually one year for sure, and that year we can count $7 Billion in cuts.
Now, Dan is telling conservatives to get behind this Boehner plan, saying he agrees with that it’s a pretty darn good plan. I respect them both, but they are wrong.
Oh you are just being belligerent Jen, oh, you don’t know diddly squat about the debt/deficit/budget processes and the political games being played, Jen, oh, it’s easy to just always say no, isn’t it Jen? Think you’re so smart, why don’t you tell us what your plan is, Jen?
I can hear all of that. This is not a good plan, it is not. And anyone can see that it does nothing for conservatives, and that is the whole problem with it.
The whole reason Boehner is in the Speaker position is because of conservatives. Conservatives, that is, the tea party, be they independents, former Democrats, or anti-establishment Republicans are the only reason Boehner has that job, and he will not admit it, and now it seems the fellows want to go along with it just to present this horrible mess again next spring.
I’m against this plan, because it is devoid of leadership. I do not agree with the boys that we cannot expect anything from a Democrat controlled Senate, when we won the majority in the House and the State houses across the nation. But we didn’t win because we are Republicans, we won because we said we would do everything in our power to do what was right by the folks who put us there.
It is a symptom of having no leadership that the Speaker presents this plan that asks the Democrats where to get the spending from. He said in the interview with Rush today, “There really are Democrats who want to cut spending, and I’m confident that our members can go in there and make the case for why America needs to act because the greatest risk to our country is not missing August the 2nd. The greatest risk is that we do not make the cuts necessary to put our financial house in order.” Really? And who are they? Will Harry Reid put them on your panel?
No. No Deal.
Am I supposed to be swayed by the logic that this Boehner plan really puts Obama up as a spendaholic right during the election season? Um, hello? We are already here! We are already engaged in this fight! What, do you think we just forgot how to google and read? We don’t need to be reminded he is bad! We need a reason to fight for the Republicans!
Obama already threatened to veto it, do we have another one in the wings? Or, as we wait for the final countdown to default, (which will not happen, yet Boehner keeps repeating it like it is the truth,) what will we give up? Sorry to be cynical but, with Boehner’s track record of capitulation, it’s just a matter of time, isn’t it?
