You know, I suppose it’s one thing to be lied to by the likes of Nancy Pelosi and ‘Dingy Harry’ Reid, Hell it’s even become something almost to be expected, but I find it rather offensive to be lied to, repeatedly, by those who profess to be the watchdogs of our conservative issues. And I feel that in respect to this latest "budget deal", I have not only been lied to by those whom I have actually voted for, but I’ve also essentially been told that I have no credibility in making my feelings known. Apparently what I think is of no importance to our ‘leaders’ in Congress as they go about the business of passing whatever it is that they want.
And in having done so, Boehner & Co. should not be surprised by the backlash nor by the fact that conservatives are now busying themselves savaging the recently passed budget deal negotiated by Paul Ryan, RINO, and Patty Murray, Democrat. A deal that increases federal expenditures by $63 Billion during the next two years, breaching the $967 Billion spending limit set by the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA), in exchange for mythical future deficit cuts totaling and rather paultry $23 Billion. So in an age of $17 Trillion in debt, we’ve somehow been able to agree on cuts totaling $23 Billion over 10 years. Really?
In speaking of this deal, Heritage Action communications director Dan Holler said, "This deal is a step in the wrong direction. There’s no doubt about that." He went on to say, "I’m not sure there’s anything in this bill for conservatives to like." He said, "The Democrats should have been forced to live with sequestration levels. Republicans missed a huge opportunity to bring Democrats to the table to talk about major entitlement reform," adding that the Ryan deal "takes away one of the only pieces of leverage the Republicans had over President Obama and the Democrats. That leverage is now gone." And he’s 100 percent right!
"I just don’t get it," agreed Veronique de Rugy, an economist at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center. "Why would you exchange real spending restraint for nothing?" She said, "The most important thing – the most devastating thing – is that this deal blows the sequester caps. This is the one and only victory the GOP has had in restoring fiscal responsibility. It was a meek victory, but a victory nonetheless." What I can only assume is that the Republicans have absolutely no interest in taking the measures that we all know must be taken if we are to have any hope of addressing our growing fiscal mess.
Ms. de Rugy went on to say, "I think Paul Ryan thought it was more important to avoid a battle over the CR [Continuing Resolution], but if they can’t keep in place the sequester cuts, which are minor, how can we believe that first, they will actually go back and implement these cuts, starting in 2016; and second, that they can actually do the work that has to be done to reform entitlements in the future, which should be everybody’s highest priority?" She added, "It does raise the question of why on earth we should believe Republicans ever again." Her points are valid and are the very reason conservatives hate this deal.
That same sentiment was also echoed by Steven Stanek, a research fellow in budget and tax policy at the Heartland Institute, who noted that "no Congress can force a future Congress to do anything, so all we know for sure is that we’ll soon see higher government spending. Considering the dismal history of promises of future fiscal restraint, it’s a safe bet the promised long-term deficit reductions will never happen." Brandon Arnold, vice president of government affairs at the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), said "There’s very little in the budget deal for taxpayers." I’m no expert, but I think he’s being more than a little too kind here.
And it was also Mr. Arnold who said, "There is a lot of spending at the beginning, but the promised cuts will not occur until the very end, in years nine and 10." And he went on to said, "Congress has lost a ton of credibility after making a promise to cut spending just two years ago." Adding, "Now they’re promising to cut it nine years from now. That’s a hard pill to swallow. It would have been far preferable for them to do nothing, maintain the status quo and keep the BCA sequester in place." You know, Republicans insist upon making deals like this, spend now but cut later, much later. It’s ridiculous, because the cut NEVER materialize.
Christine Harbin Hanson of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), also took issue with Ryan’s assurances that the deal he negotiated does not raise taxes. She said, "One of our biggest concerns is that this is a massive increase in spending and uses a number of revenue raisers such as aviation fees and also shifting Medicare spending caps into the future." She also said, "These are really a fee in name only." Adding, "But these aviation fees are not going into a specific reinvestment area to improve our infrastructure. Instead, they will be used to fuel spending elsewhere in government. If it looks and smells like a tax, it is a tax."
And in choosing to throw what was really nothing more than a temper tantrum, Boehner made it very clear just who it is that possesses zero credibility. And it certainly isn’t the conservative organizations that he sought to take potshots at. And ‘RINO’ Ryan is no better. Ryan did nothing more than to look the American people dead in the eye and then lie to them, repeatedly, which makes him no better than Boehner or, for that matter, Barry "Almighty". This entire debt deal is a complete fraud. And now here’s the truly scary part, we’re now forced into pinning all of our hopes on the Republicans in the Senate lead by the stellar Mitch McConnell. Not a very encouraging scenario.
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