I Call Bullshit

A bill which would cut or freeze education, research, health, and labor spending, including a cut in federal education spending for the first time in a decade, in pursuit of a balanced federal budget, has passed the House on a 215-213 vote.

Republican leaders have sent mixed signals about whether they believe the budget plan can pass before Congress adjourns, but the issue is important to fiscal conservatives eager for the Republican Party to regain its footing on the budget.

"It is absolutely imperative that we stay as long as it takes," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. "The American people want to see this Congress, this (Republican) majority reassert its commitment to fiscal discipline and limited government."
I don’t doubt that the American people would like to see a return to fiscal discipline and limited government, but I’m not sure this is exactly what they had in mind.

Within the last two weeks, the House has voted to extend the Patriot Act, and a House bill was passed preserving the 15% tax rate for capital gains and dividends, among the other various tax cuts for individuals and businesses which were slated to expire at the end of the year. That’s not just a difference of opinion on how best to limit government and attain fiscal responsibility; that’s a complete hypocrisy on the part of anyone who asserts to give a rat’s patoot about either issue. Look, I’m willing to debate the merits of the Patriot Act and tax cuts for the rich with anyone goofy enough to support either one, but spare me the disingenuous bullshit about how the GOP is committed to principle, when their (non)application of same routinely demonstrates otherwise.

(Crossposted at Political Animal.)

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