The Senate just moved to pass the Budget Control Act of 2011, version 6, 74-26, sending the final version of the debt deal to President Obama’s desk. And while many conservative members of both chambers have lamented that the bill does not go far enough toward restoring the nation’s fiscal health, it is a far-cry from the tax hikes Obama was demanding only two weeks ago. Yet Majority Leader Reid has apparently had his head in a bowl of sand for the past month, because right before surrendering completely to the Republican Party’s n0-tax, all-spending-cuts debt package, he told his fellow Senators that the newly formed super-committee will have to include tax increases. In 40 seconds, Reid used the word ‘fair’ twice, the word ‘equal’ twice, and the word ‘sharing’ once in describing how a committee report devoid of new revenues was “not going to happen.” The clear question for Senator Reid is – what planet has he been on for the last month?
After finally turning the ship-of-state in the right direction (McConnell’s speech on the debt deal calls it a “first step”), the chance of Republicans suddenly abandoning their principles is absurd. If that were the case, House Republicans would have caved under the continuous barrage of lies, misinformation, and hysteria the White House has been pumping out over the past month. News Flash: they didn’t! So to suggest that tax increases will form a part of the final package borders on the insane. And even if it does, the House of Representatives will never let it pass, the sequestration will kick in at $1.2 trillion, and this discussion will take place again right before election day.
Leader Reid’s threats might cause some Republicans to pause, if he had any teeth. But conservatives just fought this battle right down to the line, felt the full force of his opposition, and found out he had no spine. It’s the height of irony that seconds before admitting absolute defeat, Reid would try to distract from his failure by suggesting that next time he would require the deal to have revenue hikes. When you can’t box, don’t volunteer for Round 2 after getting KO’d in the first round, because the second defeat will hurt even worse. The debt deal may not be perfect, but conservatives should take comfort in the fact that the GOP is still winning, and Reid is still crazy.
