Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
He won't get an argument from me. Steve Benen writes at Political Animal – Kyl thinks big:
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) wants $2 trillion in spending cuts or his caucus will destroy the economy. Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) is aiming even higher.
Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said Monday that Republicans will likely demand cuts to the budget worth $6 trillion over the next decade in exchange for voting to raise the national debt limit. […]
Asked about the GOP’s goal to cut spending, Kyl said he’d push for $6 trillion in cuts over the next decade — which is in line with Ryan’s plan, but more than the $4 trillion than what President Barack Obama laid out over the next 12 years. […]
“The question is what is it going to take to get some House Republicans to vote to increase the debt ceiling?” Kyl said. “It’s a lot more than what you just said,” referring to statutory caps on spending.
Keep in mind, Kyl wasn’t referring to the budget fight for the next fiscal year — he’s looking for $6 trillion in cuts just to raise the debt ceiling before the early-August deadline.
And as best as I can tell, his comments were intended to be a factual statement.
I especially like that last point from Kyl about statutory spending caps being inadequate. Democrats could give Republicans arguably the most radically dangerous budget ideas of them all, and Kyl believes it still wouldn’t be enough.
In other words, Kyl is insisting that a proposal Dems simply can’t agree to isn’t even enough. This is just madness.
While he’s at it, maybe Kyl should throw in some more insane ideas. Republicans won’t raise the debt ceiling unless Democrats reconcile general relativity and quantum mechanics. The GOP will throw the nation into default unless Democrats get Israelis and Palestinians to agree to a sweeping peace agreement by July. Republicans will block a debt-limit extension unless Harry Reid runs a three-minute mile — backwards.
I mean, really. What planet is Jon Kyl on? For that matter, why is this clown the guy Senate Republicans tapped to participate in White House budget talks?
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I think Dems need to call their bluff. Destroy what’s left of the economy and their Wall Street supporters as well.
Let’s see $6 trillion over 10 years: Bush Tax cuts, end illegal wars, reform tax code and cut defense. done. You could add cutting waste from Medicare, but since all of these programs are failed/wasteful – they can go.
Tea-publicans cant have it both ways, their reckless, unfunded spending (remember Cheny’s “deficits don’t matter”) that created this mess and now gloriously it’s President Obama’s fault and we cut everywhere else but these sacred cows. Nope. Voters are not on this side.