the national interest

House Republican: I Would Do Anything for Deficit Reduction, But I Won’t Do That

Doooom. Photo: Congressional Budget Office

The Republican Party has gone on so long waxing hysterical about the debt while refusing any compromise at all to reduce it — even a 10-to-1 ratio of spending cuts to taxes — that the hypocrisy no longer even registers. It’s simply a fixed element in the political landscape.

Thus, a news story like this one from the Wall Street Journal can report straightforwardly that Republican Rep. Doug Collins “believes Congress should do everything in its power to tackle deficits.”

Really? Everything?

No, it turns out. Four sentences later, the story adds as an aside: “That said, he rejects any talk of offsetting the cuts with new tax revenue.”

Oh, so Collins thinks Congress should do “everything in its power” to reduce the gap between revenue and outlay, except increase revenue. So, really, of the two things Congress has in its power to reduce the deficit, he wants to do one of them. And he’s only willing to do that one thing as long is there is absolutely nothing done about the other thing.

Rep. Would Do Anything for Debt, Won’t Do That