Steny Hoyer -- why not try the truth?

I was just watching fox News Sunday and heard House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer make a number of really outrageous misstatements. First, he said that the upcoming expiration of the Bush tax cuts was the "republican tax increase" because the rates are going up because the Republicans wanted in 2001 to play games with the budget scoring. In other words, he ascribed to the Republicans of 2001, the use of the kinds of gimmickry like those that the Democrats used earlier this year to get obamacare to look as if it would save money. The problem is that none of this is true. In 2001, it was the Democrats who forced an expiration date on the Bush tax cuts. Senate democrats in 2001 were filibustering the tax cut bill, so the Republicans passed it using reconciliation. Under the reconciliation rules of the time, a bill that passed could not affect taxes or spending for more than ten years. As a result, the Democrats opposition to the tax bill forced it to have a sunset clause that ended the tax cuts after ten years. This nonsense that the expiration was a Republican idea is just that: nonsense.

Second, Hoyer says that the reason that there has been no vote on the tax extension to date is that the Senate has decided not to vote until after the election. Huh? The Democrats have controlled both houses of Congress for the last four years, and for the first 14 months of Obama's term, the Democrats had a super majority in the Senate. In all that time, the Democrats have not even bothered to write a bill that would tell the American people what the new tax rates will be. His explanation for their unforgiveable lack of action was lame and dishonest. Hoyer should be ashamed.

Prior to Hoyer's appearance, Chris Wallace questioned John Boehner and another GOP Congressman. It was refreshing to hear that they want to lower discretionary spending to the level of 2008. Wallace made the expected noises about how the cut backs would hurt children and the other usual groups who the liberals claim to protect. The GOP answer was perfect: Since 2008, discretionary spending has risen over 80%. We can certainly afford to go back to where things were two years ago. The recent rise need not be permanent and cannot be permanent if we are ever to overcome the deficit.