Same Old Republicans Despite the New Faces with Tea Party Stripes: Spending Cuts not a Priority in 112th Congress

It appears the Republicans we elected in November aren't very serious to being cutting federal spending. News all over Washington DC since the GOP took the House is how the Republicans are now backing away from their promises to cut spending. Why am I not surprised?

It appears the Republicans are making excuses, prolonging their promise to a different day. With $14 trillion in national debt and the debt ceiling quickly approaching, the time is now to cut federal spending. However, it appears the GOP believes they can continue to spend for another six months and then consider their promise to make solid spending cuts. To make matters worse, the GOP is blaming Democrats for them not being able to immediately deliver on their promise of spending cuts.

From The Hill:

Democrats never passed a budget resolution last year and were only able to pass a funding measure that lasts until March 4.

House Republicans promised to cut the budget by at least $100 billion in their “Pledge to America,” published in September. The pledge was intended to signal to voters what House Republicans would do if they won a majority in Congress.

A spokesman for the House Budget Committee said the GOP remains committed to the pledge, but that a different benchmark for making cuts will have to be used since Democrats did not approve a budget.

“Last year, House Republicans pledged to bring non-security discretionary spending back to 2008 levels. We estimated savings at that time relative to President Obama’s proposed fiscal blueprint due to the fact that Democrats in Congress offered no budget with which to compare. House Republicans remain committed to fulfilling their pledge; this has not changed,” House Budget Committee majority spokesman Conor Sweeney said.

“Unfortunately, Democrats refused to take action and oversaw an unprecedented breakdown in the budget process, with stopgap spending bills that provide a different benchmark than President Obama’s initial fiscal plan. House Republicans will continue to work to reduce spending for the final six months of this fiscal year — bringing non-security discretionary spending back to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels — yielding taxpayers significant savings and starting a new era of cost-cutting in Washington,” he added.

Makes you wonder what their excuse will be six months from now doesn't it? Notice, the Republicans from John Boehner all the way down to newly elected Bozo Billy Long promised $100 billion in instant cuts to federal spending. Now we are getting this wishy washy Paul Ryan quote, “I can't tell you by what amount ... but it will all be coming down.”

What's that mean? You can't tell us what amount you plan to cut even though the GOP was quite sure before the election? I though you had a plan based on the Pledge to America.

Keep this up, and guess who will return to her job as speaker in a couple years.