The GOP Fails To Keep Fiscal Campaign Promises: Already?

Filed under: News, The Economy

All politicians make promises. When you think about it, that's basically the job. Promise things on the campaign trail, and attempt to implement those things once in office. Of course, following through on promises is often much more difficult than making the promise in the first place, especially in national politics. After all, if you are in Congress, you've got just one vote of the 435 available, and one out of 100 in the Senate. In lots of cases, the president can simply veto anything you do, push come to shove. It's just the nature of the beast.

That said, the neck-breaking speed with which the GOP is blatantly rolling back much of what they promised their Tea Party and Republican constituents last fall in terms of cutting federal spending is downright comical:

Republicans are already backpedaling on a number of provisions of their "Pledge to America," including promises to cut spending and reform Congressional rules. The GOP had railed against Democrats' strong-arm legislative tactics, pledging to send all bills through a full committee process and to "let any lawmaker-Democrat or Republican-offer amendments." Yet with its very first act-health care reform repeal-it will break both pledges, Politico reports.

Republicans also haven't put the constitutional citations they promised on any early bills, though they say they may add them later when the bill hits the floor. The GOP has also ditched a promise to publicly reveal who attends committee meetings, something that could be used against reps who play hooky. Oh, and that pledge to cut $100 billion in spending in the first year? They've admitted that's not actually feasible, the AP reports, thanks to the vagaries of the budget cycle.

I wish I could say I was shocked by this, but it's simply par for the course. From decrying government waste out one side of their mouths while requesting ear marks with the other, to promising to "change Washington" while hiring lobbyists as chiefs of staff, it's clear the GOP has no intention to even attempt to fulfill their promises. They just wanted to get back in power.

I wonder if they knew that cutting $100 billion in spending in their first year in power was totally impossible when they promised that to the millions of Americans who gave them power. I don't know which is scarier -- the thought that they blatently lied to get voters excited, or that they didn't know what they were talking about. And their constituents expect them to save money? When they don't even know their own budget cycle?

Either way, this should be an interesting time of fiscal fails led by the GOP, if they can't even get something as simple as this straight. I hope they also fail to repeal the health care bill, which many authorities confirm will actually save us money.

Then at least the GOP's inability to master the money management process of Congress will -- even if unintentionally -- lead to real savings.

 

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