We touched on this in our highlight reel but it’s worth considering in isolation since the implications for a coming fight over entitlement cuts and taxes are so enormous.
In last night’s debate, each of the eight GOP presidential candidates on stage broke a land-speed record for rejecting a hypothetical, massive, multi-trillion dollar spending cut deal. Why? Because, in the hypothetical, the package would also include tax increases amounting 10 percent of the spending cuts.
None of them even had to stop and think about it. Watch in the clip below how quickly they raise their hands.
Yes, Republicans hate tax increases. Big whoop right? But this will be a key point of contention on the deficit Super Committee this fall. Democrats say they’ll only agree to cut entitlement spending if Republicans give some ground on taxes. If Congressional Republicans accept that deal, every one of the presidential candidates will align against them. It’ll be bloodshed in their party. So the six Republicans on the panel will have a strong political incentive to hold the line, and trigger all sorts of terrible consequences. And then we’ll get to hear once again about how “Congress” is dysfunctional.
Watch
Brian Beutler
Brian Beutler is TPM's senior congressional reporter. Since 2009, he's led coverage of health care reform, Wall Street reform, taxes, the GOP budget, the government shutdown fight, and the debt limit fight. He can be reached at brian@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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