"GOP Says No To Unemployment Benefits, Yes To Tax Cuts For The Rich"

[Clio the Leo]

GOP Says No To Unemployment Benefits, Yes To Tax Cuts For The Rich
Brian Beutler | July 13, 2010, 5:36PM

For weeks, Senate Republicans have filibustered an extension of unemployment benefits on the grounds that Democrats aren't willing to cut spending or raise taxes to pay for them. At the same time, the Bush tax cuts are set to expire, and Republicans want them to be renewed. For two days, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl has raised eyebrows by insisting that emergency aid to unemployed people -- what he called a "necessary evil" -- be paid for through either tax hikes or spending cuts, while the tax cuts (which mostly benefit wealthy people) not be offset in any way. Yesterday claimed that this view is shared by "most of the people in my party."

He was correct.

"That's been the majority Republican view for some time," Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told TPMDC this afternoon after the weekly GOP press conference. "That there's no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy. So I think what Senator Kyl was expressing was the view of virtually every Republican on that subject."

The CBO and other budget experts strongly disagree. And Democrats want to preserve the Bush tax cuts for people making less than $200,000-$250,000 a year -- but only for them. Allowing them to expire for wealthier people would raise hundreds of billions of dollars over 10 years, which could allow them to offset the spending Republicans currently decry.

However, the GOP's top budget guy, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), disagrees. He said Kyl's prescription -- offset spending with tax increases or program cuts, but treat tax cuts differently -- is exactly right. "It makes a lot of sense, because, you know, when you're raising taxes you're taking money out of peoples' pockets," said Gregg when asked by TPMDC. "When you're spending money, you're spending money that is -- it's not the same thing because it's growing the government. So I tend to think that tax cuts should not have to be offset."

The expert view is that giving unemployed people money to spend stimulates the economy much more than does preserving tax cuts for the rich. But this view is not shared by the chairman of the Republican Senate re-election committee.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/its-unanimous-gop-says-pay-for-unemployment-benefits-not-tax-cuts-for-the-rich.php

[shraby]

1. Why doesn't someone point out to Kyl that the expiring

tax cuts for the very wealthy will pay for the unemployment extension...plus another extension if needed. No problem

[Nancy Waterman]

2. These anti-GOP ads write themselves

I hope the Dems are listening. It is one of many GOP comments that could win the elections for them if they use them in well crafted ads. Barton, Angle, Kyle, Boehner, Paul, etc. have made numerous comments that could be patched together to promote the narrative that the GOP are DISMISSIVE and even critical of the unemployed and those who struggle during this recession and that they would vastly weaken if not dismantle Social Security and Medicare if they could.