Tag: Congressional GOP hypocrisy

GOP goes on the attack against Biden relief bill

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Republicans are going on the attack against the newly signed $1.9 trillion coronavirus bill as they scramble to find a messaging foothold against Democrats’ first big win heading into 2022.

GOP lawmakers, who voted in unison against the legislation, are gambling that they’ll be able to tamp down the bill’s popularity in the long run, even as polls have shown it garners broad approval, including from their own voters.

The focus among congressional Republicans is twofold: highlighting provisions they hope will be damaging to Democrats and accusing their political opponents of trying to take credit for an economic recovery Republicans say was set in motion by the Trump administration. Continue reading.

‘Right on schedule’: GOP backers of tax cuts for the rich resume deficit-mongering hours before Biden inauguration

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Just 24 hours before the inauguration of Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, Republican senators who did not hesitate to approve unpaid-for tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and bloated Pentagon budgets over the past four years suddenly rediscovered their concern for the rising deficit and national debt Tuesday as Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen made the casefor a robust coronavirus relief package.

Republican lawmakers have been signaling a return to their hypocritical deficit-mongering for months, leading some to warn of a conscious GOP effort to impose crippling austerity on the incoming Biden administration in the name of “fiscal responsibility.”

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) hinted in that direction during Yellen’s confirmation hearing Tuesday, using his time to lament the “massive amount of debt that we continue to rack up” and complain that Congress appears “to have no concern” about the problem. In 2017, Thune was one of 51 Republican senators to vote yes on the $1.5 trillion Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which blew a massive hole in the deficit and disproportionately benefited the rich and large corporations. Continue reading.