GOP Rep. ‘Furious’ That House GOP Budget Ignores Revenue, But He’ll Vote For It Anyway

Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson (R) is among the growing cadre of Republicans that has denounced Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist and the GOP’s staunch anti-tax zealotry, as he says any serious budget plan should balance revenues and spending cuts. The current House GOP budget proposal, authored by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI), certainly doesn’t do that; instead, it cuts revenues to a level that would force draconian across-the-board spending reductions.

According to Politico, Simpson and other Republicans are “furious” with the direction Ryan’s budget takes in ignoring revenue. Simpson is so furious, in fact, that by the time the budget passes the House tomorrow, he will have voted for it twice:

It was Simpson’s vote that allowed Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to get the resolution out of his committee last week — and Simpson will stand again with the leadership on the floor. But there’s no hiding the fact that he and many Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee are furious with the course taken in this budget and more willing to lend support to those who feel revenue must also be part of the equation.

“This is going to be the most partisan debate of the year and it will set up the election for the year,” Simpson said. “But I don’t think it’s the balanced plan to get us out of the hole we are in.”

Simpson is correct that Ryan’s budget isn’t “the balanced plan to get us out of the hole we are in.” Instead of raising revenue and reducing the debt, it gives each millionaire a $187,000 tax cut, cuts taxes for corporations, slashes programs for the poor and middle class, and makes the debt worse. But instead of taking a stand against the radical proposal, Simpson toed the party line and voted “yea” during a Budget Committee hearing last week. Ryan’s plan passed the committee by one vote, meaning it was the ever-so-furious Simpson who cast the deciding vote to send a plan he doesn’t like to the full House, where he’ll fall in line and vote for it all over again.