Apparently Republicans spoke too soon — on purpose.
Politico’s Glenn Thrush reports on GOP infighting over today’s press conference to release a budget blueprint that … seems incomplete.
Thrush tells us that Paul Ryan and Eric Cantor have had a more thorough alternative budget in the works for weeks but were strong-armed into today’s announcement by Minority Leader John Boehner and Republican Conference Chair Mike Pence, who were skittish about the whole “Party of No” thing.
An anonymous source tells Thrush that Ryan got “thrown under the bus,” which Ryan denies. Instead, Ryan says, “[S]omewhere along the line, someone got the mistaken impression that we were going to roll out a budget alternative today…. What we all signed off on was a preview—the real [alternative] is coming next week.”
He sort of sounds like a guy who got his wife a crappy birthday present and is frantically calling the travel agent to make up for it.
The document released today is pretty brutal as a messaging device. While it does a thorough job of discrediting the Administration’s budget proposal — and even gets in a couple shots at Britain’s National Health Service — you’ll be disappointed if you’re looking for something fresh.
The strongest parts of the document deal with tax and monetary policy — no surprise there. Ryan’s idea of a two-rate tax system (10% up to $100K; 25% above that) has apparently become a partywide standard. The document also calls for a halt to bailouts and a requirement that the Fed set an inflation target and make that — not employment and broader economic growth — its main focus.
Beyond that, the document is filled with a lot of “what about the children” language. And the party comes out boldly in favor of health care and more energy — even managing to define oil shale as an alternative source of energy.
Thrush’s story is a pretty good indication that the rising GOP leaders recognize the need to come up with some new ideas that are ready for public consumption, and that they were less than thrilled with today’s effort. They’re taking a mulligan and will hopefully tee up a good message next week.
