House GOP blasts Senate ‘cliff’ bill

Several Republicans took to the House floor Tuesday afternoon to slam the Senate-brokered “fiscal cliff” bill that was passed earlier in the morning, calling it a rush job that raises taxes and delays most of the spending cuts planned for this year.

{mosads}”So we find ourselves again with a bill that reflects not financial wisdom, but the seductive spirit that pervades this town,” Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) said.

“Leaders in Washington continue to over-promise. They’re likes salespeople who tell their customer they can have a $30,000 car but only pay $18,000 for it. Who doesn’t like that deal?”

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said the Senate bill only allows the government to continue its debt spending spree.

“We’re taking up a bill that will not do anything to cut spending. I’m embarrassed for this generation,” he said.

The Senate-passed bill mostly resolves the tax issue, but delays the planned $109 billion spending sequester. The sequester would be postponed for two months, a change that is offset with $24 billion in some cuts and new tax revenue.

Many conservatives see the bill as one that raises some taxes now, and only promises to make deeper cuts later. House Government Reform and Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said he was disappointed in the deal, but indicated he would vote for it.

“I wish I could say this was a proud moment,” Issa said. “It isn’t. We’re kicking the can down the road.

“I may vote for what comes on the floor … but I tell you, I won’t do it thinking we’ve accomplished anything here today, other than the smallest finger in a dike that in fact has hundreds of holes in it.”

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) sharply criticized the Senate for so quickly approving a deal in the dead of night, just after the new year was rung in.

“The Senate boasts it is America’s deliberative body. Today, that claim rings hollow,” Brooks said.

“The House must postpone this vote until Congress and the American people have time to study and evaluate this extraordinarily complex legislation, and its impact on taxes, revenue, the economy, our debt and a myriad of other issues.”

Brooks also said he would vote against the Senate bill if it came up for a vote. 

“I will not condone with my vote a process that denies the American people an opportunity to participate in their republic on issues of this magnitude,” he said.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) suggested that the Congress should join “Spending Anonymous.” He suggested a 12-step program starting with an admission that Congress is “addicted to spending someone else’s money,” and ending with the creation of a support group that meets regularly “to confess our addiction.”

A few Democrats also indicated disappointment with the bill, although most are expected to support the deal that the Obama administration helped negotiate.

“Like the movie ‘Groundhog Day,’ this government in two months will arrive at another crisis of debt, of spending and taxes,” Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said of the two-month sequester delay.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) said the bill misses a chance for greater reform.

“We cannot continue to have by far the world’s largest and most expensive military, the world’s lowest taxes, the most expensive and inefficient healthcare system, and continue to allow our country’s infrastructure to fall apart all while America grows and ages,” he said. “This agreement represents absolutely the least we could have done under these circumstances.”