Kudlow: “Nothing but a tax trap.”
Norquist: “This will destroy the Trump tax cuts.”
Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist today joined Larry Kudlow on Fox Business Network to discuss the “bipartisan fiscal commission.” Sen. Mitt Romney is teamed up with Joe Manchin (D) on the tax hike effort and both want to get GOP fingerprints on a tax increase.
Excerpts are below and the full video is here and below:
Kudlow:
“I just want to get something off my chest, to talk about a very bad idea. Something called a fiscal commission coming out of Washington D.C. For some reason, Republicans like Texas congressman Jodey Arrington – head of the Budget Committee – have been pushing to get this through, a fiscal commission. Terrible. It is tax trap.”
“The trouble with these so-called bipartisan commissions is that they start raising taxes at the very first meeting even before the first cup of coffee has been poured.”
“Republicans now should not be lulled into falling for yet another phony fiscal commission. Better to give President Trump a strong Republican Senate and House so the fiscal committees can do their job rather than rely on left-wing Democrats.”
Norquist:
“The problem is spending. The problem is spending. The problem is spending. And we have the senator from Utah, Mitt Romney, coming out with a commission which will recommend tax increases and go around the Ways and Means committee in the House which the Republicans control and Chairman Smith would never allow a tax increase through. He’s [Smith] made the commitment never to raise taxes and yet there is this [Romney] commission which does two things: It says ‘forget about the trillions the Democrats spent that brought us this inflation – that’s not what we want to talk about. Let’s talk about tax increases.’
“Talk about trying to stab President Trump in the back, to damage the Republican majority in the House and put it at risk.”
“They’re talking about tax increases. This will destroy the Trump tax cuts. It will put an end to continuing the Trump tax cuts because that’s on the table. And then they will go back — and what is it the Democrats want to take away? The Trump tax cuts that brought us economic growth. That’s what will be on the cutting board. We need economic growth. We don’t need higher taxes and we need spending restraint.”
“The modern Democratic Party in power the last three years has been spending like crazy. They want to take that off the table during the debate, during the campaign and trick some Republican into saying something about a tax increase. And Romney has volunteered already.”
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In 1982 Democrats made a “bipartisan grand bargain” with President Reagan promising $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases. Result: The tax increases happened, the spending cuts did not. Reagan regretted getting lied to and later said, “We never got the $3 in spending cuts.”
In 1990 Democrats made a “bipartisan grand bargain” with President George H.W. Bush promising $2 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases. Result: The tax increases happened, the spending cuts did not. Bush regretted getting lied to and later said, “It was a mistake to go along with the Democratic tax increase and I admit it.”
And here comes Lucy with her football, again.