Sen. John McCain rips Jim DeMint and his Rand Paul colleagues over their insistence on passing a balanced-budget amendment before raising the debt ceiling.
Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the 2008 GOP presidential nominee, on Wednesday ripped Tea Party lawmakers and other conservatives pushing to pass a balanced-budget amendment before raising the debt limit.
In a Senate floor speech, McCain said it is “foolish” and “deceiving” for Republican colleagues to claim a balanced-budget amendment has a chance of passing by next week. He read aloud a Wall Street Journal editorial depicting conservatives holding out for a constitutional amendment as living in a fantasy world, such as J.R.R. Tolkien, author of “The Hobbit,” might imagine.
Members of the Senate Tea Party Caucus including Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have continued to demand a balanced-budget amendment.
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What is really amazing about this is that some members are believing that we can pass a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution in this body with its present representation — and that is foolish,” he said. “That is worse than foolish. That is deceiving many of our constituents.”
Speaking on the Senate floor on Wednesday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had some harsh words for lawmakers on Capitol Hill insisting their demands be met before supporting any potential agreement to raise the debt ceiling.
A plan put forth by House Speaker John Boehner to lift the deficit limit has left some congressional Republicans at odds with members of their party. In the upper congressional chamber, Tea Party-affiliated members such as Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) have come out against the proposal. In the House, GOP lawmakers such as Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) have vowed to cast a vote against any measure to raise the debt ceiling. All three Republicans stand behind a "Cut, Cap, and Balance" pledge, which entails opposing any debt limit increase without significant spending cuts, enforceable spending caps and congressional approval of a balanced budget amendment.
"What is really amazing about this is that some members are believing that we can pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution in this body with its present representation -- and that is foolish,” said McCain on the Senate floor, according to The Hill. "That is worse than foolish. That is deceiving many of our constituents."
Conservatives have been trying to destroy the federal government for a very long time and with the added Tea Party element they many accomplish the Norquist goal. And believe me, they won't stop there. You know it's bad when McCain is going after them, but since he just won reelection he doesn't have to worry about a primary challenger and can speak more openly about the Televangelists.
