Republican fiscal policy amounts to an endless cycle of cutting taxes without cutting spending, insisting that this will somehow automatically lead to spending reductions, expressing regret when spending does not in fact fall, and then doing the same thing all over again. Mitch McConnell today takes to National Review to defend his cut-taxes-first approach, and the logic verges on self-parody:
[T]his compromise represents an essential first step in tackling the debt, because in keeping taxes where they are, we are officially cutting off the spigot. Until we did that, Democrat lawmakers were never going to get serious about cutting spending or debt.
Got that? Now that tax rates are going to stay at the same level they've been the last ten years, spending is going to stop. Obviously the best way to trigger a change in spending policies is to maintain the status quo on taxes. This time it's sure to work!