When it comes to the Republicans and the looming sequester, Greg Sargent correctly observes:
The reflexive ideological opposition to cutting defense (which Republicans have long equated with weakness) is running headlong into the reflexive ideological insistence on shrinking government.
This isn’t a surprise. As far back as last summer, Rep. Buck McKeon, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, started to panic about the military cuts in the sequester. He wrote pieces in the Washington Post and Politico warning against the disastrous implications of such cuts for our national security.
If the United States faced an external enemy who threatened to do this kind of damage to our national security, the president would have the primary obligation to resolve it. To avert these cuts is to intimidate our enemies, reassure our allies and keep faith with those who have sacrificed so much for so long. The commander in chief must act.
The pro-military (versus the pro-Norquist) Republicans like to blame the president for inaction, but everyone knows it’s the hardliners’ refusal to compromise that is the problem. In other words, in Buck McKeon’s own terms the Republicans are doing real damage to our national security. It’s a point that Lindsey Graham made this morning in a press conference he gave with McKeon and Sens. John McCain and Kelly Ayotte.
Graham said that McKeon would be holding hearings on the sequester’s impact, and then added, in a barb directed at Republicans: “After this hearing, if you feel comfortable cutting the government this way, then you have lost your way as much as the president.” Graham indignantly noted that Ronald Reagan had said government’s number one responsibility is to fund defense, and concluded: “I intend to fight for the party of Ronald Reagan.”
Graham added, in his typical way, “I’m sure Iran is very supportive of sequestration. I’m sure Al Qaeda training camps all over the world would be pleased with the fact that sequestration will gut the CIA.””
The administration has offered to replace the sequester with a balanced approach that will include new revenues from tax reform. The Republicans want any revenues from tax reform (closing loopholes) to go into lower rates, effectively taking money away from rich people and giving it right back to them. But if this is a game of chicken, Graham and his colleagues are swerving away from the president’s Sherman tank. They are the canary in the coal mine telling you that the GOP is going to cave.
There’s simply no sign of any crack in the resolve on the Democrats’ side to demand a balanced deal.