House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) signaled Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press” that there is no acceptable ratio of spending cuts to new revenues because tax increases are unacceptable to Republicans, period.
“There are no new tax increases because you don’t need it,” he said.
His exchange with host David Gregory:
DAVID GREGORY:
Is there any ratio that you could accept?REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY:
There are no new tax increases because you don’t need it. If you look at this report–DAVID GREGORY:
But you’re never going to get entitlement reform–REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY:
You’re going to get nothing.DAVID GREGORY:
–without tax increases. Is that political reality?REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY:
Why do you have to wait? Why do you have to wait? Why does the public have to have a bigger crisis? The longer we wait, the more we add to it. But there’s only one person at this table who voted to raise Medicare; the Republicans did not. We’re planning to save Medicare, not only for this generation but for the future.