Republicans Promise to Throw America Off the Fiscal Cliff

In the post-election race to find a solution to the so-called ‘fiscal cliff,’ Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) isn’t even making a gesture toward bipartisanship.

In an exclusive statement to the far-right Brietbart.com, McConnell promised conservatives that he wouldn’t be willing to raise taxes at all to avoid the automatic spending cuts and tax hike trigger that will otherwise go into effect January 1st:

One issue I’ve never been conflicted about is taxes. I wasn’t sent to Washington to raise anybody’s taxes to pay for more wasteful spending and this election doesn’t change my principles. This election was a disappointment, without doubt, but let’s be clear about something: the House is still run by Republicans, and Republicans still maintain a robust minority in the Senate. I know some people out there think Tuesday’s results mean Republicans in Washington are now going to roll over and agree to Democrat demands that we hike tax rates before the end of the year. I’m here to tell them there is no truth to that notion whatsoever.

McConnell’s tone signals that he and his fellow Republicans in the Senate plan use the same brinksmanship that got Congress to agree to the fiscal cliff in the first place. And he’ll find support among the GOP: While House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) has adopted the rhetoric that he will find some method of raising revenue, he has also called any tax hikes of any kind “unacceptable.” Indeed, the only solution he has proposed to the fiscal cliff echoes the mathematically-unsound Romney tax plan.