Faced with a revolt on the right, House Republicans began sketching out more than $40 billion in specific spending cuts Wednesday but may be forced to double their bets with a further across-the-board reduction to appease tea party supporters.
I just taped a segment on Hugh Hewitt’s show about this, and said that Republican members who don’t step up and make the cuts will probably face primary challengers. Mickey Kaus — who was also on — agreed with me that an across-the-board cut of, say, 5% or more, would probably be easier to get through than specific cuts, and also save more money. If Senate Democrats want to vote against that, let ’em. There can’t be many voters who really think that government departments can’t survive a 5% cut.