Quote of the Day: Spending Cuts and Elections

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From Rep. Paul Ryan (R–Wisc.), on why Republicans are so reluctant to endorse the spending cuts in his Roadmap for America:

They’re talking to their pollsters and their pollsters are saying, “Stay away from this, we’re going to win an election.”

Points for honesty. But what really makes this reticence remarkable is that even Ryan doesn’t really propose much in the way of spending cuts in his roadmap. He continues to get lots of praise for being one of the few conservatives to put his money where his mouth is, but the truth is that his plan mostly just sets spending caps. With some minor exceptions, it doesn’t go the critical next step and propose the actual cuts that would allow us to meet his caps.

But most Republicans won’t even endorse that. They figure that might endanger their election chances. I imagine they figure right.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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