The Budget with No Numbers
Standing before television cameras, Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.) and other members — including the top Republican on the Budget Committee Paul Ryan (Wis.) — couldn’t answer specific questions about their spending plan.
After weeks of promising a comprehensive alternative to the president’s budget that Republicans have painted as excessive, bloated and wasteful, Boehner was unable to provide specific information about their proposal.
His colleagues were unable to answer line-items questions as well. Boehner dismissed those details as “just a bunch of numbers.”
Even though aides insist that GOP leaders had no intention of releasing their full budget substitute, the press event was a public relations disaster.
“It looked like a disorganized blunder,” one GOP aide said. “It’s the worst messaging snafu at a time when the party can’t afford one.”
Frank says: