House Speaker John Boehner
It's well-established that Republicans don't really care about the deficit, not when reducing it means making the 1 percent help the country out a little. So, for those keeping track of just how much the Republicans don't want even
one-tenth of the 1 percent to make up the difference that would give working families a whole $1,000 more a year, here's
what they'd do:
The House payroll-tax bill would add $166.8 billion to the deficit for fiscal year 2012 but could reduce spending over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
The CBO released a score Friday saying the GOP bill would add $25.3 billion to the federal deficit over the next 10 years under the CBO’s traditional rules for scoring legislation.
What it also might do is reduce ceilings on discretionary spending by $2.62 billion in the next decade if the future legislation that would set those ceilings is passed. The GOP is, of course, focusing on the $1 billion they'd save. Those savings, by the way, would come from Medicare and federal worker retirement beneficiaries, from freezing federal worker pay, from reducing the amount of time you could receive unemployment benefits, from the assistance working families are supposed to get in buying health insurance starting in 2014.
That's a steep price to pay for a paltry $1 billion in deficit reduction.