The Record Covers the Budget Spin

Herb Jackson of The Record wrote a good article about the threat of taxes going up. Here's my favorite quote:

A review of the facts and interviews with budget experts shows that Garrett, whose district includes parts of Bergen and Passaic counties, is exaggerating, while Pascrell is telling only part of the story.

That's a polite way of saying both sides are using spin. I covered a bit of the spin being used by Representative Scott Garrett, and the realities of the budget just passed, the other day. One point that I don't think I stressed enough was made in the article by Stanley E. Collender, a former aide to both the Senate and House Budget Committees.

"It's a little disingenuous for Republicans to blame Democrats for not extending the tax cuts when they didn't extend them themselves," Collender said. "All this budget does is reflect current law, which shows those things expiring."

So, in theory, if someone wants to shoot Garrett's spin down they could say "Representative Garrett, since you and your fellow Republicans didn't extend the tax cuts, didn't you vote to raise taxes $392.5 billion three years in a row?"