July 18, 2011—CNN host Ali Velshi challenged Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist on his position against raising the debt ceiling on CNN last Saturday. Norquist is the creator of a pledge signed by almost all GOP Congress members, promising to never raise net taxes.
Velshi cast Norquist's pledge as one of the main obstacles in the debt ceiling talks, noting thatapproximately 230 House Republicans and 40 GOP senators have signed the pledge. He also questioned whether Norquist holds too much political power in the Republican party despite never having been elected to public office.
Velshi and Norquist sparred several times over the extent of Norquist's political sway and President Obama's spending. When Norquist said that Republican legislators signed the pledge to constituents and not Norquist himself, Velshi insisted, "It's your pledge. Let's not mince words Grover, tell the truth." Velshi also suggested that lawmakers should be free to make decisions in the interests of their constituents instead of having worry about being "loyal to Grover Norquist so they get re-elected again," to which Norquist countered, "Are you not listening?"
Velshi stopped Norquist when the latter referred to "the problem [Obama] created with his spending," asking whether he really believed that President Obama caused the budget problem.
When Velshi asked why "preserving the inability to increase taxes is more important than the overall health of the economy," Norquist made clear his fundamental belief that "not raising taxes is important to the health of the economy."
Posted By: Richard Kigel
Tuesday, July 19th 2011 at 10:17PM
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