Quick Fact: Wallace ignored Cornyn's reconciliation votes, asked about “political repercussions” for Dems

Written by Greg Lewis

Published

Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asked Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) about the “political repercussions” Democrats would face if they were to use reconciliation to pass health care reform. Wallace made no mention of any “political repercussions” Cornyn faced for embracing reconciliation in order to pass the Bush tax cuts and to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

From the January 25 edition of Fox Broadcasting's Fox News Sunday:

WALLACE: Let me ask you about health care. If Democrats -- and Robert Gibbs left it wide open -- if Democrats try to pass comprehensive health care reform, perhaps through the parliamentary maneuver, budget maneuver called reconciliation where they would only need 51 votes in the Senate -- what do you think the political repercussions will be?

CORNYN: Well if they try to jam it through like they have so far strictly along partisan lines then I think November 2010 will be a very good month for us. I think we will gain a lot more seats. Because frankly, I think it will show how tone deaf they were to the message that the voters of Massachusetts and across the country were trying to send.

FACT: Cornyn supported Republican use of reconciliation to pass Bush tax cuts, oil drilling in ANWR

Cornyn supported passage of 2003 tax cuts through reconciliation. In 2003, Cornyn voted for the Senate version of the fiscal 2004 budget resolution that called for additional tax cuts to be considered under reconciliation and for the final version of the 2004 budget resolution. He also voted against an amendment to the Senate version of the budget resolution, proposed by Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), that would have stripped reconciliation instructions from the resolution. He subsequently voted for the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 itself. CBO estimated that the bill, as cleared by Congress, “would increase budget deficits ... by $349.7 billion over the 2003-2013 period.”

Cornyn supported passage of 2005 tax cuts through reconciliation. In 2005, Cornyn voted for the final version of the fiscal 2005 budget resolution, which also called for tax cuts through reconciliation. He subsequently voted for the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 itself. CBO estimated that the bill, as cleared by Congress and signed by the president, would “reduce federal revenues ... by $69.1 billion over the 2006-2015 period.”

Cornyn supported use of reconciliation to pass measure that would have allowed oil drilling in ANWR. Cornyn was one of 51 senators who voted against striking language allowing the reconciliation process to be used to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the 2006 budget resolution and voted for a reconciliation bill that, as originally introduced in and passed by the Senate, included a provision to open up the refuge to drilling. (The bill as enacted did not contain such a provision.)