Quick Fact: Wallace lets McConnell criticize reconciliation even though he previously supported it

Wallace lets McConnell criticize reconciliation without noting his pro-reconciliation record

From the February 21 edition of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday:

WALLACE: Let me ask you about another thing, because it certainly doesn't seem to be headed that way because the White House and congressional Democrats are talking about using reconciliation. We should point out, it's a parliamentary budget maneuver that has been used by other presidents, including George W. Bush, but it would be a way to get health care reform through the Senate with just 51 votes without using a filibuster. Your colleague, or your counterpart, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, talked about it. Here it is.

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV) [video clip]: Reconciliation can be used for different purposes. We can write a whole new bill, OK? Or we can use reconciliation to pass the bill we've already passed.

WALLACE: What if they try that?

McCONNELL: Well, look, you know we've witnessed the Cornhusker kickback, the Louisiana purchase, the Gator aid -- the special deal for Florida. Now they're suggesting they might use a device which has never been used for this kind of major, systemic reform. We know it would be -- the only thing bipartisan about would be the opposition to it, because a number of Democrats have said don't do this, this is not the way to go. I think they're having a hard time getting the message here. The American people do not want this bill to pass, and it strikes me as rather arrogant to say, "Well, we're going to give it to you anyway. And we'll use whatever device is available to achieve that end."

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

McConnell supported passage of 2003 tax cuts through reconciliation. While Wallace noted that reconciliation "has been used by other presidents, including George W. Bush," in 2003, McConnell himself 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."

McConnell supported passage of 2005 tax cuts through reconciliation. In 2005, McConnell 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."

McConnell supported use of reconciliation to pass measure that would have allowed oil drilling in ANWR. McConnell 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.)