king? he was at national journal last week. we had a long conversation. he said look, i m not speaking for grover norquist i m just asking you to give me the history. he said look, the pledge grew out of tax reform efforts led by ronald reagan in 1986 because the tax reform movement did not want to increase taxes. remember back then, those of us who were around, that was tax revenue neutral. it changed the code but didn t raise tax didn t increase taxes. he said from then on, the posture of that group was if you sign this pledge, you will never in your office that you are running for or in, vote to increase taxes on a net basis. grover s opinion is the pledge isn t to him, it s to the voters who evaluate that pledge in whatever contest you re running in, the republican primary or general election. i remember ronald reagan saying the sound you hear around me is the cement cracking around my feet, when he made a compromise because circumstances changed. several times during
deficit and debt reduction from which the gang of six drew much of its policy inspiration also violates the pledge so we re back to square one. who made grover norquist king? he was at national journal last week. we had a long conversation. he said look, i m not speaking for grover norquist i m just asking you to give me the history. he said look, the pledge grew out of tax reform efforts led by ronald reagan in 1986 because the tax reform movement did not want to increase taxes. remember back then, those of us who were around, that was tax revenue neutral. it changed the code but didn t raise tax didn t increase taxes. he said from then on, the posture of that group was if you sign this pledge, you will never in your office that you are running for or in, vote to increase taxes on a net basis. grover s opinion is the pledge isn t to him, it s to the voters who evaluate that pledge in whatever contest you re running in, the republican primary or general election.
you do recognize 2008 that s in the pledge isn t nearly enough to deal with the size of this deficit, right? one thing that s missing from this whole debate is no effort to put forward pro-growth policies. if the united states launches on a plan, as my opponent s policies would do, on to be a very high-taxed, high-spending, high-regulation economy like many european economies, then we inevitably have the slow growth and high unemployment of those economies. that s not the american way. the american way is a limited government, and lower taxes. and a very robust small business sector, which especially is employing low income and minority kids coming into the american dream. i very much worry right now that if we re embracing a european style, very high debt, very high tax environment, we will suffer all the slow growth policies that they have. congressman, you have said that you would lead the charge to repeal health care reform passed by this congress. is that still your position
beyond the 2008 level? 2008 is a great start. you do recognize 2008 that s in the pledge isn t nearly enough to deal with the size of this deficit, right? one thing that s missing from this whole debate is no effort to put forward pro-growth policies. if the united states launches on a plan, as my opponent s policies would do, on to be a very high-taxed, high-spending, high-regulation economy like many european economies, then we inevitably have the slow growth and high unemployment of those economies. that s not the american way. the american way is a limited government, and lower taxes. and a very robust small business sector, which especially is employing low income and minority kids coming into the american dream. i very much worry right now that if we re embracing a european style, very high debt, very high tax environment, we will suffer all the slow growth policies that they have. congressman, you have said that you would lead the charge to repeal health care reform
with him and some of his suggested cuts to medicare? i have my own cuts which i want to put forward. we should, for example, sell off big parts of the tennessee valley authority, southeastern power administration. could be sol date maintenance at the department of defense, a lawsuit reform which would save at least the federal government $54 billion. i could go on and on beyond the f-35 engine and the earmark spending. do you go beyond the republican pledge, which is to go back to 2008 discretionary spending levels? i think we need a radical reduction in spending because beyond the 2008 level? 2008 is a great start. you do recognize 2008 that s in the pledge isn t nearly enough to deal with the size of this deficit, right? one thing that s missing from this whole debate is no effort to put forward pro-growth policies. if the united states launches on a plan, as my opponent s policies would do, on to be a very high-taxed, high-spending, high-regulation economy like many