Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, who is leading the Republican filibuster against the START treaty, is now holding ratification hostage to tax cuts for the rich:
“In the next couple weeks, the lame duck is done,” Kyl says in an interview outside the Senate chamber. “The deal on taxes has to be done very early next week, like Monday.”
If there isn't a deal by then, “you're not going to have time to do START,” Kyl says.
It's not as though Kyl isn't aware of the risks of the U.S. not being able to monitor Russia's long-range nuclear weapons. It's just that he thinks making sure rich people get tax cuts is more important. In fact, it's appropriate to say at this point that of all Republicans' stated priorities -- deficit reduction, hawkish foreign policy, a smaller welfare state -- there is nothing that actually comes close to making sure the wealthy pay lower taxes.
Republicans are fortunate that, to a large degree, wealthy political elites share their priorities. In the event that Democrats pulled a similar stunt in order to say, extend government-subsidized health insurance for low-income children, I'm pretty sure the intra-Beltway shrieking would shatter every pane of glass in Washington, D.C.
