GOP Hopefuls Weigh In On Budget Deal

Politico reports:

GREENVILLE, S.C. — The Republican presidential hopefuls have quickly split in their reactions to the budget compromise that averted a government shutdown, with sentiment ranging from "disappointment" to "a good first step."

Addressing Republican activists at the county conventions here and in next-door Spartanburg, Newt Gingrich and Haley Barbour characterized the $40 billion cuts as a worthy step in the right direction — but were quick to note looming, and larger, fights over the debt ceiling and the House GOP’s budget proposal for next year.

“This is a building block,” Gingrich told delegates at the Greenville convention, adding that: “The next big step is the debt ceiling.”

From the same podium, Barbour said: “You can’t get always everything you want at the first time at bat, but the good news is Boehner and these good Republicans have left us two more times at bat just in this inning.”

But Rick Santorum, who is working assiduously to woo conservatives, didn’t even bring up the compromise in either of his two speeches.

The response to Gingrich and Barbour’s measured words for the deal made clear why.

The duo received mostly silence as they gingerly explained why the agreement was worthwhile — a vivid illustration of how little appetite the conservative grassroots of the party have for compromise on spending.

“This is a loaf we’ve got to be willing to eat one slice at a time,” said Barbour to silence.

Meanwhile, tea party favorites Michele Bachmann and Rand Paul, casting actual votes in Washington, went the other way.

“The deal that was reached tonight is a disappointment for me and for millions of Americans who expected $100 billion in cuts, who wanted to make sure their tax dollars stopped flowing to the nation’s largest abortion provider, and who wanted us to defund ObamaCare," Bachmann said in a statement.

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