Allen West: House GOP Leadership 'Sold Us Down The Road'

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) on Friday claimed that Republican leadership had sold the party "down the road" by agreeing to a two-month deal to extend the payroll tax cut.

During during a radio interview on WMAL's "Morning Majority," West explained that he was "upset" with the outcome of the payroll tax cut fight. He said it came about because of the Senate GOP's quick passage of the "pathetic" short-term package, followed by the refusal of the House GOP leadership to hold out for the one-year deal they had originally called for.

West suggested that the move could make for some tense moments when the House returns to work this month.

"When we get back to Washington, D.C., the first House GOP conference, we're gonna have to have some serious discussions about how do we get ourselves on the same sheet of music, because we really felt that our leadership did not stand against the Senate Republican leadership, who kinda sold us down the road," he said.

West was one of the more outspoken opponents of the two-month deal, both before and after its passage.

In an interview with Fox News in the middle of the standoff in December, West called such an agreement a "totally unacceptable" gimmick, and signaled that he might even be willing to delay the holiday recess until both bodies could hammer out a deal to pass the payroll tax cut for an entire year.

After this course of action fell through, he said that he felt betrayed, "kind of like Charlie Brown when he goes up to kick the ball with Lucy."

He even took to his Facebook page to express his disgust.

"I cannot support this, but it seems the politics of demagoguery have won over policy and principle with the concession to enact tax policy on two-month basis," West wrote. "This is a sad day for America and further evidences our continuing decline. Men and women of principle are becoming a dying breed in this Republic."

Watch a clip of West on WMAL's "Morning Majority" below, via the Daily Caller, or watch the whole segment here:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/06/allen-west-payroll-tax-cut-house-gop_n_1189403.html

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