Grover Norquist expressed confidence on Thursday that Republican adherents to his rigid anti-tax hike platform would emerge victorious in upcoming budgetary scraps, joking that it would leave a bitter President Barack Obama to engage in a campaign of indiscriminately bombing "small countries" for his personal entertainment.
Speaking on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal," Norquist argued that congressional Republicans had a number of weapons ready to wield against Obama and Democrats in order to ensure that there would be no spending increases or tax hikes.
“Obama will be on a very short leash, fiscally speaking, over the next four years,” Norquist said. “He's not going to have any fun at all; he may just have to go blow up small countries he can’t pronounce because it won't be any fun to be here, because he won't be able to spend the kind of cash he was hoping to.”
Norquist said that Republicans would be willing to use the threat of the sequester -- large spending cuts paired with tax hikes scheduled to kick in if a deal to avert the fiscal cliff isn't met by the end of the year -- to leverage Democrats, whom he said were fearful of that possibility. Norquist also claimed that GOP lawmakers would utilize continuing resolutions, or temporary appropriations bills used in the absence of an official budget, in order to chip away at spending.
The upcoming battle over raising the debt ceiling could also be used by Republicans who would decide how long to extend it for, Norquist said.
Democrats have tried to strip the debt ceiling power away from Republicans in recent negotiations, but GOP lawmakers have so far resisted, clinging to it as one of their strongest mechanisms to resist spending increases.
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