Republicans do not want a balanced budget

It’s a point most people (myself included) have been making lately, but Republicans’ votes pretty much say they don’t care about balancing the budget. Here’s Matt Yglesias also making this point:

I’ve been trying to make this point for a while, but the main impediment to forming a consensus on a plan to reduce the deficit is that most conservatives don’t actually want to reduce the deficit. What they want is lower taxes. That’s why Ronald Reagan and George W Bush both increased the deficit and it’s why conservatives tell pollsters they don’t care about the deficit: “Fifty percent (50%) of conservatives are comfortable with a budget deficit if taxes are cut versus 63% of liberals who favor a balanced budget with higher taxes.”