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Steve Benen posted on Tuesday regarding Republican deficit-hawks in the House voting pretty much en masse for a huge ($726 billion) defense appropriation bill:

It’s a reminder that when Republicans block domestic spending on areas like extended unemployment insurance, what we’re seeing is a reflection of priorities — the already-enormous Pentagon budget is important (even if it means funding programs the Defense Department doesn’t want) and struggling families aren’t.

It’s also a reminder that Republican talk about fiscal responsibility is a shallow scam.

It’s generally safe to bet on the ever increasing mendacity and hypocrisy of Congressional Republicans. There’s a fair amount of that on the Democratic side of the aisle as well, although I think there’s a strong argument to be made that the Republicans have far more to answer for than Democrats. However, I’m aware part of that may be my own political biases.

All that being said, chalking this stuff up completely to hypocrisy misses the mark slightly.

Part of it *is* priorities, but there is also the issue of fundamental differences of opinion regarding the role of the federal government. If you think that the federal government should be responsible for national defense, but has no business engaging in social welfare, then supporting spending on the former but not the latter doesn’t fall into the category of hypocrisy.

Personally, I think that the government does have a role to play in helping its citizens weather economic crises. What I’d like to hear from Congressional Republicans is a reasoned argument in defense of their votes.