Theso-calleddeal toraisethe debt limit reached by President Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy fails to address America’saddiction toout-of-control spending.
At a time when we’re staringdown the barrel of a once-unthinkable $32 trillion national debt, our leaders areattempting to pull another fast one ontheverypeople that they’re supposed to be fighting for.Exactly no one in Washington was elected to abdicate responsibility by puttingoff difficult decisions for another day, but this proposal does exactly that.
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie’s vote in the Rules Committee to advance the measure to the House floor in the end will turn out to be a consequential mistake. Massie supplied the critical 7th vote for the deal because the package includes language he pushed that is supposed to make it more difficult for members of Congress to abuse the spending process if they don’t pass appropriations bills on time again. Massie’s idea is well-intentioned, but the idea that the Washington uni-party won’t find a loophole is naive.
DEBT CEILING AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE REACHED BETWEEN DEMOCRATS, REPUBLICANS
Recent pollingindicatesloudlyand clearlythatthe American peoplesupport a plan that raisesthe debt limit only iflegitimatespending cuts happen simultaneously.Republicansin the House of Representativeshad President Biden on the defensive with a common senseconservativemessage that proved impossible for the White House todefeat.
Theone-two punch offiscal responsibility and a return to normalcy after the COVID-19 pandemic was resonatingdeeplyand after months of refusing to negotiate, Bidenfinallyrealized that he had to come to the table or get blamed for a default.
VideoHardworking taxpayersunderstand that it’s irresponsible to keep spending $2 trillion moreannuallythan we did before the pandemic began.
In April, the House GOP passed areasonablebill that dealtwith our national debt crisis with the urgency it deserves. It acknowledgedthat Washington has a spending problem and that the broken status quo is no longer acceptable.The Limit, Save, Grow Act made tangiblespending cuts—nophonysmoke and mirror cuts—and put in place real work requirements for welfare recipients.
Changing the way Washington does business is what’srequired to change our current trajectory of fiscal doom, no more no less. Congressional Republicans answered the call at a time when career politicians on theleftwere caughtwith their hands in the cookie jar yet again.
FOX NEWS POLL: MAJORITY SAYS ONLY INCREASE DEBT CEILING WITH SPENDING CUTS
TheRepublican-passedbillrightlyclawedback unspent COVID money,dismantled the unfairstudent loan giveaway, cut the $80 billion that Biden wants for more IRS agents, and allowedfor a debt limit increaseonly untilMarch 2024—sovotersget another say in future federal spendingdecisionsduringthe heat ofnext year’s presidential campaign.
ThenegotiatedBiden-McCarthyswampyagreementon the other handsmacks of your typical backroom Washington dealthatamountstomore of the same.And when you consider how dire our fiscal situation is, it completely fails to rise to the occasion. Any family who racks up a sizable amount of debt would sit down and actually fix the problem—not kick the can down the road again.The American people are sick and tired of tone-deafpoliticiansin D.C.
VideoThe first problem withthisdeal is that itpuntsthe next national debt debate until after the presidential election in January 2025. This makes absolutely no sense.
Republicans must make federal spending an issue during the 2024 presidential campaign and thisflawed agreement would take the issue off the table.Why any Republican would support a bill that saddles the incoming Republican president with thissteaming pile immediatelyupon taking office is beyond comprehension.
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The Biden-McCarthy bill also makes a mockery of what most people consider meaningful spending cuts and onlyclaws backasmallpercentage of unspent COVID funds.The fact that thislegislation failsto getback every cent ofthefunds that were intended to combat COVID-19 should tell you all you need to know about the wisdom of theproposal.
VideoFurthermore,Speaker McCarthy’s negotiators,Reps. Patrick McHenry and Garrett Graves,alsocaved in to the White House on their unconstitutional student loan program, their Inflation Reduction Act heist, and their new battalion of new IRS agents.When it comes to the concept of actualfiscalreform, adding $4 trillion to our national debt in return for little in the way of spending cutssimply doesn’t pass the smell testand ought to be rejected.
Even in this hyper-partisan atmosphere,Americans of all stripes agree — 79% of Republicans, 58% of independents, and 45% of Democrats—that real spending cuts in exchange for a debt ceiling increaseare in order.So, it’sdifficult to understand why the McCarthy teamfailed todemand moreat a moment when they clearly had the American people on their side.
The good news is that it’s not a done deal. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen changed the defaultdate once, so she’ll do it again if necessary.
So, there’s still some time to send the negotiators back to the table so that they can give Americanssomething that moves the needle in the right direction on ournational debt for a change.
Let’s get this right. For once.
