OPINION:
The first step in any addiction recovery program? Admitting you have a problem. Washington has a massive spending addiction. But don’t expect Congress to admit this problem any time soon.
As our nation careens toward a fiscal crisis, with unsustainable debt that continues to climb, the only crisis the Democrats and the media want to discuss is the risk that the United States will default on its debt. Democrats are employing a technique they have perfected – talking about default as a means of avoiding the underlying debt crisis that has resulted from their out-of-control spending.
Democrats in Congress hope to pressure Republicans to abandon any discussion about spending cuts as the mainstream media and progressive politicians cry out in unison about a potential default.
It’s a neat system that the Democrats have worked out. They get to spend however much they want on whatever wasteful programs they choose. And when the bill comes due, if the GOP balks at the amount, the Democrats get to accuse Republicans of being the irresponsible ones, risking default. “Responsible people pay their bills,” they admonish. Yes, true. But truly responsible people don’t rack up staggering debts in the first place.
Speaker Kevin McCarthy, to his credit, has leveraged the debt-ceiling fight to put together a spending reduction plan. He deserves praise for tying spending to the debt ceiling discussion. But as long as we are forcing the issue, why not actually be serious about addressing the root problem and take significant strides toward reducing spending? The reality is that our nation is on a collision course with default. The question is “when” not “if” we default. So why not address the real issues now?
The bill, which passed in the House by only two votes, would reduce the projected deficit by a mere $4.8 trillion dollars over the next ten years, leaving America with a $53 trillion debt at that point. A reduction in anticipated future spending is not “savings,” despite what some Republicans are saying. Democrats have twisted the meaning of “savings” over the years to mean any dollar not spent in the future, and Republicans are now evidently getting in on the wordplay as well.
Even some conservatives in Washington now argue that the McCarthy plan is the best we can get. We don’t have control of the White House or the Senate, they say, so we can’t expect to achieve any real cuts.
But former Speaker John Boehner showed us in 2010 that serious approaches to spending cuts are possible, even when the GOP only controls the House. With President Obama in the White House, and the Democrats in charge of the Senate, Republicans in 2011 orchestrated a spending cap deal. That win for the GOP forced spending reductions, known as sequester. The resulting budget cuts were not trivial. Prior to 2011, the federal government spent 24.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), but the Budget Control Act of 2011 brought spending to 20.3 percent of GDP in 2014.
Last November’s elections delivered a majority for the GOP in the House, in part because we campaigned on ending the one-party spending binge in Washington. Americans expect us to follow through on that campaign pledge, and they deserve better than a messaging moment from the GOP.
An old Washington joke says that Democrats are the party racing toward the fiscal cliff, ready to drive us over the edge, but Republicans, meanwhile, display their sensibility by driving toward that same fiscal cliff, only at a slightly slower pace. With nearly $32 trillion in debt, the joke is less funny, and the fiscal cliff is much closer and steeper.
Americans should demand that the GOP distinguish itself from the Democrats, not by slowing down, but by slamming on the brakes and reversing the car. If more than $31 trillion in debt is not cause for a course correction, what would be?
If this plan with modest spending reductions is the best the GOP can provide, Americans could be forgiven for wondering what the point of a Republican majority in the House is.
- Ken Buck currently represents Colorado’s 4th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives.
