Trump left us with a $27 trillion debt. Now Biden wants to add $1.9 trillion for a virus/radical spending bill. And, he is giving away $3 trillion via the Paris Climate Accords to nations that hate us. In exchange we will be told which companies and industries have to be shut down in this nation—so our enemies can sell their products to us instead.
“President Joe Biden has indicated support for yet another $1.9 trillion in stimulus spending. Considering Congress just approved almost $1 trillion in stimulus, it’s too big an ask for even moderate Republicans.
“The ink is just barely dry on the $900 billion, and what the president is proposing is significant—$1.9 trillion,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. “It’s going to require, I think, a fair amount of debate and consideration.”
So far no one has discussed the $3 trillion giveaway—of money we do not have.
The $27 trillion elephant in the room
By The Editorial Board. Orange County Register, 1/25/21
With the national debt fast approaching $28 trillion, and no signs of slowing down, some Republican politicians are beginning to remember that they used to care about fiscal responsibility.
“When do we hit the point where the thing starts to collapse? That’s what really concerns me and nobody is talking about it really in either party anymore,” said Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, this week during a hearing for Janet Yellen’s nomination to serve as U.S. Treasury Secretary.
It’s an even more difficult discussion to have with the backdrop of the pandemic and what might be a justifiable need for some additional federal expenditures.
“To avoid doing what we need to do now to address the pandemic and the economic damage that it is causing would likely leave us in a worse place … than taking the steps that are necessary and doing that through deficit finance,” said Yellen, according to Reuters.
President Joe Biden has indicated support for yet another $1.9 trillion in stimulus spending. Considering Congress just approved almost $1 trillion in stimulus, it’s too big an ask for even moderate Republicans.
“The ink is just barely dry on the $900 billion, and what the president is proposing is significant—$1.9 trillion,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska. “It’s going to require, I think, a fair amount of debate and consideration.”
Beyond the pandemic, President Biden has proposed some big-spending ideas of is own, particularly on health care, while progressives are pushing Medicare for All, a Green New Deal and a student loan debt bailout.
These are big ideas with big price tags in the context of a federal government that even before the pandemic was projecting ongoing, annual budget deficits of over $1 trillion.
While there has long been a mismatch between Republican rhetoric and Republican results when it comes to federal spending and the national debt, there’s no doubting the fact that even before the pandemic President Donald Trump presided over a profligate and fiscally irresponsible federal government.
“Who the hell cares about the budget? We’re going to have a country,” Trump reportedly told donors during a fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Well, evidently, few did care about the federal budget during the past four years. This is why, despite a booming economy, the deficits reached levels not seen since the painful years after the Great Recession.
As the Congressional Budget Office notes, rising federal debt “raises borrowing costs, slowing the growth of the economy and national income, and it increases the risk of a fiscal crisis or a gradual decline in the value of Treasury securities.” It may also contribute to rising inflation.
At some point, the federal spending spree must come to an end and federal spending must be kept at a more sustainable level.
This will require more Republicans to remember what they are supposed to stand for — limited government and fiscal responsibility — and enough Democrats resisting the leftward pull of the progressives.
