Congress Needs to Put the Brakes on Spending
The United States Congress and the Biden administration are entering dangerous spending territory. Budget hawks and conservatives became seriously anxious – perhaps a bit ill – when they saw the price tag for all the irresponsible spending last year at a record $6.5 trillion, yet the prospective budget numbers we are seeing today from Washington will make the government spending of the past two administrations look like chump-change. President Biden recently rolled out this $6 trillion budget proposal that will transform the United States into something that looks more like France than Texas – a new-age Democratic Socialist movement with massive government interference in myriad local and state jurisdictions.
The Biden spending binge is a walk on the wild side in terms of breaking norms and constraints on government (over)reach. The New York Times offered up some old-school arithmetic for the three big-ticket Biden schemes – the Biden-friendly NYT revealed an astonishing $6 trillion tab. Add together this spending extravaganza to the current level of government expenditures, and the American people will be confronted with unprecedented debt and economic instability for years. Profligate spending combined with Washington in your personal affairs like never experienced in our history. Even Biden’s own Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, predicts debt levels to exceed the output of the whole U.S. economy.
The first Biden spending plan, and the only one currently signed into law, is the “American Rescue Plan” that scores at about $1.9 trillion. The New York Times reports that the bill included, “a one-time direct payment of up to $1,400 for hundreds-of-millions of Americans, along with a $300 weekly federal supplement to unemployment benefits through the summer, and money for distributing vaccines” and “$350 billion in emergency funding for localities — $195 billion for states, $130 billion for local governments, $20 billion for tribal governments and $4.5 billion for territories.” This plan was rammed through Congress on a party line vote using special Reconciliation procedures that allowed the Democrats to pass whatever the Democratic Party wanted. And it was only the first budgetary assault – the Democrats weren’t done by a long shot.
In late March, Biden rolled out the so-called “American Jobs Plan” that likely will cost $2.3 trillion. Again, according to the New York Times, the proposal includes “$621 billion for transportation projects, including bridges, roads, mass transit, ports, airports and electric vehicle development” and “$111 billion into improving drinking-water infrastructure, and provide billions more for expanding broadband access and upgrading electric grids.” Conservatives point out that the inclusion of tax credits for housing and a $300 billion down payment on the Green New Deal are examples of stealing from future generations to spend cash on progressive pet projects today. To go along with the budgetary splurging, the Democrats are pushing tax hikes just as our economy is re-emerging from the Covid pandemic.
The final big-ticket item for the Biden spending spree is the “American Families Plan” that comes in at about $1.8 trillion. This plan has yet to be fully detailed but expect about $1 trillion in new spending on a multitude of lefty projects and giveaways with $800 billion in spending, and a manipulation of the tax code through revamped tax credits. The New York Times lists out some of the goodies, including childcare, paid family leave, paid medical leave, education, universal preschool, free community college and other progressive priorities.
If the average American needed – or wanted – to spend more in the family budget, he or she would look for areas of superfluous spending or budget items to scale back. Shouldn’t Washington do the same? Find current mammoth spending items unnecessary given the administration’s new priorities. Recently, The Hill posted a piece by Dan Grazier, a former Marine now working at a non-partisan watchdog group, pointing at a $1.7 trillion program loaded with waste – the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program. Grazier writes, “sound financial management means knowing you can’t have everything on your wish list. The Pentagon has for too long avoided this basic reckoning, while Americans’ other priorities – from healthcare to education to infrastructure – always seem to be on the chopping block. Building back better in the wake of Covid-19 should include bringing all the nation’s needs into a more measured and responsible fiscal balance.” I like the idea of balance – it’s certainly a governing principle where both Democrats and Republicans should be of the same mind.
Our debt is out of control because of overspending. The deficit for the last fiscal year was an unsustainable $3.1 trillion and this year the numbers will likely be worse. It is understandable to have a deficit in a year with a pandemic, however it’s unacceptable – and extraordinarily risky to our national, financial well-being– to be promoting fiscal insanity (shameless spending and debt) for years to come. There’s lots of talk these days of the ‘new normal’ and ‘let’s get back to normal.’ For our children’s sake, let’s hope – let’s decide – that $3 trillion in debt every year will not be our ‘new normal.’ Such a norm will mean fiscal catastrophe for future generations of Americans.
Congress needs to put the brakes on all this out-of-control spending before we go broke. Remember that Greece had a great economy right up until a default on debt that sent that economy into a death spiral. Let’s not become the next Greece.
Jerry Rogers is the founder of Capitol Allies and the host of the 'Jerry Rogers Show' on WBAL NewsRadio.
