Trump’s call to bust budget cap fiscally irresponsible

If the fight over Congress’ continuing resolution is any indication, the incoming Republican-controlled body likely will be defined by chaos. Republican lawmakers, who cling to a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, will likely just wait for directions from President Donald Trump – or from his most-vocal surrogates, such as Elon Musk.

You can take protests from a handful of conservative House members over excessive spending with the proverbial grain of salt. The federal government is indeed awash in debt. The national debt clock rings in at more than $36 trillion and it’s rapidly rising. But instead of reining in spending, Trump said eliminating the debt ceiling entirely is the “smartest thing.”

“The Democrats have said they want to get rid of it. If they want to get rid of it, I would lead the charge,” he said. That ceiling “doesn’t mean anything, except psychologically.”  His latter point is more or less accurate. Every administration pushes Congress to suspend it, including the first Trump administration which did so three times. But the psychology of it has some merit, as it least forces lawmakers to wrestle with uncontrolled spending every now and again.

If you’re overweight and continually break your diet, it’s still not wise to just toss aside the diet and gleefully gorge at the all-you-can-eat buffet. Calling this a “reckless move,” a Cato Institute budget expert offers a serious proposal for budget hawks: Replacing the ceiling with a “balanced budget amendment that is modeled after the Swiss debt brake, which ties spending to economic growth and ensures fiscal discipline.”

Debt spending has been on an upward trajectory for decades under both parties, but based on some analyses the first Trump administration accumulated more debt than the profligate Biden administration. Republicans dispute those numbers, but the evidence doesn’t support GOP claims of fiscal responsibility.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, amid the booming economy, Trump oversaw massive budget deficits. Even before the pandemic, again, the federal government was on track to see budget deficits of as high as $1.5 trillion. As was reported at the time, Trump responded to concerns about the debt thusly: “Who the hell cares about the budget? We’re going to have a country.”

Clearly, Trump is not even remotely committed to fiscal responsibility based on his record as president and now as he attacks fiscal hawks in his own party.

“To take this bill, yesterday, and congratulate yourself because it’s shorter in pages but increases the debt by $5 trillion is asinine – and that’s precisely what Republicans are doing,” declared Texas Republican Chip Roy on the House floor this past week.  “I am absolutely sickened by a party that campaigns on fiscal responsibility and has the temerity to go forward to the American people and say you think this is fiscally responsible. It is absolutely ridiculous.”

In response, Trump has threatened to back a primary challenge to Rep. Roy, solely because he is serious about spending restraint.

“The very unpopular ‘Congressman’ from Texas, Chip Roy, is getting in the way, as usual, of having yet another Great Republican Victory — All for the sake of some cheap publicity for himself. Republican obstructionists have to be done away with,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.

Yes, you are reading this all right, Trump is attacking a Republican for being a fiscal conservative.  So it’s hard to take Trump’s trial balloon for anything other than a call for uncontrolled federal spending.  That’s an ominous sign for the future.