Concerns of deficits, debt disappear
WASHINGTON — For decades, congressional Republicans have pushed to slash the budget and reduce the size of the federal government, especially during the eight years Democratic President Barack Obama was in office.
Now that Republican President-elect Donald Trump is poised to take charge, deficits and debt don’t seem to matter.
The first significant piece of legislation under unified Republican rule is a budget measure that, as a prerequisite for a speedy repeal of the Affordable Care Act, endorses deficits adding almost $10 trillion to the debt over the coming decade.
Soon to follow is the health repeal measure itself, which could erase more than $1 trillion in “ObamaCare” taxes that the party has previously held onto in earlier budget plans to keep its promise to balance the budget.
Republicans also will turn to a huge, $1 trillion-plus spending bill to wrap up unfinished Cabinet agency budgets. It’s likely to carry Trump priorities — billions of dollars for a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border and even more for the Pentagon.
Trump and incoming top White House officials such as his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, are making it clear that the new administration doesn’t support tackling the financial problems of the huge benefit programs that are the biggest drivers of future debt, Social Security and Medicare. A more pressing priority is a huge infrastructure spending plan.
“The presidential campaign, the entire Congress, there really hasn’t been discussion of debt, deficits and government spending,” said Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C. “And yes, that’s a problem.”
“It’s sort of disappeared from the radar screen,” said former Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who had been budget panel chairman.
Some of the party’s deficit hawks are not happy. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is promising to vote against the current GOP budget plan, which is a bare-bones measure that calls for keeping the government on autopilot for the next decade.
“What will the first order of business be for the new Republican majority? To pass a budget that never balances, to pass a budget that will add $9.7 trillion in new debt over 10 years?” Paul asked. “Is that really what the Republican Party represents?”
Obama budget director Shaun Donovan, who last year was denied the traditional hearing before Congress to defend the administration’s budget, is using the current ObamaCare debate to poke at Republicans. He highlighted in a recent letter to lawmakers that the GOP budget plan “includes virtually no deficit reduction” and would increase the debt by almost $10 trillion.
