A you-scratch-my-back, I’ll-scratch-yours budget

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Opinion

July 25, 2019 - 9:51 AM

It wasn’t exactly compromise — because that involves give and take — but a close second, corroboration, in getting a proposed federal budget one step closer this week.

Legislators on both sides of the political aisle refused to raise a stink about the others’ pet projects; for Republicans it’s predictably defense spending, and for Democrats, domestic programs.

Instead of duking it out, the two sides just agreed to spend more.

The plus side is that it’s a two-year budget and would most likely eliminate the risk of a government shutdown at least until after the 2020 election.

The downside is that it will add an estimated $1.7 trillion to the national debt, which now stands at a record $22 trillion.

So no, that’s not responsible governing.

 

THAT CONGRESS is unwilling to fund its budget is symptomatic of politics today, according to conservative columnist George Will.

Republicans and Democrats want a “large, well-armed, generous entitlement state, and not pay for it.”

The current tax system takes in about 80 cents for every dollar of government services.

“We used to borrow money for the future,” Will told the NewsHour’s Judy Woodruff. “We fought wars for the future, built roads, dams, highways and we borrowed. And because the future was going to benefit from it, it was ethical to have them pay part of the burden.

“Today, we’re borrowing to finance our own consumption of government goods and services, which is decadent.”

 

THE U.S. is on track to run out of cash to pay its creditors by early September. In the last two years, Congress has extended the debt limit by more than $2 trillion, from $19.8 trillion in March 2017 to $22 trillion in March of this year. Now, six months later, we’re in crisis mode again.

This is not an argument to not extend the debt limit — we can’t default on loans, after all — but to rethink our cavalier attitude of pushing our responsibilities on to future generations.

In other words, we need to revisit the income tax cuts of December 2017 to see if the boost they afforded a few, is worth the increased $1.5 trillion debt incurred by us all.

We’re not holding our breath. 

— Susan Lynn

 

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