The number one security threat to our nation right now is the National Debt. It’s not fentanyl, it’s the Debt. We need to get the National Debt under control, we need inflation to slow, and we need our economy to recover from the government forcing it to shut down over Covid. The best way forward is for the federal government to drastically cut spending.
Last night, the House passed their version of legislation that will raise the debt ceiling, which will allow our country to incur more debt. There should always be a long and serious debate anytime the debt ceiling limit approaches. Treating the debt ceiling as a ceremony without a critical discussion of our nation’s finances leaves us wondering why we have a debt ceiling to begin with.
In the end, more House Democrats voted for the bill negotiated by Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy than House Republicans. That doesn’t look good for McCarthy in his first major test as Speaker. Spending cuts were existential and compromises guaranteed to happen as Republicans control only the House against the Democrats having the Senate and the White House.
The Wall Street Journal describes it like this-
“Members of the House Freedom Caucus and 71 Republicans in total voted against the bill that passed overwhelmingly late Wednesday. Heritage Action and other parts of the Beltway conservative establishment were also urging a “no” vote. They say the bill doesn’t reduce the current federal debt, doesn’t cut enough spending, doesn’t repeal green subsidies, and doesn’t even repeal the $80 billion in new money for the Internal Revenue Service.
All of that is true, and they have every right to gripe about it. But what did they expect? House Republicans hold a four-vote majority, the smallest in decades. Democrats still control the Senate and the White House. In no plausible political universe could Republicans expect to roll back the legislation that Democrats passed with control of both sides of Pennsylvania Ave. in the last Congress.”
Eh. We’re still leaning no. Rep. Ben Cline voted Nay. He tweeted-
Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner are happy enough with the bill, but they are upset about the Mountain Valley Pipeline being part of the deal. It’s just populist silliness to oppose pipelines; they are the safest way to transport gas and oil. Nevertheless, Warner tweeted, “I oppose the inclusion of language pertaining to the Mountain Valley Pipeline and will support [Sen. Kaine’s] amendment to remove it from the bill.”
I am not suggesting that McCarthy should be removed from Speaker over this, which is what Rep. Dan Bishop has said. I am saying McCarthy should be removed from Speaker because he was a terrible choice to begin with. This bill is exactly what anyone who supported McCarthy for Speaker should have expected.
Funding the Biden Administration without any significant cuts to the National Debt is not the will expressed by voters when they went to the polls last November. The new Republican House ran on the promise to curb spending and rollback the National Debt. This bill does not deliver on those promises.
