New House Speaker Mike Johnson has negotiated the shrewdest budget deal he could get with Joe Biden in the White House and Chucky Schumer reigning over the Senate. Johnson was outnumbered and outgunned, but he managed to get some modest cuts in spending. Congratulations. Anyone who thinks he or anyone in the GOP could have gotten much better is living in la la land.
Don’t worry. We aren’t going to break out in a heavenly choir singing Hallelujah. But it’s a smart compromise given the lousy hand House Republicans are dealing with a splintered four-seat majority that can’t get to 218 votes on ANYTHING. We think this compromise package achieves three big objectives: First, it avoids a government shutdown trainwreck that voters are in no mood for and wouldn’t have a happy ending. As we’ve mentioned before, Republicans have been blamed for 10 of the last 11 shutdowns. Second, it does shave almost $100 billion from the bloated Biden budget request and cuts $20 billion in IRS funding. These are small victories, but out of an obese $6 trillion budget, every dollar matters. Third, it keeps the debate in the 2024 election season focused on the fiscal catastrophe named Joe Biden. Biden has nearly single-handedly added $6 trillion to the debt in just three years. This wasn’t a bipartisan spending spree. It was all the unholy trinity of Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer. His plan for the future is for the debt to top $50 trillion over the next decade. That’s not a solution, but the act of a psychopathic big spender. To solve the problem he wants bone-crushing taxes that will sink the economy. This latest budget deal is an urgent reminder that the only smart solution for America is to get rid of the Biden Democrats. |