It seems Republicans always have an excuse about why they can’t get things done. While doing some research on the debt ceiling (a post about that soon), I found this 2013 quote by then–chairman of the House Budget Committee Paul Ryan. The government was divided, with Republicans in control of the House and Democrats in control of the White House and the Senate. At the time, Ryan was trying to warn Republicans against optimism because they would be disappointed. Nothing they would pass in the House would get signed by the president, or even pass the Senate, so “let’s temper our expectation for what can we can achieve” was pretty much the message:
Republicans need to “recognize the realities of divided government . . . and the fiscal deadlines that are approaching,” the House Budget Committee chairman said, explaining that during the first day of the retreat he was helping to facilitate “a conversation among our members about all the fiscal things that are about to occur.”
Republicans, particularly the new crop of freshmen lawmakers, need to understand “all the deadlines that are coming, all the consequences of those deadlines . . . [and] the best way to achieve progress to controlling our deficit and debt, control our spending. . . . ”
Ryan was circumspect when it came to the details of the internal talks, saying that Republicans “think the worst thing for the economy is for this Congress and this administration to do nothing to get our debt and deficits under control . . . to move past these events that are happening with no progress made” on debt and deficits.
That said, he did reveal that Republicans are “discussing the possible virtue of a short-term debt limit extension so we have a [good] chance of getting the Senate and White House involved in March.”
Using the argument that the divided government was a reality led to not only few things getting done — with the exception of growing the government — but very little attempt to even engage the world through a battle of ideas, at least on the fiscal side. In fact, one of the biggest Republican achievements of the last eight years was the imposition of spending caps resulting from the debt-ceiling fight of 2011. But they have tried to get rid of even that at every opportunity. Sure, the GOP can pat itself on the back for not giving President Obama everything he ever wanted. But, overall, most free-market, small-government types whose careers don’t depend on batting for the R team were left with a pretty bad taste in the mouth.
It’s amazing what little difference a majority makes. Republicans probably feel they always have a good reason for not getting things done and will find the following post unfair. But I can’t imagine I am the first one to point out to them how disappointing it is that even though they have the House, the Senate, and the White House they still can’t get much done.
I know, I know: They claim that if only they had a bigger majority in the Senate, they could finally deliver on decade-long promises to be fiscally responsible. But anyone who honestly looks at this knows that the Senate hasn’t been the only factor getting in the way of, for example, repealing and replacing Obamacare. Also, simply blaming the Senate would tend to obscure the fact that the bill sent from the House to the Senate was hardly what Republicans have been promising voters for years as they were voting dozens of times to repeal Obamacare.
What about President Trump’s role? Yes, the president’s unpredictable — and often embarrassing — behavior has not made him a remotely reliable partner for the GOP Congress to work with. Add to that the sad fact that he continues to show little interest in understanding the nuances (some would even say the basics) of public policy. Then there is the fact that Trump will blame Republicans for not passing a health-care bill, while also calling the first health-care bill that kept so much of Obamacare untouched “mean.” But is there any doubt that Trump would have signed a clean Obamacare-repeal bill — the one that Republicans cynically supported when they knew there was no chance that President Obama would sign it? Trump would have signed it — had the Republican Congress actually sent it to him. Also, let’s face it, the fact that they still didn’t have a replacement bill ready seven years of claiming it was their priority gets in the way of their credibility on the matter.
Also, anyone who spends more than five minutes listening to Fox News is also acutely aware that we are almost in September and tax reform is not looking awesome. In my opinion, that’s because for months Chairman Brady and Speaker Ryan wouldn’t let go of the border-adjustment tax measure that divided the GOP caucus. As a result, we spent months fighting amongst ourselves instead of making the case for tax reform to the American people.Thankfully that’s behind us and we will see if we can get tax reform done.
It’s not that I don’t believe there is a real will for reform. The question once again is whether the same big-government forces in the Republican party that are getting in the way of the party being the party of free markets and small government continue to dominate. Will these forces be tamed when the plan calls for ending corporate welfare and special-interest loopholes in the tax code? (I am looking at you state-and-local-government deduction and special-interest tax credits). Will these forces be tamed when the plan calls for spending restraint (or, even better, actual cuts) to pay for the tax reform? And, of course, will Republicans resist the temptation to talk about tax reform as a Keynesian way to put money into families’ and Americans’ pockets, as if consumption rather than savings and investment was the source of economic growth? Dan Mitchell is already pointing to signs that we shouldn’t hold our breath.
The need to raise the debt ceiling is upon us too. You would think that Republicans would be on board to raise it so that we won’t default on our debt while also attaching reforms that change the debt trajectory we are on. Adopting a principled position has been made easier now that we know that they can indeed prioritize, so there’s no default on the table. But instead, I predict in the next few weeks that those in the party calling for not continuing business as usual and demanding that Congress not kick the can down the road by passing a clean debt-ceiling increase will be labeled irresponsible, while those clamoring for the status quo will be the ones praised for their wisdom.
It is true that Republicans have killed a bunch of nasty and costly regulations. They deserve credit for that. But the work is hardly done as there are thousands more left on the books, and the GOP needs to fundamentally alter the way out-of-control bureaucrats assert power over our lives through regulation.
Sadly, I am always reminded (and I never fail to remind you) of this quote from former president of the Club for Growth, Chris Chocola: “What good is a majority if you aren’t going to use it? What good is being part of a team, if the team is the problem?”
Indeed.