Tax Cut and Spend

IN recent weeks President Bush has been crowing that he has trapped spendthrift Capitol Hill Democrats inside the Social Security lock box. The White House theory is that because the Democrats have now pledged never to take another dime from the Social Security surplus fund, they are dangling from the horns of a no-win budgetary dilemma: They must give up either the lock-box gambit (and thus expose themselves as fiscal hypocrites) or their multibillion-dollar wish list of social spending (and thus infuriate their liberal base).

There’s one problem with this theory: spendthrift Capitol Hill Republicans, who have their own pricey shopping list when it comes to this year’s budget. Bush has pledged to veto spending bills that would tap into Social Security— but repelling the congressional budget raiders will be a herculean task when so many of them are members of his own party.

About the Author

Stephen Moore

Stephen Moore is a co-founder of Unleash Prosperity, a senior visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and a senior economic adviser to the Trump campaign.

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IN recent weeks President Bush has been crowing that he has trapped spendthrift Capitol Hill Democrats inside the Social Security lock box. The White House theory is that because the Democrats have now pledged never to take another dime from the Social Security surplus fund, they are dangling from the horns of a no-win budgetary dilemma: They must give up either the lock-box gambit (and thus expose themselves as fiscal hypocrites) or their multibillion-dollar wish list of social spending (and thus infuriate their liberal base).

There’s one problem with this theory: spendthrift Capitol Hill Republicans, who have their own pricey shopping list when it comes to this year’s budget. Bush has pledged to veto spending bills that would tap into Social Security— but repelling the congressional budget raiders will be a herculean task when so many of them are members of his own party.

About the Author

Stephen Moore

Stephen Moore is a co-founder of Unleash Prosperity, a senior visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and a senior economic adviser to the Trump campaign.