Let’s face it, everyone hates Congress. Or virtually everyone. And it seems like everyone especially hates Republicans in Congress – especially Republicans.
“You guys aren’t fighting hard enough.” “You won’t stand up to Obama.” “You guys aren’t getting anything done.” “It really doesn’t matter whether Republicans or Democrats control Congress – nothing changes.”
There’s a tremendous amount of frustration out there. It at least partly explains the popularity of “outside” candidates like Donald Trump and Ben Carson and Carley Fiorina on the Republican side. And socialist Bernie Sanders on the Democrat side.
All that being said, there is one area that it has made a huge difference since Republicans won back the House after Obama’s first term – and that’s the federal budget deficit – how deep in the hole this nation is going as we spend more than we take in.
The Wall Street Journal stated last week in an editorial: “Republicans won the election in 2010 on a mandate to cut spending… the Republican House has fulfilled its promise to restrain federal spending… it has used its power of the purse under the Constitution to shrink the burden of government – despite ferocious opposition over four years from a Democratic Senate and President.”
Now this is something you almost never hear. Republicans in Congress actually doing something right. But is it true?
Here are the facts. The federal deficit for 2008, the year before Barack Obama was sworn in as President, was $511 billion. The first year of Obama’s presidency, 2009, the deficit skyrocketed to an all-time high of $1,579 billion (or $1.579 trillion), a 300% increase in just one year! Due principally to Republican efforts, the deficit this past year, 2014, was back down to $497 billion, lower than it was the year before Obama became President (this is in inflation adjusted dollars, so we are talking apples to apples.)
How did Republicans in Congress accomplish this? Shortly after Republicans took back the House, there was a showdown between the Republican House and President Obama, and the government was on the edge of going into default over a debt ceiling impasse, and a government shutdown seemed imminent. At the 11th hour, literally, an agreement was reached which put strict caps on discretionary government spending, and implemented the so-called sequester. The sequester cut domestic spending across the board (which Democrats hated) and cut military spending (which Republicans hated), unless a so-called “super committee” could find more palatable cuts. Well the super committee turned out to be not so super, and couldn’t come to any agreement on alternate cuts, so the sequester cuts kicked in, and they stuck. And they worked.
Now do I think the defense cuts were too deep? Yes. And do I think the domestic cuts should have been deeper? Absolutely. But the fact is the sequester and the caps on discretionary spending have been largely successful, and are the principal reason the annual deficit spending number has come down to a more manageable level. I should also note that as the Member of Congress with the highest lifetime score with Citizens Against Government Waste for voting against wasteful government spending, I believe we have hardly scratched the surface on what needs to be cut in Washington.
One last point. We’ve still got a nearly $19 trillion debt hanging over our heads, due to the cumulative effect of all the years of deficit spending. From George Washington through George W. Bush, the National Debt went from 0 to about $9 trillion. Under Obama it’s gone from $9 to $19 trillion, and therefore Barack Obama has added more debt than all 43 presidents before him added together.
What a legacy.
