The Debt Ceiling Concessions Needed
Roll back the new 87,000 IRS agents, and replace them with border patrol officers
By Chuck Warren
December 8, 2022
With the U.S. national debt nearing its legal limit, Washington is bracing itself for another fight over lifting the debt ceiling. In October, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said that a Republican majority would mean that Democrats will have to make concessions to raise the debt limit. Now he is delivering on his campaign promise. Bloomberg confirmed that the fight is indeed coming. Yet again, Republicans have a leverage, and habitually they are planning on using this advantage to shoot themselves in the foot.
If you’re feeling déjà vu, it’s because we lived through this in 1995, 2011, 2013, and 2021. Each time, the party of spending controlled the White House and wanted to raise the debt ceiling to spend more, the party of spending cuts wanted to get fiscal commitment to fiscal sanity before letting the other side to borrow more money.
The new Republican majority in the House is demanding concessions like the previous times. It’s not something to fear. That this another empty threat by Republicans is the scary part.
According to Bloomberg, the deadline to raise the debt ceiling could arrive as soon as July, and Republicans’ are demanding “large spending cuts — including to Social Security and Medicare, the retirement and health programs for the elderly and disabled — or policies such as stricter immigration controls,” adding that “Biden has vowed that he won’t yield.”
Americans just voted for a Republican majority in the House. It is not surprising that that majority wants a say in the direction of the country. The weird part is President Biden ignoring the midterms’ result, especially since using debt ceiling as a leverage to advocate for Republican priorities.
Like most Americans, I would like to see more reality in government brokering compromises and legislating—and much less cable news diatribes and declarations that serve no Americans outside Washington or Instagram influencers.
The problem for Republicans is that they are picking the wrong fight. Entitlements reform is both necessary and unpopular. More, fixing the entitlements regime requires more than small adjustments on the margins. Republicans who care about the fiscal health of the nation should begin with a public relations and education campaign to persuade the voters that their cause is right. It requires spending at least a year, likely years, of town hall meetings, publishing op-eds, going on talk radio, and appearing on cable TV to get the country onboard. The only outcome of going at it without a plan will be the Democratic cheerleaders in mainstream media equating the reforms with pushing the grandma off a cliff. This is one of the reasons Blake Masters and Republicans just lost a Senate seat for being at odds with the voters over this issue.
Instead, House Republicans should go after low-hanging fruits that are no less important. Two stand out.
First, eliminate the new 87,000 IRS agents. Nobody likes to be audited. And Democrats’ insistence to apply the new audits to Americans of all incomes is a tax on low- and middle-income Americans. Unlike the rich, most Americans can’t afford an accountant to take care of audits for them. Instead of being at odds with the average American, Republicans will be in alliance with them protecting them against IRS audits.
Second, invest in border security. A recent poll showed that a majority of Americans believe that an “invasion” is happening at the Southern border. Most worry about human and drug trafficking, especially fentanyl. They are right to worry. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection is among the most underfunded federal agencies, and Americans, while welcoming of immigrants, are also supportive of enforcing immigration laws. 3 in 4 Americans believe that reducing illegal immigration should be an important goal of the government. This includes large three in five Democrats, which means going on offense on border security has the added benefit of putting Democrats at odds with their own voters.
Dear House Republicans, we just gave you a majority, so we need more singles and doubles that are achievable. Leave delusions and fantasyland to the socialists and Hollywood. Serious entitlements reform without doing your homework is as realistic as expecting the Superman to save the day anywhere other than behind the screen. To keep your seats and enlarge your majority, you must present the American people with concrete results the next time you’re campaigning. Or they’ll vote you out of your majority again because you deserve it.