Lo and behold, great day in the morning and whatever exclanation you can recall! Republicans in Congress might have discovered their backbones and are stiffening them in a fight against Donaldl J. Trump and his “big, beautiful” tax and budget bill.
What has happened to these men and women? They have rediscovered the mantra their forebears used to recite to beat the daylights out of their Democratic opponents, which is that budget deficits and spiraling national debt are unsustainable.
U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson and Rand Paul have just signed on as “no” votes for Trump’s bill. It is looking for all the world as if the bill might be doomed. There are a few others who’ve also joined with their Democratic colleagues in opposing the legislation.
There’s a certain irony, of course, in Democrats opposing the bill on the grounds of deficit and debt expansion. Democrats used to scoff at GOP concerns over the deficit. Republicans led by Ronald Reagan blasted Democrats to smithereens because during the 1980 fiscal year, Democrats were calling for a deficit — get ready for it — of $43 billion! That amount today would hardly amount to anything.
The annual budget deficit is now in the trillions of dollars. The national debt has grown more under the Trump administration than during any other administration in U.S. history.
It is sounding to me as if congressional Republicans are getting the hint, based on their town halls and the ire they are hearing from constituents, that Trump’s notions aren’t worth backing.
What do you know about any of it?