Despite years of tough talk about balanced budgets, the Republican majority in the House and Senate rammed through a massive tax cut for the rich in December that their own analysis showed would increase the deficit by more than $1 trillion. Now, many of the lawmakers who voted for that are suddenly concerned about the debt again and say they will oppose their own party’s omnibus spending bill because it will increase the debt by a similar amount.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), a self described “fiscal conservative” who co-founded the House Freedom Caucus, voted for the 2017 tax cut and argued that it should not be revenue-neutral. On Thursday, he said his party’s spending bill “may be the worst bill I’ve seen in my time in Congress, the worst bill our leadership’s ever allowed to come to the floor.” He highlighted the bill’s $1.3 trillion price tag, “which will lead to a trillion dollar deficit.”
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Jordan was in good company.
Rep. Tom Garrett (R-VA) called the bill an “#omnibust” and attacked it for “adding over 1 Trillion of debt.” In December, he backed the tax cuts as the “most transformational tax overhaul since I had a full head of hair and weighed 120 pounds.”
Last Omnibus: 1665 pages. Time to read 1 page: ~2 min. Time before expected vote on Omnibus (adding over 1 Trillion of debt): Less than 48 Hours. Estimated reading without food or rest:. Over 53 hours. And we STILL don't have the bill. #omnibust
— Tom Garrett (@GarrettforVA) March 21, 2018
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC), who called the December passage of the tax law a “momentous day for America,” tweeted a statement from the Freedom Caucus (which he chairs), urging opposition to the omnibus based on the principle of “fiscal responsibility.”
Members of the @freedomcaucus sent the below letter to the WH:
"Mr. President, we urge you to remember the countless forgotten men and women of America who placed their faith in you to change business as usual in Washington, D.C. We urge you to join us and reject this omnibus." pic.twitter.com/eO0B1PfCYl
— Mark Meadows (@RepMarkMeadows) March 22, 2018
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who voted for the tax cut despite wanting an even larger one, called his party’s handling of the omnibus a “rotten, terrible, no good way to run your government,” and slammed others in the GOP for causing the same “trillion dollar annual deficits” for which he had criticized Barack Obama.
Shame, shame. A pox on both Houses – and parties. $1.3 trillion. Busts budget caps. 2200 pages, with just hours to try to read it.
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
I ran for office because I thought the Obama spending and trillion dollar annual deficits were a real problem for our country and now Republicans are doing the same thing. https://t.co/Fdi9riA3YK
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2018
Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), who enthusiastically voted for the tax cuts (though admitting it might not “usher in heaven“), decried the omnibus for adding “1.3 TRILLION $ to your debt like it’s no big deal.”
Total dysfunction. DC is about to add 1.3 TRILLION $ to your debt like it’s no big deal – and meanwhile both of our crazy uncles are fistfighting in the backyard. Happy Thanksgiving, America. https://t.co/qFfqdtJKkE
— Senator Ben Sasse (@SenSasse) March 22, 2018
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) “proudly” voted for the December tax bill, but in a Facebook post called the “latest swamp monstrosity” a “disaster on every level” and an act of “fiscal recklessness.”
It’s not just members of Congress. The Heritage Foundation, one of the most influential conservative think-tanks, said the bill “disregards the unstable fiscal path that the country is on in favor of more deficit spending, welcoming back trillion dollar deficits for the foreseeable future.” The group did not acknowledge its own role in pushing for the tax cuts that caused that “unstable fiscal path” to begin with.
Instead, this bill disregards the unstable fiscal path that the country is on in favor of more deficit spending, welcoming back trillion dollar deficits for the foreseeable future.
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) March 22, 2018
The House is reportedly expected to take up the bill on Thursday or Friday.