Both Parties’ Budgets Will Undoubtedly Include This Disappointment

Congress is (apparently) working on a budget that reflects the political aspirations of the two major parties. While the final product is very likely to be a rush job that reflects only the interest of the appropriators rather than much else, there is one thing it is all but guaranteed to do: spend more.

Yes, despite the rhetoric coming from House Republicans, the votes have traditionally been on the side of spending more rather than doing anything that might end up in an opposition ad during the next election.

How does such behavior translate into dollars and cents? The Cato Institute’s Chris Edwards writes that since 2019 federal spending has risen 40 percent. In four years. Under both Republican and Democratic regimes.

The COVID-19 pandemic response played a major role in that increase. And Edwards says some of those outlays are “temporary and should decline in coming years, such as the PBGC aid and education pandemic aid.”

Which is good. Except for all the rest of it:

CBO projects baseline spending to rise at an annual average rate of 4.8 percent over the coming decade. The projections show that Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid will be the main growth drivers ahead, but the past four years show that other programs will also grow rapidly if not controlled.

Programs such as:

Agriculture: food stamps. Education: college aid and pandemic school aid. HUD: numerous programs. Labor: PBGC aid to troubled pension plans. Treasury: interest costs. EPA: state grants. International Aid: Ukraine. SBA: disaster loans.

Edwards has suggestions for those looking for places to cut, or at least restrain, spending growth. One of them is a genuine litmus test for how serious the political class is about spending in general:

…outlays from 2019 to 2023 are up 47 percent for the operations of the legislative branch and 58 percent for the Executive Office of the President. How about these institutions showing some budget leadership and cutting their own costs?

Or if not cutting, how about just reducing the rate of increase – which in official Washington, counts as a cut?  It’s a nice idea. Even an inspired one. But don’t count the worthies to do much, if anything, that makes their official lives the least bit uncomfortable.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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