Conservatives lash out at GOP spending binge
NEW YORK — The GOP is the party of fiscal responsibility no more.
That’s according to some conservatives who are grappling with a Republican-backed spending binge that threatens to generate trillion-dollar deficits for years to come while staining a cherished pillar of the modern-day Republican Party.
While President Donald Trump and his allies hope economic growth may ease future deficits, few fiscal conservatives cheered Monday’s release of the president’s $4 trillion-plus budget, which would create $7.2 trillion in red ink over the next decade if adopted by Congress. That follows congressional passage of last week’s $400 billion spending pact, along with massive tax cuts, which some analysts predict will push deficits to levels not in generations.
Deficit hawks in Congress and conservative activists who railed against President Barack Obama’s spending plans called the GOP debt explosion “dangerous,” “immoral” and “a betrayal.”
American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp warned the Republican-controlled Congress not to underestimate the impact of responsible spending for voters.
“If the Republicans in Congress don’t realize that spending control is one of the most important issues that our winning coalition cares about, if they are cavalier about spending decisions, I think we do risk our ability to go to the voters and say it matters to have us in the majority,” he said.
The conservative backlash against government spending comes at a delicate moment for Trump’s Republican Party.
Barely a year into his first term, the populist president has shown inconsistent commitment at best to the three planks that have defined his party since the Reagan era: fiscal responsibility, traditional family values and a strong national defence. With the GOP’s fiscal responsibility now in question, the party’s commitment to family values also continues to suffer as Trump and some high-profile allies struggle under the weight of repeated allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse.
Fiscal discipline has long helped unify an otherwise divided GOP, but that no longer appears to be the case as Republicans brace for a difficult midterm election season.
Americans for Prosperity, the political arm of the network backed by the conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, described the recent spending from Trump and Congress “a far cry from the so-called fiscal responsibility Americans heard on the campaign trail.”
Voters may forgive Trump’s spending habits because he’s new to Washington, but they will not be as kind to Republicans on the midterm ballots, said David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club for Growth, who lashed out at last week’s Republican-backed spending plan as “of the swamp, by the swamp and for the swamp.”
Conservatives lash out at GOP spending binge | National Post
NEW YORK — The GOP is the party of fiscal responsibility no more.
That’s according to some conservatives who are grappling with a Republican-backed spending binge that threatens to generate trillion-dollar deficits for years to come while staining a cherished pillar of the modern-day Republican Party.
While President Donald Trump and his allies hope economic growth may ease future deficits, few fiscal conservatives cheered Monday’s release of the president’s $4 trillion-plus budget, which would create $7.2 trillion in red ink over the next decade if adopted by Congress. That follows congressional passage of last week’s $400 billion spending pact, along with massive tax cuts, which some analysts predict will push deficits to levels not in generations.
Deficit hawks in Congress and conservative activists who railed against President Barack Obama’s spending plans called the GOP debt explosion “dangerous,” “immoral” and “a betrayal.”
American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp warned the Republican-controlled Congress not to underestimate the impact of responsible spending for voters.
“If the Republicans in Congress don’t realize that spending control is one of the most important issues that our winning coalition cares about, if they are cavalier about spending decisions, I think we do risk our ability to go to the voters and say it matters to have us in the majority,” he said.
The conservative backlash against government spending comes at a delicate moment for Trump’s Republican Party.
Barely a year into his first term, the populist president has shown inconsistent commitment at best to the three planks that have defined his party since the Reagan era: fiscal responsibility, traditional family values and a strong national defence. With the GOP’s fiscal responsibility now in question, the party’s commitment to family values also continues to suffer as Trump and some high-profile allies struggle under the weight of repeated allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse.
Fiscal discipline has long helped unify an otherwise divided GOP, but that no longer appears to be the case as Republicans brace for a difficult midterm election season.
Americans for Prosperity, the political arm of the network backed by the conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, described the recent spending from Trump and Congress “a far cry from the so-called fiscal responsibility Americans heard on the campaign trail.”
Voters may forgive Trump’s spending habits because he’s new to Washington, but they will not be as kind to Republicans on the midterm ballots, said David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club for Growth, who lashed out at last week’s Republican-backed spending plan as “of the swamp, by the swamp and for the swamp.”
Conservatives lash out at GOP spending binge | National Post
