, Columnist
The GOP’s Fiscal Hawk Era Is Officially Over
Populism has remade the party; now only a few lonely senators are worried about the budget bill’s impact on debt.
Putting it on the credit card.
Photographer: Kent Nishimura/BloombergThere is no constituency for debt reduction, which is a fancy way of saying voters don’t care that the federal balance sheet is roughly $37 trillion in the red — and growing.
This simple fact of American politics goes a long way toward explaining why President Donald Trump, with the help of congressional Republicans, is pushing a sweeping reconciliation package of tax cuts and fresh domestic spending priorities that is projected to add approximately $3.8 trillion to the swelling federal debt. Politics is a service business and Trump and his Capitol Hill allies are aiming to please the customer.