Fiscal and Economic

The federal government can’t raise or spend a single dollar unless Congress says it can. Fiscal responsibility rests with lawmakers—and can’t be dodged, or DOGEd. Fifty years ago Congress developed a process specifically designed to bring spending in line with revenues: budget reconciliation. Unfortunately, it has rarely been used for its intended purpose. In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal Rep. McClintock discusses restoring the budget reconciliation process.

In the attached column, Rep. Tom McClintock (CA-05) examines the cost and impact of federal grants on the national economy. Between 2016 and 2020, federal grant spending ballooned from $675 billion to $972 billion. Budget writers and appropriators should look with extreme skepticism on every grant that awards money without results or that robs taxpayers in one community to pay for projects in another.

Three years ago, trillions of dollars of excessive federal spending unleashed the worst inflation in 40 years. I opposed these measures, and as a senior member of the House Budget Committee, I have advocated for dramatic budget reforms, including abolishing congressional earmarks, unauthorized appropriations, grants that rob one community to pay for another, and subsidies that prop up failing industries at the expense of consumers. I supported and cosponsored H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act. This legislation prioritizes two key goals: Increasing the production and export of American energy and reducing the regulatory burdens that make it harder to build American infrastructure and grow our economy.

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) today delivered the following remarks on the House floor: Mr. Speaker: Ukraine and Israel are in growing danger of running out of arms and ammunition while China casts a hungry eye on Taiwan. History warns us of allowing aggression to grow unchecked and of how quickly events in an unstable world can unravel Profligate spending is exhausting our resources and damaging our economy, but as Reagan reminded us, defense is not a budget issue. You spend what you need to spend – and although the defense of these besieged nations is one step removed from our own – it would be good to keep it that way. I regret that the three military aid bills are larded up with $20 billion of economic handouts, but we’re out of time and out of options. I’m afraid it is the price we now have to pay for months of dithering in this House. Without these bills today, we and the world risk a future butcher’s bill that is incalculable.

Congressman McClintock delivered the following remarks during a press conference discussing the House Budget Blueprint: Just as you cannot drink yourself sober, you cannot spend yourself rich. You cannot borrow your way out of debt. And you cannot tax your way to prosperity. And yet, those are the three principles upon which Bidenomics is founded. No nation in the world has ever spent, borrowed and taxed its way to economic health. But many, many nations have spent, borrowed and taxed their way to economic ruin, bankruptcy and collapse. Before any nation can ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare – it must be able to pay for them, and our nation’s ability to do so is coming into grave doubt. I believe this budget is a good faith effort to apply the principles of fiscal responsibility to federal spending before we are faced with a crisis that we can no longer pay for.