Free Republic

The tally for how much the federal government spent to combat COVID-19 is now estimated to be $5 trillion. It is more than the combined costs of World Wars I and II. The left is celebrating that politicians in Washington saved us. Really? From what exactly? Two years later, it is time for an honest assessment. Could things have worsened for the country if the government had spent nothing and done nothing? What would have happened if we had not shut down our businesses? Our churches, schools and restaurants. Our parks, basketball courts and playgrounds. Would the public have made...

When I came to Washington, D.C., in 1985, Ronald Reagan was president. I was working for the Reagan budget office. We did something we weren't very proud of at the time. We introduced the first $1 trillion budget in American history, which was unthinkable. One trillion dollars. There are 12 zeroes in a trillion. A trillion is a million dollars times a million. The budget deficit hit $200 billion and 6% of our entire GDP. Again, unthinkable. Now, fast forward 37 years later. The budget today is nowhere close to $1 trillion. In 2021, President Joe Biden's first year in...

The analysis exposed the inherently gimmicky nature of using permanent tax increases to pass temporary increases in spending.In the second installment of news the Biden administration didn’t want to hear about Friday (the first being the record-breaking inflation report), the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis of making permanent the programs in Democrats’ Build Back Bankrupt spending spree. Democrats immediately claimed the bill they want to pass through Congress doesn’t resemble the CBO’s parameters in the slightest. In that case, Republicans should respond by bringing a legislative proposal resembling those parameters to the Senate floor, and forcing Democrats to...

At some point in the near future—whether a few days or a few weeks—the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) will release a complete score of the spending spree legislation Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and House leaders introduced on Nov. 3. The document will represent the first complete CBO analysis of any of the multi-trillion-dollar spending bills that Democrats have spent the fall writing, then re-writing. Two budgetary analyses suggest CBO could find the most recent version of the legislation increases the deficit. A Penn-Wharton analysis of the White House’s policy framework concluded it would spend $1.87 trillion over ten years while...

The battle over the federal debt ceiling that's currently being fought by government officials and legislators is yet another example of the political posturing that's so prevalent these days. On one side, you have Democrats, who believe that the debt ceiling should be increased automatically or removed altogether, no matter what level of debt Uncle Sam accumulates, and that it should be done with the support of Republicans. On the other side, you have Republicans, who occasionally remember that they are against big government spending, especially if they're in the minority when the debt ceiling needs to be raised. Consider...

Current times remind us of the great American patriot and writer, Thomas Paine. Paine was the author of the famous American Revolutionary War pamphlet The Crisis. The writing, publishing, and distribution of The Crisis proved to be invaluable as polls showed one-third of American colonists strongly favored The Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War, one-third were neutral and could go either way and roughly one-third were somewhat against or against breaking away from England. In the December 23, 1776, issue of The Crisis, Paine wrote his now famous words that rallied the majority of colonists to favor the American...

When midterm elections loom just around the corner, most presidents push populist policies to lure Independent votes as a means of retaining their party’s majority in Congress. President Biden, however, seems to be doing everything to push middle-ground voters away. It’s almost hard to believe that Biden wants his party to retain control of Congress at all, given his performance so far. While the administration celebrates saving families 16 cents on Independence Day barbecues, American families face the harsh realities of misguided government priorities. Countless small businesses have shuttered their doors, millions of American workers have been paid to stay...

In lieu of additional revenue obtained from auditing taxpayers, how do lawmakers now propose to fund increased federal spending on roads and bridges? Through a budget gimmick.After a conservative backlash, Republican senators negotiating an infrastructure bill have objected to an increase in funding and authority for the IRS. In lieu of additional revenue obtained from auditing taxpayers, how do lawmakers now propose to fund increased federal spending allegedly on roads and bridges? Through a budget gimmick.In short, Congress now wants to repeal a rule that 1) hasn’t gone into effect and 2) likely won’t ever go into effect, so it...

The biggest boondoggle in the history of the world will get even more expensive for U.S. taxpayers unless members of Congress finally decide enough is enough. When the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program launched in 2001, it was hailed as a “high-performance, low-cost stealth aircraft.” Now, $1.2 trillion later, it has proven to be anything but. Despite being the most expensive military program by any country ever, F-35 fighter jets have proven defective, dangerous and largely a useless waste of Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars. And Congress’ nonpartisan watchdog agency agrees. Last week, the Government Accountability Office released a recommendation to...

The summer provides for many reruns on television. The same can be said as the country lurches toward an epic showdown as Republicans and Democrats argue about the debt ceiling and how the federal government spends more money than it brings in. Like debt ceiling discussions in the past, left-leaning politicians and bureaucrats are urging lawmakers to raise the amount of money the U.S. government can borrow, while some on the right are demanding reductions in federal expenditures. It is clear that something will have to be done. As of July 8, 2021, the total U.S. national debt is more...

Do we have to become China to beat China? Apparently, some Republicans think so. Dozens in the House and Senate recently joined with Democrats to push a plan to use the byzantine protocols of government bureaucracies as a way to give the U.S. a leg up in industrial competition with China. Without irony the bill is named the “Endless Frontier Act." It proposes the creation of a $110 billion slush fund, much of which will be distributed by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The purpose: promote new technologies to make America more competitive against China. The practice: the NSF will...

Democrats will either have to jettison elements of the Biden agenda, or cram their entire legislative package into one bill.An advisory ruling from an obscure Washington official last week might complicate the Biden administration’s efforts to push trillions of dollars in new taxes and spending.Multiple news stories confirmed the opinion from the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, which was not released publicly. In sum, it presents Democrats a potentially difficult decision later this year: they will either have to jettison elements of the Biden agenda, or cram their entire legislative package into one bill—turning it into a “Christmas tree” that could...

resident Biden has been on the job for a little more than four months, however, in that relatively short period he has signed and proposed some of the most audacious and expensive pieces of legislation in U.S. history. What’s more, this comes as the U.S. national debt, which now stands at a mind-boggling$28.3 trillion, becomes more of a millstone upon the sputtering U.S. economy than ever before. To date, Biden has signed the $1.9 trillionAmerican Rescue Plan, which the administration describes as a plan “to change the course of the pandemic, build a bridge towards economic recovery, and invest in...

With the White House on Monday reminding Americans that families would start receiving direct cash payments starting in July, President Joe Biden’s financial assault on the workforce is set for an alarming expansion. The federal government will start sending families direct cash payments of $300 per child under six years old and $250 to those between seven and eighteen. While this might seem to be a good thing, it is guaranteed to have five very negative effects. Increasing inflation which is already going through the roof at more than doubling since Biden became president to 4.2 percent will continue to...

Every time I hear Democrats sermonize about following "the science," I feel as though I'm listening to members of the Flat Earth Society. Science is what the left wants to believe to be true. It has become a way to shut off debate, not advance it. Remember: These were the fools who told us to shut down our schools for a year. We are seeing the debasement of common sense in full bloom now on the economic front. When the latest disappointing jobs report was released with unemployment rising, the Democrats refused to acknowledge that their high welfare benefits kept...

Everyone knows someone who is horrible with money; some friend or acquaintance who is always up to their neck in credit card debt no matter how much money they earn. You probably try to avoid seeing this person as much as possible because it’s always the same old story when you do. Sadly, rather than remove these people from our lives, we’ve elected them to Congress and they keep sticking us with the check.This isn’t about Republicans or Democrats, they’re both horrible when it comes to spending. The only differences between the two parties on spending is Republicans pretend to...

To point out the elephant sitting next to the 500-pound gorilla in the room, the federal government spends too much money. In spite of the regular verbal abuses levelled at so-called “earmarks,” they are not to blame for this massive problem. In a sense, earmarks, can be considered part of the solution. Why? Because they are transparent.One of the primary catalysts for profligate spending is the near-complete lack of transparency in the annual congressional appropriations process. Rather than budgets with neatly organized line-items detailing where and how taxpayer dollars are spent, most federal spending results from huge pots of money...

How can someone who avoided more than $500,000 in taxes to fund his luxury lifestyle demand that others ‘pay their fair share’ under massive tax hikes?In his speech to Congress last Wednesday and his multi-trillion-dollar plan for “human infrastructure” released earlier that day, President Biden proposed yet another tax increase, this one on purportedly “wealthy” individuals and families. In his address Wednesday evening, Biden used the words “fair share” on no fewer than five separate occasions to justify these proposed revenue hikes.Yet with his own taxes, Joe Biden didn’t pay his “fair share.” Upon leaving the vice presidency in early...

Does President Joe Biden have a mandate to rebuild the United States? To remake American capitalism? To reshape the role of government? The president's Democratic supporters say yes. But the results of the election that brought Biden to office say no. Biden advocates argue that he can bring change to America in the style of Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the New Deal and Lyndon Johnson during the Great Society. "Will Joe Biden take his place alongside FDR and LBJ?" asks a news analysis on CNN.com. Authors Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu seem optimistic -- if Biden can pass his massive...

Joe Biden may not be a radical socialist, but he is doing the best imitation of one this writer has lately seen. After enacting a COVID-19 relief package of $1.9 trillion in March without a single Republican vote in Congress, Biden proposed a jobs and infrastructure program of $2.2 trillion. He has now added an "American Families Plan" of another $1.8 trillion. In his speech to the joint session of Congress, Biden laid out its contents. The Washington Times relates: "Mr. Biden's latest spending package includes $225 billion for child care, $225 billion for a national paid family and medical...