Straight Arrow News contributor Newt Gingrich understands the challenges of budget battles well, having served as House Speaker from 1995-99. He cautions that the debt ceiling deal is only the first step in fixing the U.S. economy.
For the first time ever, the debt ceiling included genuine cuts in spending; billions of dollars less than were spent last year. That was a good step. It also included some real policy changes, making it easier to build infrastructure, making it easier to invest in oil and gas and other kinds of energy. It also had, I think, a step towards blocking the IRS from hiring thousands of new agents to harass the American people.
But it was tiny compared to the scale of the problems. And if that was the last step, I would have voted no. However, if it’s the first step towards turning the system, the first step towards more spending cuts, more reforms, a better approach to the government, then I think it’s a great start. That means that the House Republicans in particular, as the most solidly conservative group in Washington, have a real obligation over the rest of this year to continue having hearings, to continue investigating corruption and fraud and waste, and to have a series of appropriations bills where they continue to make spending cuts. If they follow through, if this was just the first step, then it’s all going to work.
When I wrote my new book, “March to the Majority,” part of what struck me was … you know when we got elected in ‘94 with the Contract With America, we didn’t jump overnight to a balanced budget. It took three years of work, one day at a time, step by step, and then finally, we were able to get to four consecutive balanced budgets for the only time in your lifetime. The way you do that is you build on what we’ve already accomplished. Now, the debt ceiling was a step and I think Speaker Kevin McCarthy intends for it to be the first of many steps. If he can achieve that, if he can bring his conference together, he can continue to negotiate with President Biden, we might find ourselves in a year or two, in a dramatically better place.
