Feehery: Balanced budgets and the debt ceiling 

Dick Cheney once said, “Deficits don’t matter.”  

If the polls are any indication, the American people largely agree with the former vice president. So did the 45th president, one of the rare points of convergence between the Cheney’s family and Donald Trump. 

If deficits don’t matter to the public or to the fiscal markets, why should House Republicans fight for a balanced budget that has little likelihood of being enacted into law and will set them up for a tough reelection campaign in 2024? Why should Republicans fight for fiscal responsibility as part of a debt-limit extension, if nobody else will? 

It’s an important question, and one that will have a profound impact on their already shaky control of the House. 

For Republicans, they must create a powerful narrative about the failures of big government, using creative communication techniques to drive messages that break through to more than just their most loyal voters. 

I believe they should do a temporary increase in the debt limit, for perhaps a year, which should give them time to present to the public a detailed case as to why the current fiscal path is damaging to the American people — and why a course correction is badly needed.   

I think House Republicans should announce a set of prime-time public hearings that basically put Big Government on trial. Are the American people being served by a Washington-based bureaucracy that takes their money and spends it on wasteful programs that do nothing to make this country a safer, more peaceful and more prosperous place? 

Every government program should come under the spending microscope. Here are some questions that should be asked: 

• Why are so many federal workers refusing to come into work, post-pandemic? 
• How much does the Pentagon spend on diversity, equity and inclusion policies that have nothing to do with making America safer? 
• Why was $163 billion in pandemic unemployment assistance likely stolen by fraudulent entities? 
• How many Americans pay nothing in federal taxes? 
• How much money is wasted in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and why does it pay for food that is not healthy for kids? 
• Why don’t welfare programs focus exclusively on getting people back to work? 
• How does the federal bureaucracy make it more difficult to build affordable housing? 
• How does the federal government pay to house and feed illegal immigrants, and does that spending inspire even more illegal immigration? 
• What government mandates have made our public schools less accountable to parents and less successful at teaching our children the basics, like reading, writing and arithmetic? 
• In short, how has the federal government failed the American people and how can it be reimagined to serve the people better and waste a lot less money? 

Only after Republicans lead that discussion with voters will they be put in a better position to do something about the current trajectory of the government. 

When I was working in the House leadership in the 1990s, deficits did seem to matter. The financial markets put pressure on both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton do take dramatic steps to cut federal spending. The case back then was that by better controlling the debt, interest rates would come down and the people would benefit with an expanding economy. 

After a half-decade of tough choices, the strategy appears to have worked. Interest rates did come down, the economy boomed, and the budget not only balanced but a surplus was created.  

Of course, after 9/11, the surplus disappeared, as did any talk of a balanced budget. And now, 20 years later, our debt is out of control and nobody, except for House Republicans, are talking about a balanced budget. 

If Republicans want to win a budget showdown, they have to convince the American people about the costs and failures of big government. It won’t be easy. 

Feehery is a partner at EFB Advocacy and blogs at thefeeherytheory.com. He served as spokesman to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), as communications director to former House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and as a speechwriter to former House Minority Leader Bob Michel (R-Ill.).