Feehery: Charting a path to fiscal responsibility in Congress

It has been a hundred and one days since Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) secured the Speakership on the 15th ballot on Jan. 7, 2023, and while much has changed in the Congress, it is hard to say how much has changed globally or in America. 

The Russians are still fighting in Ukraine. The Chinese are still threatening Taiwan. The economy is still bumbling along. Criminals are still ruining our biggest cities. Inflation still concerns the average American voter. Gas prices are back on the rise. 

But the new Republican majority has secured some important victories, despite a less than overwhelming election mandate from the voters.  

They were able to get President Biden to finally declare that the COVID-19 emergency is over. They were able to send a strong signal that the liberal criminal justice policies passed by the progressive D.C. city council went too far in comforting the criminals and not far enough in stopping crime.  

Republicans have also largely restored regular order to the Congress, an institution that was badly damaged by an overly partisan Democratic Speaker, and taken steps to restore comity to a chamber that had become dysfunctional over the last four years.  

Now comes the hard part of the legislative process.  

April may be tax season for America’s taxpayers, but for America’s policymakers, it is budget season. The budget process might be hopelessly broken, but from a statutory perspective, this is the month that Congress is supposed to pass a budget and then start the spending process for the upcoming year. 

For House Republicans, passing a fiscally responsible budget will be a lonely and perhaps politically risky proposition. The president’s budget, unveiled last month, was such a joke that the media barely even bothered writing about it. The Senate in all likelihood will not even bother to address the budget, given their tight margins and the reluctance of the majority leader to expose his members to tough votes.  

House Republicans are asking a valid question when it comes to the budget and the soon to-be-breached debt limit: Shouldn’t these two issues somehow be linked? 

For years, it was common practice in the House to increase the debt limit as part of the budget resolution. The so-called Gephardt Rule was the way that Democrats were able to have a debate on the budget and a vote on the debt limit at the same time. It neatly hid the issue from most voters, and shielded members from a naked vote on raising the limit on the national credit card, never a popular thing with discerning voters.  

Republicans, when they took back the House in 1995, decided to do away with the Gephardt Rule; ever since then, the debate has taken on the dimension of the Super Bowl of political footballs every time there is a divided government.  

For McCarthy, this is a great time to highlight certain issues that should resonate with voters.  

Why shouldn’t there be work requirements for able-bodied American citizens who want handouts from the government? We can’t find enough workers in this economy and getting people back to the work is the surest way to solve our budget problems. 

Why shouldn’t we be promoting greater energy security and energy independence as part of the budget discussion? After all, cheap energy will propel the economy, and that will bring more tax revenue into the federal treasury. 

Should we not only stop with the COVID-19 spending spree but claw back unspent money that was initially dedicated to the pandemic but now is not doing anything of productive value? 

And can’t we find some waste in the Pentagon budget labyrinth?  

The only way that Republicans can get the president and the Senate to have a productive discussion on these issues is by using the debt limit as leverage.  

The first hundred days of the new Republican House majority is over. Now attention must turn to budget season and all of the difficult choices that come from charting a path towards fiscal responsibility.  

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.).