Most Republicans are mad at Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., right now for saying that President Trump’s behavior during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation rose to the level of an impeachable offense.
I can understand their anger. I believe the entire “Russiagate” fiasco has been more about partisan conspiracy theories than truth-seeking. I don’t even necessarily agree with Amash’s conclusion, and as a libertarian, I almost always agree with him.
But this column is not about that.
When it comes to government spending — a defining issue for conservatives from Sen. Barry Goldwater through the Ronald Reagan administration until the Tea Party a few years ago — Amash is the top fiscal conservative in Washington, bar none.
Not a single member of Congress has voted for cutting spending more than Amash. We know this thanks to the ingenious tool SpendingTracker.org, created by the bipartisan watchdog group Coalition to Reduce Spending, the only Washington-based organization to my knowledge dedicated solely to cutting government spending.
I noted in January that by collecting “legislative spending records dating back to 2009,” SpendingTracker.org had amassed “the largest such database of spending records in existence.”
When using this method to measure the career of each member of Congress in its entirety, the least responsible for reckless spending overall is Amash, who “voted to cut spending by roughly $165 billion in the most recent Congress.” That’s impressive. Heroic, even.
Who else was good on fiscal responsibility? Fellow libertarian-Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky almost tied Amash. The only two members of the Senate who actually cut spending were Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Mike Lee, R-Utah.
You can also add former Reps. Raúl Labrador, R-Idaho, and John Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., and current Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., to this list.
But that’s it. No other members of Congress cut spending besides these seven.
Now, the entire list of members of Congress who voted to cut overall spending in 2018: @justinamash @RepThomasMassie @SenMikeLee @RandPaul @RepJohnDuncanJr @Raul_Labrador @RepMGriffith Really wish I couldn’t fit them all in one tweet. #FollowThem https://t.co/qM6LLPriyJ
— Stu Burguiere (@WorldOfStu) January 24, 2019
So basically, after Amash, the only Republicans worth a damn on fiscal responsibility are his libertarian friends.
The fact Amash is such a thorough fiscal conservative might not matter to many Republicans irritated with him right now, but it should count for something. Our $22 trillion national debt is guaranteed to have a much bigger effect on America’s future than this moment of partisan bickering about Trump and impeachment, something unlikely to happen. This controversy will be a distant memory soon, as is usually the case in politics, but our debt will remain.
As many conservatives continue to say Amash is no different from Democrats, it’s worth remembering that most Republicans, with the exception of Amash, are no different from Democrats when it comes to the paramount issue of spending.
Not to mention, Amash’s conservative bona fides in rankings besides the one cited here puts most Republicans to shame.
They’re gonna have trouble with “Justin Amash isn’t really a Republican anyway” https://t.co/uHqjxBOkTg pic.twitter.com/K90m2G3zQ9
— Julian Sanchez (@normative) May 19, 2019
If we’re ever going to actually do something about spending, we’ll need a lot more people such as Amash in Washington and fewer of the big-government types who make up the rest of his party.
Our national debt is the highest it’s ever been in history, with the current president being a primary culprit.
So after you’re done hating on Amash, maybe take a moment to get mad about government spending too.
Jack Hunter (@jackhunter74) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner‘s Beltway Confidential blog. He is the former political editor of Rare.us and co-authored the 2011 book The Tea Party Goes to Washington with Sen. Rand Paul.
