President John F. Kennedy famously said “To govern is to choose.” When you think about it, JFK’s maxim is as good a diagnosis of the dysfunction in Congress as any. Congress today doesn’t choose between projects, priorities, and programs — and that’s the problem. The House and Senate don’t misgovern the United States so much as members of both parties refuse to do the work of governing at all.
Exhibit A, in this case, is the federal budget. The whole purpose of a budget, as any family, business, or nonprofit knows, is to prioritize spending to make sure every dollar returns value. Unfortunately, that’s exactly why Congress in recent years hasn’t even written one. Most of the money the federal government spends is on autopilot via entitlement programs that Congress doesn’t reauthorize at all, despite full knowledge that their current spending trajectory is driving the country into insolvency.
During my time serving in the House and Senate, I wholeheartedly fought for real entitlement reform. I authored legislation for health savings accounts, personal Social Security savings accounts, and worked with Rep. Paul Ryan on Medicare premium support reforms. At the same time, I worked with Sen. Tom Coburn to curb wasteful domestic spending, and together, we led the fight to end pork barrel earmarks.
However, I noticed that many of my Republican and Democrat colleagues would easily join with our calls for entitlement reform, but would cry to the rooftops when we criticized earmarks and failing programs at federal agencies. In fact, these days Congress is almost completely indifferent to the so-called “discretionary” side of federal spending. Every year, it gets reports from inspectors general, whistleblowers, and watchdogs about waste, fraud, and abuse. Every year, Congress increases spending anyway without the structural, quality-control reforms that could save taxpayers’ money and improve government services.
Enter President Trump’s ‘Budget for a Better America.’
In this one document, released earlier this week, the president makes plain the difference between leadership and dysfunction.
‘Budget for a Better America’ does not duck the tough choices. Trump, after all, promised to govern, and he’s keeping that promise.
Unlike Congress, the president’s budget takes America’s $22 trillion national debt seriously, and immediately puts the federal government on a 15-year path to a balanced budget. Over that time, it cuts $2.7 trillion in wasteful spending, including $1.9 trillion in savings from welfare programs, mostly by imposing work requirements on beneficiaries. It may not be as bold as the entitlement reforms I would like, but conservatives have been championing work requirements for decades and these are real efforts to reduce the burden on future generations. Like it or not, Trump is keeping his promise to seniors on Medicare and Social Security. As a result, Trump’s budget would extend the solvency of existing senior entitlement programs by several years each.
It hews to recently passed bipartisan budget caps, even if congressional Democrats are already planning to break them. It supports our troops, keeping the president’s promise to rebuild our military after its reckless degrading during the Obama years.
And, of course, it includes full funding to complete the wall to stop illegal crossings of our southern border.
The path to balance is paved by the Trump economy’s historic growth. Since the president’s election, the economy has already produced more than 5 million new jobs. ‘Budget for a Better America’ doubles down on the president’s pro-growth, pro-worker formula of tax reform, regulatory reform, and spending restraint.
Two years into new presidencies is usually about when The Swamp strikes back. That’s when presidents start to forget their original mandate and start representing Washington values to the public instead of the other way around.
Count this is as just one more way Trump is breaking the mold in the Oval Office.
Not only does this budget reflect the president’s policy priorities, it also reflects his approach as a negotiator and dealmaker. This budget charts a path to prosperity, but also calls on Congress to set aside partisan politics and finally come together to do the work it was elected to do.
Congress’ budget dysfunction is, perversely, probably good politics for the president as he prepares his re-election campaign. He has already proven he can win the White House running against Beltway bumbling. But with this budget, the president is inviting both Congress and the public to engage a serious, long overdue debate over wasteful Washington spending by both parties and negotiation about where we go from here.
Rather than trashing Congress for lying down on the job all these years, with this new budget Trump is trying to lead Congress back to responsibility and accountability. He’s the first president who has ever correctly projected economic growth in both of his first two years in office. For all his unorthodox style, Trump is keeping the promises he made to voters.
It has been decades since Congress made difficult choices, decades since the federal government actually governed. Trump is actually governing, and it’s likely to lead to a battle with Democrats in Congress over spending and debt this year. Republicans should back the president’s call to fiscal sanity, and stand up to the big-spending swamp.
Jim DeMint (@JimDeMint) is chairman of the Conservative Partnership Institute. He’s a former U.S. senator from South Carolina.
