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Republicans finally control Washington and are licking their chops about what they can achieve: tax cuts, ending regulations, a stronger defense.

But they are strangely silent on a centerpiece of their policy rhetoric during Barack Obama's presidency: federal budget deficits.

QuickTake U.S. Budget Deficit

Consider the dire warnings they sounded before their man made it to the White House on campaign promises of lower taxes and big spending programs. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell liked to say that deficits are so dangerous that tax reform had to be "revenue neutral." House Speaker Paul Ryan trotted out plans to balance the federal budget in 10 years. Texas Senator Ted Cruz thundered that the government, like the ordinary American family, has to stop living on credit.

Here are three predictions to bank on even in today's crazy-quilt political world: 1) If Congress passes a tax reform plan, it not only won't be revenue neutral, it will lose trillions; 2) The budget won't be balanced in 10 years, and 3) The government, like many Americans, will keep using its credit card.

That won't much bother President Donald Trump, the businessman who once crowned himself "king of debt." What turns him on are a bigger, tougher military and lots of infrastructure building -- including wasting money to build a Mexican border wall.

What scares deficit hawks like Maya MacGuineas, who runs the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, is the prospect of a deal to give both Trump and Capitol Hill Republicans whatever they want. In that scenario, House Speaker Paul Ryan would get the huge tax cut he has always craved, with most benefits going to the wealthy, and would agree to take politically unpopular cutbacks in Medicare and Social Security off the table, as candidate Trump promised. Trump would get the money to bulk up the military and build lots of roads, bridges and airports.

To make Ryan's tax cuts permanent without touching the big entitlement programs that drive deficits, Republicans would have to take the axe to other domestic spending.

Robert Greenstein, president of the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, spearheads opposition to reducing spending on the poor and working class. But he has substantive credibility and works with some Republicans. Last week he warned there are "mounting signs" that Republicans are planning "harsher" cuts than they have offered in recent years, slashing as much as $8 trillion of non-defense spending over a decade.

That would take domestic spending, exclusive of Social Security and Medicare, to about half the average under President Ronald Reagan. The impact would fall heavily on the poor.

That would probably antagonize too many voters, though, including some who supported Republicans in 2016. The way to avoid that political trap while giving Ryan and Trump what they want? Let the deficit grow.

The federal budget has declined from a 2009 peak after the financial meltdown, when it soared above a trillion dollars for four consecutive years. The Congressional Budget Office projects that it will start to climb again after next year, and in five years will once again cross the trillion-dollar barrier.

Deficit Decade

U.S. budget deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product

Source: U.S. Treasury

Erskine Bowles, who was chief of staff to President Bill Clinton and later co-chaired a bipartisan deficit reduction panel, warns that if deficits soar and interest rates return to turn-of-the century levels, "Interest-expense alone could amount to a trillion dollars a year." That's money, Bowles has noted, that wouldn't be available to educate kids or make investments, and would necessitate more borrowing from foreign countries like China.

Bowles says the implications of Trump's promises should raise alarms.

He has said he will not touch Social Security or Medicare. He has said he would cut taxes by $3 to $5 trillion over the next decade, increase infrastructure spending by $1 trillion and defense spending by $500 billion.

"While this could increase short-term economic growth," Bowles said, it's a bad long-term plan that "will be placing an extraordinary debt burden on future generations of Americans."

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

To contact the author of this story: Albert R. Hunt at ahunt1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jonathan Landman at jlandman4@bloomberg.net

Read more:
Hey, Republicans. Where's the Deficit Dudgeon? - Bloomberg

Republican members of Congress have made repealing the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, a top priority.

But a lot of people opposed to the laws repeal or worried about what would take its place are mobilizing to make their views known even in some of the countrys most conservative areas.

On Saturday, many of those Americans converged on Republican Rep. Tom McClintocks town hall meeting in Roseville, California, to pressure him not to repeal Obamacare. A man at the meeting received a standing ovation after saying that his wife would die if Obamacare were repealed, because he cannot afford her medication, KQED public radios Katie Orr reported on Twitter.

An opponent of repeal who arrived to confront McClintock claimed the congressman stopped letting people into the theater where the town hall was held, even though there were empty seats.

McClintock, who won re-election in 2016 by more than 25 percentage points, left the event under police escort as at least 100 demonstrators jeered him.

Tea party conservatives opposed to Obamacares enactment packed constituent town halls in the summer of 2009 to lobby lawmakers against the reform law. The activism was credited with making support for the law politically radioactive and helping Republicans take back the House in the 2010 election.

Now, progressive supporters of the law appear to be mimicking the tea party tactic in attempts to stall the repeal process.

MSNBCs Steve Benen has a thorough rundown of confrontations that have taken place and the steps that some Republican House members have taken to avoid them.

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) unsuccessfullytried to keep information about an Obamacare constituent meeting private in January, and Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) simply decided not to show up at two meetings she scheduled last weekend. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) canceled a constituent meeting about Obamacare on Wednesday after he realized one of them had invited a local reporter.

Bill Clark/Getty Images

Other members of Congress have had trouble escaping contentious encounters. Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) had to contend withmultiple interruptions at a mid-January town hall full of Obamacare supporters angry at his responses to questions about repeal. And Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) told several conservative organizations last weekend he was getting hammered at town halls by women opposed to repeal, who he claimed were paid activists.

Faced with some 150 angry constituents, Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) adopted a strategy similar to McClintocks at a meeting in the Denver suburb of Aurora in mid-January. He limited entry to a small number of people and then sneaked out of the building early with a police escort.

See original here:
Congressional Republicans Continue Taking Heat Over Obamacare Repeal - Huffington Post

WASHINGTON When President Barack Obama was blocked by Congress on issues ranging from gun control to immigration, he turned more than once to executive actions to get his way.

In response, congressional Republicans complained that Obama had overstepped his authority ruling by executive fiat instead of working with Congress to set policy. And they cheered when judges reined in some of Obamas orders, such as those dealing with immigration.

But as President Donald Trump starts his administration with his own stream of executive actions, many of his fellow Republicans have been more willing to go along with the way Trump is exercising authority.

There is a certain irony here in that me and others were very acutely aware of the grasping of more and more presidential power by President Obama and exercising it through executive orders, said Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb. President Trumps use of the executive order has also been robust.

Fortenberry said the executive branchs power has been expanding for a century or more, and that many Americans today have the erroneous belief that Congress is supposed to do what the president tells it to do.

Midlands lawmakers object to that idea. They consider the legislative branch to be equal to the executive and dont want presidents to set important policy with only the stroke of a pen rather than a congressional vote.

Still, Fortenberry and several other Nebraska and Iowa members of Congress told The World-Herald that they were willing to give Trump some latitude because some of his executive orders are aimed at rolling back Obamas policies. They said they had not seen him overstep any legal boundaries yet.

Besides, they added, Trump is moving swiftly to implement what he told voters he would do.

Said Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb.: Its not a surprise or it shouldnt be a surprise to anybody.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has praised the president for using executive action to essentially implement legislation she and other Midlands lawmakers sponsored known as Sarahs law. That measure would require immigration officials to hold onto individuals in the country illegally if they are accused of crimes resulting in death or serious injury.

Theres a number of things that youll see the American people are behind, and thats what were trying to promote, Ernst said.

Simply comparing the numbers of executive orders between administrations can be misleading, because those orders can range from relatively minor matters to sweeping initiatives on hot-button topics. And some executive actions arent officially orders but rather are classified as memoranda.

A number of Trumps executive orders have gone beyond merely reversing the actions of his predecessors orders something that often happens when the White House changes hands.

When Trump set out his administrations approach to immigration enforcement, he also penned language cracking down on sanctuary jurisdictions by withholding their federal funds.

Court challenges to that move are expected.

Trump also signed an order calling for expedited approval of pipelines such as the controversial Keystone XL, which Obama had rejected.

Given support for the project in Congress, Trump likely could have waited for bipartisan legislation. Instead, he did it on his own and also made clear his additional condition that the project should use materials made in the United States.

Midlands lawmakers said they plan to keep an eye on Trumps actions. But so far, they seem satisfied that he is coloring inside the lines with his orders.

Its been appropriate, the use that hes had of them so far, Fischer said. Am I watching it? Yeah, Im watching it. I am a proponent of co-equal branches of government, so Im watching it.

Fischer and her GOP colleagues were less happy with Obamas executive actions.

Its the presidents responsibility to abide by the Constitution he swore to protect and defend that means faithfully executing our nations laws, Fischer once said of Obama. Unfortunately, what the American people have seen from this administration is an unprecedented level of government overreach and too many efforts to work around Congress through executive orders.

On gun control, Ernst previously said she opposed Obamas overreaching and unilateral actions and stressed that the American people must have a voice through their elected representatives in Congress.

Former Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., said the process of consolidating power in the executive branch has been going on for years.

While Kerrey backed Obama for president, he said he was unhappy with Obamas use of unilateral action when he couldnt get a measure through Congress. Kerrey said he hopes Republicans will stand up to Trump if he does the same.

Kerrey said Trumps action imposing a hiring freeze is well within the presidents purview. But other actions that Trump has taken go too far, Kerrey said, and Congress risks making itself less and less relevant if it doesnt speak up.

When the president starts to write law which he did with that Keystone executive order Congress needs to object, Kerrey said, because otherwise they might as well just go home.

The legislative process is messy and slow by design, Kerrey said, and its accountable to the people.

I dont know how they could have criticized President Obama for being an imperial president and that was the language they used and not do the same now, he said.

One Senate observer, Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report, suggested Republicans on Capitol Hill might look to judges as a check on Trump rather than fight him directly.

I think congressional Republicans, particularly the leadership, are picking their battles. And the executive orders probably arent among them if there is a good chance that the courts will overturn them or at least stay them, Duffy said.

If courts do rule against some of Trumps orders, she said, then congressional Republicans will have proven the point about presidential overreach under two presidents.

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., was among those Republicans outspoken in criticizing Obamas actions, and hes also speaking against unilateralism by a Republican president.

Sasse opposed Trump in the campaign, and after the November election he penned an essay about the importance of standing up to the executive branch.

Im hopeful that my Democratic colleagues who swallowed their whistles while President Obama expanded the powers of the executive and ran roughshod many times over the Constitution will learn this lesson, he wrote. And Im equally hopeful that my GOP colleagues who rightly decried President Obamas use of unilateral executive power will be equally quick to challenge executive overreach even when its done by a Republican.

In an interview, Sasse noted that there is a difference between questioning whether an executive action is prudent or constitutional.

An example of questioning whether a policy is prudent, Sasse said, would be his criticism of Trumps travel ban on the basis that it was too broad. Sasse said he is sympathetic to the administrations goal of bolstering the vetting process from countries that have significant terrorist activity, but said hes also worried that a broad, clunky approach risks hurting long-term strategy by signaling that the United States is in conflict with all Muslims.

So far, Sasse said, he has no specific objections to Trumps orders on the basis of legality. But he stressed that he and his aides are still studying them to see if they stretch executive power too far.

He recently joined the Senate Judiciary Committee and holds a gavel of an oversight subcommittee of that panel. He said he would use that power to keep an eye on the administration.

People need to be able to ask hard questions of people that are wearing the same party label, he said.

Continued here:
Nebraska, Iowa congressional Republicans think Trump's executive orders have been legal so far - Omaha World-Herald

It took a while for the visitors in the packed committee room to understand the meeting was over and lawmakers were leaving. When they realized it, they started shouting.

"Shame!" the crowd yelled as officials filed out of the room Friday at the Virginia General Assembly Building. Many of the politicians already had left, which meant the House of Delegates election committee staff took most of the heat.

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With elections ahead, Virginia Republicans look to widen General Assembly's power - Richmond.com

The King County prosecutor chose a novel way to show his unease about the Trump presidency. A longtime Republican, he joined the combative ACLU.

Folks are dealing with the roiling political times in different ways. The approach of King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg raised a few eyebrows recently.

After the election, my wife and I went and joined the ACLU! Satterberg told a crowd at a forum on police issues last month.

Satterberg is a Republican. His office was just made nonpartisan by voters in the last election. But he has run as a Republican throughout his career and has donated to GOP candidates, such as Dino Rossi in a run for governor.

Its not completely unheard of to have a Republican join the American Civil Liberties Union. But many in the party have longed viewed it as a progressive front group. Its informal nickname on the right has long been the anti-Christian Liberals Union.

These are not ordinary times, though.

Former Republican state party chairman Chris Vance also says he just signed up for the ACLU. Last weekend, while reading the text of the refugee and Muslim country travel executive order, he said he just couldnt take it anymore.

I went online and joined the ACLU right then, over my morning coffee, Vance says. I did it because they are like the tea party they know how to fight. It looks like they are going to be the main group filing lawsuits against Donald Trump, so Im in.

Prime example: It was the national ACLU that filed the first challenges to Trumps travel restrictions last weekend. The local chapter assisted with the case that resulted Friday in a Seattle judge temporarily halting the order nationwide.

Satterberg and Vance are part of the largest surge in ACLU membership in the local chapters 85-year history. The group had only 18,000 members statewide before the election. As of Friday, that had soared past 50,000.

Fifteen years ago the Washington state chapter had fewer than 10,000 members.

Two Republicans signing up hardly qualifies as a trend (journalism rules say you need three for that!). But it could be a glimmer of a notion that some of the needed checks and balances on the Trump administration might, eventually, come from within the GOP.

Satterberg said at the forum, held in January, that he joined out of concern the new administration might seek to roll back a number of local justice efforts. Included were reform of police use-of-force practices in Seattle, and alternative approaches to drug enforcement both initiatives pushed hard by the ACLU.

My hope is that on those issues of local concern, that the White House just leaves us alone, Satterberg said.

The ACLU was thrilled to learn of Satterberg joining, though it could be an uneasy relationship. The group periodically sues King County in First Amendment cases. The ACLU also has aided defendants in misconduct cases against King County prosecutors.

An ACLU spokesman said the group has no figures on the party affiliations of its new members. He said its a myth the group is solely liberal anyway.

Our client is the Bill of Rights, said Doug Honig. Many of our stances are neither right nor left per se, so that helps in Republicans becoming members.

Vance, who is one of the few Never Trump Republicans who have remained vocal since the election, said Satterberg is a classic moderate Republican the very type who might be troubled by Trumps norms-smashing overreach.

Satterberg just cares about the law and the Constitution and making it work in the criminal justice system, said Vance, who used to be on the Metropolitan King County Council. He should be worried about Trump.

It will be interesting to see if any broader Trump concern spreads in the GOP. Despite Fridays court victory in the travel-ban case, Trump skeptics have very little political clout in the national government. It will be difficult to check or mitigate his more extreme actions without some healthy skepticism also coming from within his own party.

Republicans dont have to go so far as to join the anti-Christian Liberals Union. Though if they want to, its never been more open for business.

The rest is here:
Trump drives two prominent state Republicans to the ACLU - The Seattle Times