Washington Examiner Op-Ed: Why I Will Vote Against the Republican Budget

The Republican budget voted out of committee this week purports to spend $4.6 trillion in fiscal 2025, which ends Sept. 30. If accurate, the budget passed by Senate Republicans would appear to be about $800 billion less than last year. Should we celebrate?

Before anyone pops a cork of champagne, we should remember that the federal government is already nearly halfway through fiscal 2025, and the Congressional Budget Office projects that on-budget spending will be $5.6 trillion. That’s $1 trillion more than the Senate Republican budget!

So which scenario is true? Will the Republican budget cut nearly $800 billion or increase spending by nearly $1 trillion? Sorry to say, but the Republican budget numbers for 2025 are mythical and do not represent any semblance of reality.

Congress has already spent nearly five months’ worth of 2025 spending, and we are on target to spend $5.6 trillion before we add in another possible $300 billion for California wildfires.

The deficit was projected to be slightly less than $2 trillion with interest running about $1 trillion a year. Add in the $325 billion for the military-border bill and the $300 billion California wildfire bill, and the deficit this year will likely be north of $2 trillion.

I’m not for that. I’m a limited-government, constitutional conservative who believes we should just spend what comes in via revenue.

Across the land, people are outraged by left-wing U.S. Agency for International Development spending. Our foreign aid funds such craziness as sex-change surgery in Guatemala; a diversity, equity, and inclusion musical in Ireland; and a transgender opera in Colombia. Yet, I see no reason to believe the spending bill Republicans will propose in March will cut one penny from foreign aid. In fact, the foreign aid dollars for the next fiscal year are targeted to rise.

How can it be that the people voted for fiscal sanity and will wind up with a $2.2 trillion deficit? The Department of Government Efficiency and its leader, Elon Musk, have done an amazing job in publicizing the waste I have diligently compiled year after year. I commend them for, at least temporarily, shuttering USAID. But ultimately, Congress will need to take the difficult votes to cut foreign aid spending.

Instead, right out of the gate, Senate Republicans will pass a budget that is a fiction from the get-go. While the budget will say the federal government will spend $4.6 trillion, the government will, in reality, spend $5.6 trillion, plus several hundred billion dollars more for California wildfires. How can people trust the government if its budget numbers are not real?

I have a better idea. Let’s pass my “Six Penny Plan” budget, which cuts spending by 6% each year for the next five years and leads to a balanced budget. For now, unless Republicans produce a budget with accurate spending totals, count me a no.

You can read the full Op-Ed HERE.