Staff Reports
In another chapter of the never-ending saga of Washington politics, Senator Ron Johnson decided to take a stand against a colossal spending bill, despite having just met with the President to possibly work out a compromise. It seems Senator Johnson, the stalwart guardian of fiscal responsibility, isn’t in the mood to rubber-stamp what he sees as excessive and unmanageable spending.
Take a quick look back at history, and you’ll see why Johnson is concerned. Before the pandemic hit, the average annual deficit—what the government overspends each year—stood at about $660 billion. Then COVID came around and, predictably, spending went through the roof, with a whopping $3.1 trillion deficit emerging like an unwelcome party crasher. One would think that after the economy got back on its feet, we’d return to those pre-pandemic spending levels, but that dream seems as elusive as finding a needle in a haystack.
Instead, under President Biden and the ever-industrious Democrats, the deficit now averages around $1.9 trillion annually—triple what we were once accustomed to. The nation is locked in a spree of government indulgence, going from spending $4.4 trillion a year to a staggering $7.3 trillion. It’s like the federal government walked into a candy store with someone else’s credit card and bought the whole stock, leaving taxpayers to pick up the bill.
Senator Johnson expresses his disappointment that we’re treating these ballooning deficits as if they’re the new normal. He’s got history on his side; after all, he ran as a Tea Party candidate back when the national debt was a “mere” $14 trillion. Fast-forward to today, and that debt figure has shot up to $37 trillion. This isn’t just a number game—it’s a looming crisis that risks sending the country’s financial stability over a cliff.
Johnson isn’t buying the rush to cram in every possible fiscal provision under the sun without proper scrutiny. He’s actually asking for the impossible: a thoughtful debate and careful consideration of each component of this jumbo bill, which has more provisions than a dollar store has items. He proposes that perhaps Washington should slow down, take a deep breath, and decide which parts of the bill are genuinely necessary.
Even as some lawmakers are bent on sticking to arbitrary deadlines and keeping their noses to the grindstone without a break, Johnson remains firm. He calls for concentrated efforts to ensure that taxes aren’t hiked up for millions of Americans thanks to a rushed decision. It’s clear that while many in politics have a talent for spending, there are still a few, like Senator Johnson, ready to raise a cautionary flag about the financial realities we’re hurtling toward.
