Lindsey Graham mocked by conservative for finally caring about the debt now that a Democrat is back in power
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) spent Christmas Day on the golf course with President Donald Trump after vetoing the defense funding bill and indicating he might veto the COVID-19 stimulus package and omnibus spending bill.
After signing off on several pieces of COVID-19 legislation and a massive tax break for corporations and the wealthy, Graham has suddenly discovered that there's a national debt concern. Writing for the Washington Post Friday, conservative George Will mocked Graham for only caring about it now that President-elect Joe Biden is in charge.
"Graham wants finally to 'begin,' as though there has not been, long before and ever since the 2010 Simpson-Bowles commission (the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform), abundant serious thinking and specific proposals for bringing government outlays and revenues closer together," wrote Will. "What Graham wants finally to begin is a 'dialogue,' which is one of Washington's two favorite words (the other is 'conversation') to signal protracted solemnity without politically risky actions."
Will cited The Manhattan Institute's Brian Riedl who explained that the debt isn't being driven by President Donald Trump's hefty defense spending or even the massive GOP tax cut that failed to deliver a stronger economy. In fact, he said, it's a declining GDP. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was around 5.7 percent. Today it's 3.2 percent.
He noted that it has been generations since Republicans cared about deficits and spending, when once the party was known for "small government" and returning funding to the states to spend however they wish. But now Graham is on the case.