Republicans' deficit hypocrisy comes home to roost

Have Republicans fully reckoned with the reality that they can no longer cry wolf on the deficit?

An elephant.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

We've undergone a sea change in American politics. Its significance should not be underrated. The Republican Party has, for the foreseeable future, lost all credibility on the issue of federal spending and deficits. It's a rare case of ideological hypocrisy, of practice never conforming to theory, coming home to roost.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that the federal government will this fiscal year spend $2.3 trillion more than it collects in revenue — and that's before President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief proposal is taken into account. CBO estimates further that, in 10 years, we'll reach the highest debt-to-GDP-ratio in U.S. history. By any reasonable measure, that's a lot of red ink. Those kinds of numbers, not long ago, would have alarmed even most Democrats and nonpartisan economists, as well as Republicans.

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Scott Galupo

Scott Galupo is a freelance writer living in Virginia. In addition to The Week, he blogs for U.S. News and reviews live music for The Washington Post. He was formerly a senior contributor to the American Conservative and staff writer for The Washington Times. He was also an aide to Rep. John Boehner. He lives with his wife and two children and writes about politics to support his guitar habit.