Republicans criticize rising U.S. spending, but they come short on solutions | Opinion

“What we’re trying to do right now is deal with massive overspending. We have a spending problem here in America...”- Sen. Bill Hagerty (Feb. 13).

Haggerty supports a Balanced Budget Amendment. So do I, although only a bipartisan bill will ever be passed.

However, despite the above, U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tennessee, has never indicated exactly what major programs must be cut to achieve that goal (not entitlements or the military, per Hagerty). Instead, like every other politician in both parties, Hagerty talks about vaguely cutting “waste, fraud, and abuse”.

Plus, his website fantasizes about Democrats creating a new “government-run health care plan that will cost an estimated $52 trillion and the Green New Deal,” but provides no documentation.

I assume he’s talking about Medicare for All. But that program (supported by relatively few Democrats) would retain private providers, actually lower costs per enrollee and not cost taxpayers at all. In fact, according to a Yale study, it would save us 13%. Nations with it have half our per capita health care expenditures.

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Comparing statements to Biden's State of the Union speech

Hagerty has also said he believes in “low taxes” and “won’t raise taxes." Per Hagerty, taxes should not go up to balance the budget.

He actually wants to further restrain the IRS from collecting taxes, per his “SNOOP” Act. So, when the military and entitlements make up most of the U.S. budget, what does he want to cut to balance the budget?

But, Hagerty is restrained compared to Sen. Mike Lee, who was yelling “liar” at Biden as he presented the State of the Union address. Biden said, "Instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, some Republicans, some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years."

Biden spoke the truth. As fact checkers have stated- “It will be my objective to phase out Social Security, to pull it up by the roots and get rid of it ... Medicaid and Medicare are of the same sort. They need to be pulled up.”, spoken by Sen. Mike Lee, 2010.

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Senator Scott walked away from his plan

A short while back (2022), National Republican Senate Committee chairman Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, came out with his  “11 Point Plan to Rescue America.” How? By having all federal legislation sunset after five years.

In other words, put Medicare and Social Security budgets on the chopping block. If that happened and GOP Congressmen continue to say, “no new taxes”, those programs would be severely cut. And the MAGA crowd know it. That’s exactly why Scott has suddenly, after the fact and under tremendous political pressure from Mitch McConnell, disavowed his own plan. Nothing to see here, voters!

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, said Scott’s plan is “a positive thing” and that he agreed with “most of it” ( ).  He is also heard on tape saying, “put everything (Social Security and Medicare) on budget so we have to consider it if every year,” something he repeated many times. In other words, put Medicare and Social Security through the craziness of the “debt ceiling battle.”

GOP Congressmen, with a few exceptions, rapidly approved paying our debts every year that Trump was in office. But now, Biden is in office and the GOP is saying that they want some sort of deal to vote to pay the US governments existing debt, much of it incurred during the Trump regime when the GOP cut taxes on the wealthy and corporations with no corresponding budget reductions.

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Grandstanding is only for political purposes

Many in the GOP, including the current House leadership and Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, the number two GOP Senate leader, have advocated for Social Security to once again raise the retirement age. However, they do not support raising taxes on billionaires, who currently only pay Social Security taxes on the first $160,200 of their income.

Cost-benefit needs to be employed in deciding which programs to expand and cut. Military spending, for example, is out of control. In the case of Social Security and Medicare, a good case can be made for increasing taxation versus cutting benefits.

But the GOP does not appear to want to understand that there are two aspects to any budget- revenues and expenses. And people who declare themselves to be fiscal conservatives, like Senator Hagerty, must provide specifics on budget cuts and/or additional taxes. That is if they aren’t simply grandstanding to Tennessee voters, solely for political purposes.

Jack Bernard was the first director of health planning for Georgia.As a corporate executive with health care corporations, he did planning and/or cost containment for many hospitals in Tennessee.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Republicans criticize rising spending but come short on solutions