Spending
Early in the year, The Heritage Foundation called for total base discretionary spending to return to fiscal 2022 levels—a cut from current levels of around $130 billion. Whereas the House Republicans’ Limit, Save, Grow Act hit that mark, the Fiscal Responsibility Act would only cut discretionary spending by $12 billion in fiscal 2024—only 9 percent of what Limit, Save, Grow offered.Under the hood, the bill would cut non-Veterans Affairs, non-defense discretionary spending by $40 billion and get those accounts down, roughly, to fiscal 2022 levels. However, it would spare VA funding and increase defense funding by $28 billion, leaving the total cut at only $12 billion.
Additionally, the bill would rescind only $28 billion in COVID money and $1.4 billion in IRS funds, far short of the roughly $50 billion in COVID and $70 billion in IRS money rescinded under Limit, Save, Grow. Worse, $22 billion of the $28 billion is made available to Democrats to spend through a single fund at the Department of Commerce.
Of note, the enforceable limits in the bill, including those triggered if the annual appropriations bills are not enacted, do not provide funding levels. These are merely caps on funding levels. This does not remove pressure to pass a funding bill to avoid a government shutdown and these limits could be amended in a funding bill. So, while the debt ceiling suspension in the bill is a firm blank check to Biden, the discretionary alterations are a promise, and not set in stone.
Pro-Growth Policies
The Heritage Foundation called for pro-growth policies and the bill delivers a few.The Builder Act permitting and National Environmental Policy Act reforms are very good. However, these pale in comparison to the pro-growth polices in Limit, Save, Grow, and the loss of the REINS Act, failure to incorporate all of H.R. 1, and the failure to repeal the so-called Inflation Reduction Act’s distortionary green tax subsidies are important departures from Limit, Save, Grow.
Student Loan Cancellation
The Fiscal Responsibility Act puts an end to the Biden administration’s unlawful series of pauses of student loan repayment.Since 2020, borrowers of federal student loans have had to pay zero on their loans, no interest has accrued, and the U.S. Department of Education has counted these zero-dollar “payments” toward the number of monthly payments required for other debt cancellation programs. By the end of August 2023, no more extensions of this scheme will be allowed.
—Adam Kissel
Welfare Reform and Work Requirements
A primary feature of the Fiscal Responsibility Act are changes to two of America’s biggest welfare programs, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).—Robert Rector and Jamie Hall
Conclusion
In all, it would seem that Limit, Save, Grow has turned into very limited savings and growth.At a time when American families are suffering from an inflation and interest rate crisis, with real wages falling, we must do better. Our nation is staring down the barrel of an unprecedented fiscal crisis and under the weight of a largely unchecked woke and weaponized federal bureaucracy.
Conservatives around the country have rallied together to give our elected representatives this chance to save our nation. Congressional conservatives should stand by them and demand a bill worthy of their efforts.