House GOP Rants Its Way Past Fiscal Problem
Defunding ObamaCare — for all the Tea Party hyperventilating — would not yield much savings. Next year, according to the Congressional Budget Office, it will amount to about 1.3% of federal spending. As it ramps up fully, it will grow to about 3.3%.
That’s a pretty small sliver of government to justify sacrificing the financial credibility of the United States.
What’s more, because defunding ObamaCare would also defund the offices that collect the taxes that more than pay for it, the action would actually increase the deficit.
The latest Republican approach, unveiled Thursday, is equal parts bizarre and troubling. It demands — through threats of unleashing terrific economic harm — the accomplishments that the GOP has been unable to achieve through the normal process because it has fared poorly in three of the past four elections.
It also represents a missed opportunity. Though the debt limit should never be used as a bargaining chip, the budget year that comes to an end Monday night offers a prime opportunity to negotiate deficit reduction.
In the first two years after regaining the majority in the House of Representatives in 2010, Republicans sought to brand themselves as the party of fiscal discipline, with Speaker John Boehner and others negotiating deals around fiscal and calendar year deadlines.