The Resurrection of Big Spending, Pre-Tea Party Republicanism Has Begun

You were lied to about Social Security.

*UPDATED BELOW

Members of the House Freedom Caucus.

It was only a matter of time. When we launched tea party 2.0 our criticisms were initially directed towards Republican spending like Too Big To Fail and other runaway GOP insanity. It later morphed into protests against Obama’s overreaching administration. The so-called “Bush league” Republicanism that excused overextended government for the purpose of advancing Republican platform issues — regardless if those issues were moored in fiscal conservatism or the enumerated powers found in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution — is back.

How dare those lawmakers take those campaign promises seriously, I guess. I replied on X:

DeSantis is the Governor of Florida. He co-founded the House Freedom Caucus during the tea party era, the caucus from which Greene was summarily booted. According to publicly reported information, DeSantis has been busy fighting for property tax relief, saving taxpayer money, and repelling Letitia James-style attacks from Democrats posing as Republicans. He’s not responsible for making Greene lobby for taxes on Social Security or the continual funding of Joe Biden’s Green New Scam.

It’s a reason why they hate Florida’s Governor, though — he stands as a stark contrast to the big spending now championed by Greene and others who campaigned on all of the things that are thoroughly well-funded in the turd sandwich that is the “big beautiful bill.” His existence is a reminder of this to voters and it’s why he’s a target. It’s why all of the fiscal hawks — people like Thomas Massie and others, are also targets. They’re trying to make sure that Republicans in Congress keep Trump’s promises to voters and they’re being attacked for it by the Big Spender Caucus.

The goal was to pass the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” by Memorial Day but whether or not that happens is still unclear. I’m told House members were informed that they aren’t going anywhere this extended Memorial Day weekend without it. There apparently isn’t a clean bill with just DOGE cuts because, per sources, members were told that the White House wasn’t ready to incorporate those yet. Some of the big spending members had no issue with including their special interests or wealth redistribution demands, however.

What does this bill still include? Taxes on Social Security. The minuscule deductions are a shell game and what’s more, it’s not the promise that was made. The problem lies with the Byrd Rule, Problem is the Byrd Rule, created by the 1974 Congressional Budget Act, which apparently prohibits provisions in reconciliation bills that are defined as "extraneous" to budgetary reform, including changes to Social Security. Since the OBBB is being advanced through budget reconciliation to bypass a Senate filibuster and pass with a simple majority (51 votes), any provision altering Social Security, such as eliminating taxes on benefits, would violate this rule and be subject to removal in the Senate. Yes, you were lied to.

What else? Taxes on retired military pay. Also $700-$900 billion of the $1.2 trillion Green New Scam. Nothing for the Second Amendment, like the Hearing Protection Act which frees suppressors from idiotic NFA regulation. It strips states of their sovereignty concerning anything AI. It adds $3.8 trillion in debt. SALT handouts to blue states who refuse to lower their own taxes and expect the rest of us to offset their high-tax, blue state policies.

Consider: The Tax Foundation estimates Texas’s (my state) tax burden at 8.1% of personal income compared to that of California at 12.0%. For lower and middle-income households, the gap narrows due to Texas’s insanely high property and sales taxes. A WalletHub study suggests that middle-income Texans (these are incomes between $35,800–$56,000) pay 9.7% of their income, slightly more than Californians at 8.9% for similar income levels ($39,100–$62,300). Texas’s lack of income tax only benefits us slightly more (around 8–9% vs. 10–12% in California). What’s more, California’s effective overall property tax rate is just 0.75%. Texas’s rate is nearly a full percentage point higher—1.74%. My Congress people aren’t all over media demanding that Texas be relieved by everyone else across the nation of the burden Austin has created — no more than the rest of us should be expected to offset the burden that Albany has created for New York. The 2017 cap at least began the process of forcing blue states to account for their own fiscal mismanagement. This will change it.

Are there some good things in this OBBB? So I’m told by the people who think that vastly lowered expectations and eating the same fecal sandwich every time the budget comes due is an acceptable way of serving voters and governing the republic. I’m used to healing these RINO promises of lowered spending which will surely come, they promise, only after you increase spending and debt now.

This isn’t the GOP’s first recent foray into the wild of swamp spending, either:

They tried including a car registration fee in the bill earlier, too.

Currently, Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing on Freedom Caucus members to pass the OBBB:

They are banking on the idea that pressure from the president will force the Freedom Caucus to vote "yes." They also need to provide a fig leaf for the Freedom Caucus so they can exit these negotiations with a "win."

The response from certain Republicans to the criticism over campaign promise capitulation shouldn't be to attack the actual fiscal conservatives trying to keep all of these other lawmakers honest. That Republicans are once again defending runaway spending that has always, always ballooned into more debt shows their lesson from the “shellacking” they took at the hands go grassroots in 2010 didn’t stick. Seems like we need to do it again.

*UPDATE:

• A significant portion of the Green New Scam was removed, but not all.

• The Hearing Protection Act was included.

• Taxes on Social Security are still included.

• Any cuts, including not ax on tips, child tax credit, etc. has a four-year lifespan so as to artificially lower the cost for the CBO score. It sunsets right as the next general election in 2028 heats up.

I’ll have more on air today.

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