I try not to remark on federal issues, as I know my voice is limited and nothing I say will change anything at all in the Swamp.
That said, I’m still going to take a second to explain why I cannot get on board with Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill.
Let’s get something out of the way first. Trump loyalists have accused me of wanting his tax cuts to expire because I don’t support the omnibus package. Others have said I support illegal immigrants for, uh, reasons to be explained later, I guess.
Can we be smarter and more articulate than this? The bill contains a ton of stuff — and probably some things we don’t know about yet. We can like certain elements and despise others.
To be clear, I support and want to keep the Trump tax cuts. I like that the bill adds work requirements for some government healthcare recipients. I love no tax on tips or overtime (I dreamed of that when I worked as an overnight rent-a-cop in Coeur d’Alene during college).
Those are all good things.
But I cannot support the bill because it will add trillions to our massive national debt. Some estimates suggest the measure would add upwards of $3.3 trillion to the national debt.
Some in Idaho’s political sphere are fine ignoring the hard truth about the debt this bill would add. I am not. I happen to think that the national debt is one of our biggest threats to national security and our way of life.
Trump supporters will claim their leader’s economic growth will allow the country to pay down the national debt.
Uh huh. Right. With passage of the bill, the debt is all but guaranteed, while the economic gains and debt paydown are completely imagined. And when someone points this out in a few years — when the paydown never comes — it will be too late.
It’s the same game D.C. has been playing for decades, and I’m tired of it.
Elon Musk is right. Thomas Massie is right. Rand Paul is right. Ron Paul is right.
This bill ain’t it. If Trump is the 456D chess-playing wizard his loyalists tell me he is, he can get his tax cuts and other priorities through without the massive new debt load.