It’s certain that the Tea Party was ecstatic over rescinding $1.1 billion allocated to public broadcasting, even though it was but pocket change in the Federal budget.
But where was the Tea Party — so active during the Obama administration — when a deficit of $3.3 trillion was budgeted, increasing the national debt to its highest since WW2, by deciding to:
Spend $51 billion for a southern border wall ($45 billion) with surveillance technology ($6 billion) when enhanced surveillance technology alone would do the do as well or better without the physical wall and at much lower cost.
Spend $113 billion for immigration enforcement and deportation, more than doubling ICE’s annual budget, apparently dedicated to (the often cited number of) 21 million “illegal” (undocumented) immigrants, most of whom are law-abiding taxpayers (20.8 million based on commentary by the Heritage Foundation’s president Kevin Roberts ).
Lose $200 billion or more in revenue over ten years by deporting over 20 million immigrants who have no felony convictions but are paying income tax and contributing to Social Security (if they have — as they should have been — issued cards when released into the country).
Lose $5 trillion in tax revenue and borrowing costs in the same period by extending tax cuts that were legislated as temporary in the name of fiscal prudence. (Note: “Trickle down economics” didn’t work for Ronald Reagan, G.W.Bush, or Donald Trump in his first term, so there’s no reason to believe it would work now.)
Joel Derby
Everett
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