Dan Bishop: We got nothing out of debt ceiling bill; Newt Gingrich: guess again

Apparently, North Carolina's Dan Bishop hasn't figured out that big problems aren't solve in a single piece of legislation. When I wrote this article about Bishop's complaining about the bill, I highlighted the fact that Bishop was upset that "Republicans were congratulating McCarthy for getting almost zippo" in the debt deal. Newt Gingrich's op-ed highlights how Bishop's views are out-of-touch with reality.

As with most of his writings, Gingrich highlights a lengthy list of things Republicans should be thankful for:

1. It cuts spending year-over-year, including a rollback of nondefense discretionary spending to FY22 levels – while fully funding the Veterans Administration’s medical programs.
2. It limits topline federal spending to 1% annual growth for the next six years – a huge cut from the Biden budget proposal.
3. It will help lift millions out of poverty by enacting work requirements for food stamps and welfare benefits. The 1996 welfare reform bill made virtually the same changes. This will mean more Americans will be working and paying taxes, and fewer Americans will depend on the government. This has big, long-term government and human benefits.
4. It claws back tens of billions in unspent COVID-19 funds, including $400 million from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s "Global Health Fund" that would have sent taxpayer money to China.
5. Billions more will be cut other programs, making this the largest total rescissions package in history.
6. The deal puts in place the first-ever statutory administrative pay-as-you-go rule to hold President Biden accountable for the full cost of executive rules and regulations. This should save taxpayers trillions of dollars.
7. It cuts red tape and streamlines important infrastructure and energy projects – and cuts costs with the first significant reform to environmental policy since 1982.
8. It slashes funding for Biden’s new IRS agents and eliminates the total fiscal year 2023 staffing funding request for new agents.
9. It restarts student loan repayments and requires borrowers to be responsible for paying off their student loan debts, saving taxpayers an estimated $5 billion per month.
10. It has a bold requirement to "Make Congress Work Again" by compelling a functioning appropriations process and imposing a temporary 99% continuing resolution level cap until all 12 appropriations bills are passed and become law.
11. It protects senior citizens, veterans and our national security by fully funding critical veterans’ programs and defense priorities, while preserving Social Security and Medicare.
12. It blocks Democrat demands for new taxes and reject all $5 trillion of Biden’s proposed tax increases.

This interview shouldn't be overlooked:

The line that jumps out at me from Rep. Mast, (R-FL), is when he says "There are advances forward. There is conservative policy. It's good things. I can't say that I've read anything negative in it whatsoever. The calculation, I think, for everybody is 'is this enough.?'" The key thing to remind people of is that this is just the first bite at the Swamp's apple. The next bite comes pretty quickly. Speaker Gingrich reminds us of this:

It will be followed in the near future by a second step when Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, unveils a 10-year plan for a balanced budget. Then the stage will be set for a series of appropriations fights this fall which will be shaped by the various investigations into corruption, criminal behavior and incompetence.

It's worth noting that this proposed bill contains a 1% spending cut penalty if the Senate decides it won't pass the 12 appropriations bills. A loyal reader of this blog posed a worthwhile question. "What if the Senate passed the required 12 appropriations bills, then stuffed their pork into an omnibus bill?," he asked. At that point, the GOP House has the option of not taking up the 'Porkulus Bill." At that point, the bill dies.

Another variation of this trick is them passing 11 of the 12 appropriations bills, then use that high-leverage bill to extract the pork the Swamp wants. That's covered, too, by the bill. What isn't dealt with by the appropriations bills automatically gets put into a CR, thereby avoiding a government shutdown. That CR provision is subtle but huge because it incentivizes the Senate to get their work done. If they don't, there will be a 1% cut in spending. That's the law.

Hats off to Garret Graves and Patrick McHenry for negotiating such a good, conservative bill. Congratulations to Freedom Caucus members like Chip Roy for holding Speaker McCarthy's feet to the fire. Most importantly, congratulations to Speaker McCarthy for 'herding the cats' and passing the Limit, Save, Grow Act. Once that passed, the lights went out in the White House. It's just that simple.

This is worth learning from:

I learned a lot working with President Reagan. He always said if you can get a 70% or 80% deal, you take it and come back for more.

It's difficult to argue with the best GOP president since Lincoln.