House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's debt ceiling increase plan that passed in a party-line vote this past week isn't perfect, but its cuts make it a "major step in the right direction," Rep. Bob Good said on Newsmax on Saturday.
"I would ask any of the critics to tell me when Congress — Republicans or Democrats — have done something this historic to truly cut spending," the Virginia Republican said on Newsmax's "America Right Now." "You can't fix it all, unfortunately, in year one. But this is major reform."
The bill not only includes rescinding President Joe Biden's "student loan transfer scheme," but it also cancels the IRS expansion approved in last year's Inflation Reduction Act and rescinds "hundreds of billions of dollars of green climate, environmental extremist policies," said Good.
All of the cuts are major, he added, but "it's not the end. We've got to attack it further with more precision cuts in the appropriations process this fall, and then we got to use the leverage of the election next year to even cut more when the debt limit may be reached again."
But meanwhile, the current bill is "historic." No congressional bill has "cut to this level in the history of the country," said Good, as it includes "$5 trillion, nearly, in long-term spending cuts and about $1 trillion upfront in year-one spending cuts."
The bill also takes spending back to "pre-COVID" levels, he pointed out.
"Most Americans recognize that the budget that was pre-COVID was the largest in the history of the country," Good added. "[With] $32 trillion national debt, [we] shouldn't be borrowing and spending recklessly like we've been doing under this administration."
There was $10 trillion in new spending in the first two years of President Joe Biden's administration, he said.
The legislation also will reinstate work requirements for welfare recipients, "which will help reignite our economy and save tens of billions of dollars more," the congressman said.
Meanwhile, Democrats are "going back to their tired old playbook," while trying to scare Americans about the cuts proposed in the Republican-backed legislation.
"This is a fiscally responsible, reasonable plan," said Good. "None of us on the Republican side want to raise the debt limit 1 cent, but this puts us on a path toward financial stability and fiscal responsibility."
Democrats, he continued, can't defend the spending that the Republicans want to rescind in their plan.
The debt ceiling plan also includes the REINS Act, which will require a vote from Congress on every major spending plan from the Biden administration's agencies, said Good.
"It reignites our energy independence again, with our HR-1 bill that will bring back affordable, reliable American energy; so this is a good plan," said Good. "Eighty percent of Americans want spending cuts in return for raising the debt limit. Republicans who are showing leadership in the Senate need to take it up — our allies in the Senate — to block any piece of legislation on the Senate floor until they pass this bill."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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