Republicans were taking heat this week from Democrats for introducing a budget resolution that envisions a growing budget deficit and a $9 trillion increase in the national debt over the next decade.
But Republicans say they haven’t given up fiscal responsibility, and say their next budget plan will reflect the GOP priority of reducing the budget deficit.
The reason for the rising debt has to do with why it was introduced: to set up the repeal of Obamacare. Republicans need to use the process of budget reconciliation to pass legislation repealing Obamacare in the Senate. Under that process, legislation called for under a budget resolution can be passed in the Senate with a simple majority vote, instead of the usual 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster.
To get there, the budget resolution proposed on Tuesday that uses a current law baseline. That baseline sees rising budget deficits over the next decade, a far cry from the balanced budget that Republicans have been seeking for the last several years.
But Republicans made it clear in a summary of the resolution that these aren’t the real budget numbers they’ll be pursuing in the months ahead.
“Following the Obamacare repeal legislation, Congress will then begin its work on a fiscal year 2018 budget resolution, which will include broader policy reforms and a comprehensive plan to achieve long-term fiscal sustainability,” the summary said.
Many Republicans by now have accepted the idea that it’s time for Congress to accept fiscal responsibility. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., for example, said this week he won’t be able to accept any budget resolution that doesn’t call for a balanced budget.
The Obamacare budget resolution was introduced Tuesday, as the national debt was closing in on $20 trillion.
This story was updated to explain the rising debt and deficit numbers in the GOP’s budget resolution
