“Republicans and Democrats alike have been responsible for increasing the spending, but it’s always Democrats wanting to spend more than the Republicans,” Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said on March 10.
“I don’t think anybody has a very good record for the last decade on this,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said on Sunday when asked about the growing national debt.
The Republican mea culpas on the national debt follow years of demands for spending cuts to reduce the debt, including threats that nearly resulted in the U.S. government defaulting on its debt in 2011. Now, many of those same Republicans have returned to their Obama-era posture of opposing most new spending that would either add to the national debt or that would be financed with tax increases. You can watch examples of how Republican rhetoric on deficit spending has evolved in recent years in the video above.
Now as President Biden pushes a $2 trillion infrastructure and climate plan, most Republicans are balking at the size and scope of the package.
“We think having a debt the size of our economy for the first time since World War II already doesn’t argue for adding $2 trillion more when the country is clearly on the way back,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said last month.
“Do I wish that it was a higher priority for the president to rein in spending and the debt? Yes,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said in an interview with Axios shortly before the 2020 presidential election. “He didn’t run, principally, on reining in spending and the deficit and debt. That’s not what he promised to do.”
Asked moments later if the national debt would again become a priority for Republicans after the 2020 election, Cruz replied, “Oh sure. Sure.”
