Washington budget watchers couldn’t be blamed for banking on lawmakers riding to the rescue in the lame-duck session and blocking over $100 billion in spending cuts from kicking in just after the holiday season, since Congress has never allowed such austerity to happen before.
But if Republicans retake the House in the midterms as many expect, this time could be different as the GOP looks to make its mark on fiscal policy.
Some argue Democrats will only have themselves to blame for the 2010 pay-as-you-go law’s budget ax by passing big, partisan spending bills, mainly the $1.9 trillion 2021 pandemic relief law. As the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Matthew Dickerson wrote recently, “Congress can do nothing at all” and end up “reducing inflationary government spending by more than $100 billion.”
