Does Anyone In Washington Really Want to Reduce the Deficit?

Guest Column By Richard A. Viguerie

The annual Capital Hill insider ritual of declaring the President’s budget “dead on arrival” -- while the other Party does nothing to rein-in spending -- has begun.

So, to cut straight to the chase, neither Democrats nor establishment Republican leaders really want to reduce the federal deficit. Otherwise, they would actually vote for -- and pass -- reductions in spending.

While Obama’s budget is a thinly disguised election year sham that will add another $1 trillion to the deficit this year (while claiming $4 trillion in phony deficit reduction over the next ten years), Republicans are little better.

Despite the good intentions of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, the actions of House Republican leaders speak louder than their words. And their actions show there will be no deficit reduction this year.

From the recently announced "deal" to back-off their position to require spending cuts to offset the ill-advised payroll tax cut, to their annual charade over the Medicare “doc fix,” to their knee-jerk opposition to any reductions Pentagon spending -- Republican leaders have already shown they will not make the tough choices, or take the tough election year votes, necessary to reduce spending.

As Wall Street investment guru Porter Stansberry wrote recently, "This year's $3.6 trillion federal budget is 20% larger than the entire 2008 budget. And while our government has grown at a record pace, our economy hasn't. It has hardly grown at all. [emphasis added] Thus, this will be the fourth year in a row we set a record for deficit spending. Never before in peacetime has our government borrowed this much money. And now, it's borrowing record amounts every year."

The thinking that has allowed this situation to continue shows Capital Hill Republican leaders -- particularly in the House -- learned nothing from the Tea Party rebellion that brought them back to majority status in the 2010. They are still operating with the Bush/Hastert/Frist spending mentality, and that spell will never be broken until new leaders, untainted by those old ways of doing things, are elected.

Richard A. Viguerie is the Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com. ConservativeHQ.com is the online news source for conservatives and Tea Partiers committed to bringing small-government constitutional conservatives to power.