John Thune Asked Point Blank About The Republican Budget Bill Increasing The Deficit

Forbes Breaking News

At a Senate Republican press briefing on Tuesday, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) spoke about the Republican reconciliation bill.

Transcript

00:00Questions for genius? Any of the genius questions?

00:03The Justice Department charged listening

00:07congressmen with assault over the protests

00:09at the ICE facility in New Jersey. How do you square that

00:11when the same administration pardons so many

00:14who assaulted officers on January 6th?

00:16Well, my

00:16nobody, of course, is above the law.

00:20And I have full confidence

00:22that the court system, the judicial

00:23system in this country, will

00:25handle that issue in an appropriate way.

00:28Leader, leader, leader.

00:29Leader Thurman, as you know,

00:31has joined Fitch

00:32and S&P in downgrading

00:35U.S. credit.

00:37And primarily because

00:39they don't have confidence

00:41that this congress can

00:43rein in the national debt.

00:46Is it time for a more realistic

00:47assessment and accounting

00:49of the cost of reconciliation

00:51given that it's going to

00:53increase the deficit

00:55of debt regardless

00:57of how you've scored that

00:59and it's going to add to interest costs

01:02both in the private sector

01:03and for the government?

01:06Well, I think the stated goal,

01:07we just heard from the speaker at lunch,

01:08is to come up with a bill

01:10that doesn't add to the deficit

01:12or the debt.

01:13And so hopefully we will be able

01:15to deliver on that.

01:16But the one thing you have to have

01:17if you want to deal with deficits

01:19and debt is a dynamic economy.

01:20You have to go and have an economy

01:22that's growing and expanding.

01:23And a lot of the tax policies

01:25included in the reconciliation bill

01:27under consideration in the House

01:28that ultimately will come to the Senate

01:30do just that.

01:31They are pro-growth policies

01:34that create greater growth

01:35in the economy,

01:36better paying jobs,

01:37and when people are making money

01:39and taking realizations,

01:40they're paying taxes

01:41and tax revenues go up.

01:42So you need the pro-growth policies,

01:45many of which will be included in there.

01:46But it is a warning shot

01:49that we need to get serious

01:50about spending restraint.

01:52And that's why I think

01:53a lot of our colleagues

01:54have made it very clear

01:55that in order for a bill

01:57to get through the House

01:57and the Senate

01:58and on the President's desk,

01:59it has to make a meaningful dent

02:01in the out-of-control spending

02:04we've seen

02:04over the past several years.

02:06And, you know,

02:07we've just come on off

02:07four years of the Biden administration.

02:09They did two reconciliation bills.

02:10They added $3 trillion in spending

02:12and $3 trillion to the debt.

02:14And we're now trying

02:15to undo some of that damage.

02:16But we have to get this thing

02:18in a place where

02:18we're slowing the rate

02:20of growth in spending

02:21and bending that curve down,

02:23getting growth in the economy.

02:24And before long,

02:25you can start seeing this thing

02:26start to come back into balance.

02:29But it's not going

02:29to happen overnight.

02:31It's going to take courage.

02:33It's going to take

02:34principled leadership

02:35and a willingness

02:37of Republicans, obviously,

02:39because you're not going

02:40to get any help

02:40from Democrats

02:41to do the hard work

02:42when it comes

02:43to reducing spending.

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