{"id":1992868,"date":"2023-08-07T07:05:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T11:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/up-for-debate-trump-desantis-and-2024-gop-hopefuls-stance-on-spending-and-debt\/"},"modified":"2023-08-07T07:07:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T11:07:37","slug":"up-for-debate-trump-desantis-and-2024-gop-hopefuls-stance-on-spending-and-debt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/up-for-debate-trump-desantis-and-2024-gop-hopefuls-stance-on-spending-and-debt\/","title":{"rendered":"Debate: Trump, DeSantis, and 2024 GOP hopefuls&#8217; views on spending and debt."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fup-for-debate-trump-desantis-and-2024-gop-hopefuls-stance-on-spending-and-debt%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1992868&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The First Republican Presidential Debate: Examining Spending \u200dand Debt<\/h2>\n<p>The first Republican presidential debate is fast approaching on August\u2063 23rd, where candidates will hope to close the gap\u200b on former President Donald Trump and separate from the rest of the pack. In \u2063this series, \u2064Up For\u200d Debate, the Washington Examiner will look at a\u200c key issue \u2064or \u2062policy every day up \u2063until debate day, and where key candidates\u2064 stand. Today\u2019s story will examine spending and debt.<\/p>\n<h3>The \u200bEconomy Takes Center Stage<\/h3>\n<p>The economy will be a big topic of conversation during the first debate \u2064of the GOP primary season.<\/p>\n<p>Many of the Republican candidates for president have hit out at President Joe Biden for adding to the \u200cnational debt since being sworn into \u2062office. Notably, Biden and Democrats oversaw a rash of spending \u200dearly on\u2063 in the form of pandemic relief and continued\u200b that with other legislative\u200c packages.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2064country is staring down\u2063 nearly $33 trillion in national debt, \u200da number \u200cthat is only projected to grow in \u2064the coming years and decades.<\/p>\n<p>The \u200cCongressional \u200bBudget Office recently projected public debt \u2062will balloon to 107% of \u2063the\u2064 country\u2019s gross\u200b domestic product by 2029\u2064 and a\u200c whopping 181% by \u20622053. By the \u2062end of this\u200b year, federal debt held by the public will equal 98% of GDP, according to the annual CBO report.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, the CBO projected that the federal budget deficit will rise\u200c to $1.4 trillion in fiscal 2023,\u200c larger than previously\u2064 projected and a reversal of the decline in deficits\u200d over the past few years as pandemic \u2062emergency spending \u200dwound down.<\/p>\n<h3>Donald Trump: A Complex Record on\u200d Spending and Debt<\/h3>\n<p>Former President Donald Trump is a bit of an enigma when it comes\u200b to \u200cspending and debt. A large chunk of the coronavirus stimulus that Republicans have hit\u2062 Biden\u200d for came\u200b while he was in\u2064 office.<\/p>\n<p>The national debt\u2062 rose by nearly $7.8 trillion \u200bwhile Trump was\u200b in office, and the infusion marks the third-largest relative increase of a U.S. presidential administration, according \u2062to \u2063the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.<\/p>\n<p>Trump and his allies are quick \u200bto point out that much \u200cof that came as a result\u2063 of the \u200bpandemic, an\u2063 unprecedented event that upended the\u2062 country in the lead-up to the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the most consequential policy package to come out during\u2064 the Trump presidency was the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The bill\u2062 slashed the corporate tax rate\u2063 to 21% \u2063and initiated a wide range\u2062 of\u200b changes to individual taxes, including lowered tax rates,\u200c a larger\u2064 child tax credit, \u2062and a nearly doubled \u2062standard \u2063deduction.<\/p>\n<p>If the provisions are\u2064 extended in 2025, doing so would\u200c add more than $2.5 trillion to the deficit through 2032, according to the Penn Wharton Budget Model,\u2062 which\u200b uses data sourced\u2064 from the Congressional Budget Office.<\/p>\n<p>The country\u2019s national debt and\u200c spending\u2063 came under renewed scrutiny this year during the\u200c fraught fight over the debt limit. There was dissension within House Speaker Kevin McCarthy\u2019s\u2062 (R-CA) own party as \u200da result of the agreement made with the White House, with some lawmakers bashing the plan as not going far enough to rein in spending and tame the\u2063 deficit.<\/p>\n<p>Although quiet about\u200c the deal and negotiations for some time, Trump was among the candidates who\u2064 expressed misgivings about the plan. During a CNN town hall, the former president also \u200bthought Republicans should go to hard-line tactics, even default,\u200d in\u200c order to exact spending concessions from Democrats.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cI say to the Republicans out there, congressmen, senators, if they don\u2019t give you massive cuts, \u200dyou\u2019re\u2063 going to have to do a default,\u201d Trump said at the \u2063time. \u201cAnd I \u2062don\u2019t\u200b believe they\u2019re going to do a default because I\u200b think \u2063the Democrats will absolutely cave, will\u2064 absolutely cave because you don\u2019t want to have that happen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it\u2019s better than what we\u2019re doing right now\u200c because\u200b we\u2019re spending money like drunken sailors,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Social \u200dSecurity and Medicare, the country\u2019s biggest entitlement\u200b programs, \u200bare major spending items and are\u200b at \u2063times in the crosshairs of economic conservatives. Trump, though, has taken up the mantle of \u200bdefending the programs. He has urged the GOP to leave Medicare and Social Security alone and to back away from any\u2063 plans to \u2063cut the\u2062 popular\u2064 programs.<\/p>\n<h3>Ron \u2064DeSantis: A Conservative Purist on Spending and \u200cDeficits<\/h3>\n<p>Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has \u2064sought to\u2062 paint himself\u200d as a conservative purist on spending and\u2063 deficits, contrasting Trump&#8217;s presidency with his time leading Florida.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe promised to eliminate\u2062 the national \u200ddebt when he \u2062ran for\u2064 president. He added almost $8 trillion,\u201d DeSantis recently said. \u201cIn Florida, we&#8217;ve actually reduced our state debt since I&#8217;ve been governor by almost\u2063 25%.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last month, DeSantis released what\u200d he dubbed the \u201cdeclaration of economic independence,\u201d which is \u2062basically the forward-looking economic agenda for the campaign.\u2063 One of\u200b the points on the fact sheet \u200cfor the plan is \u201cfighting reckless and wasteful federal spending.\u201d\u2064 The campaign also said DeSantis will push to mandate work requirements for welfare programs.<\/p>\n<p>DeSantis was a major critic of the McCarthy-Biden\u200c debt limit agreement. He said that the deal didn\u2019t go far \u2062enough to\u200d solve the country\u2019s \u200cfiscal dilemma.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cOur nation was careening towards \u200bbankruptcy before the debt deal, and it will still be \u2064careening towards bankruptcy after\u200b this debt deal,\u201d\u2064 DeSantis said during a campaign event in Iowa.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Unlike Trump, DeSantis is open to enacting changes to \u200dthe Social Security and Medicare programs, although he has said \u200dthat any changes would not affect seniors. \u200cDuring a recent interview with Fox\u2063 News,\u200c he \u200dsuggested changes to Social Security could affect younger generations.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cTalking about making changes for people in their 30s or 40s so that the program&#8217;s viable, you know, that&#8217;s a much different thing, and that&#8217;s\u200d something that I think that there&#8217;s going to need to be discussions on,\u201d the Florida governor said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Tim Scott: A Fiscal Conservative<\/h3>\n<p>Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) has also\u200d cast himself as a \u200cfiscal conservative. He bashed the pandemic-era spending by the Biden administration as \u2064Trojan-horse legislation that was used to push through a \u201cprogressive wish list\u201d of spending items under the cover of COVID-19\u2064 relief.<\/p>\n<p>Scott, who supports \u200ba <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/republicans-ask-for-spending-cuts-as-congress-prepares-for-debt-ceiling-battle\/\" title=\"Republicans Ask For Spending Cuts As Congress Prepares For Debt Ceiling Battle\">balanced budget amendment<\/a>, was critical of \u2063the debt limit agreement that\u2064 was crafted by McCarthy. He \u2062ended\u2062 up joining \u200c31 \u2063other Senate Republicans (and four liberal Democrats) in voting against it.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe question\u2064 I\u200b asked myself is, \u2018At \u2062the end \u2063of the negotiation, is it in our best\u2063 interest as a nation to \u200ballow Joe Biden, someone we cannot trust on spending, to have an open checkbook,\u200c no limit\u200d on the credit\u200c card until the end of his term?\u2019\u201d Scott said during an Axios event, adding that the answer \u2063was &#8220;no.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Nikki Haley: Getting Spending \u200cUnder Control<\/h3>\n<p>Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki\u2063 Haley, who also served as Trump\u2019s ambassador to the United Nations, \u200dhas\u2064 also emphasized\u200c the need for the federal government to get its spending under control and rein in the deficit.<\/p>\n<p>She has blamed both parties for \u2064spending so much. \u2062Haley isn\u2019t a fan of earmarks, which were revived in 2021, and has attacked them as the \u201cgateway drug to higher spending.\u201d \u2062She has also vowed to veto \u2064any legislation \u2063that doesn\u2019t guide the U.S. back to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-racing-to-pass-appropriations-bills-to-avoid-continuing-resolution-and-shutdown\/\" title=\"House rushing to approve appropriations bills to prevent CR and shutdown.\">pre-pandemic spending levels<\/a> and wants to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/up-for-debate-trump-desantis-and-2024-gop-hopefuls-stance-on-spending-and-debt\/\" title=\"Debate: Trump, DeSantis, and 2024 GOP hopefuls' views on spending and debt.\">claw back federal pandemic funding<\/a> that hasn\u2019t already been spent.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWe need \u2064a president who\u200d will do what no one has done to\u2064 date: Stand up to the big spenders \u2063in both parties,\u201d \u2063Haley said in \u2064a May op-ed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Vivek Ramaswamy: A\u2063 Different Approach to Fiscal\u200b Woes<\/h3>\n<p>Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who rose to\u200d prominence for his vociferous opposition to\u2064 corporate environmental, social, and governance investing, has \u2062pushed for ways to boost GDP\u200d growth, something he\u200b contends will help alleviate some of the country\u2019s fiscal woes.<\/p>\n<p>He proposes \u2062a \u201cthird way\u201d to put the U.S. back on track that isn\u2019t\u2064 the binary between raising taxes, which Democrats generally prefer, and slashing funding like \u2062entitlements, which Republicans generally prefer. He thinks more GDP growth can be unleashed by unlocking increased U.S. \u2062energy production, reforming the Federal Reserve, \u2064and cracking down \u2062on the administrative state.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cUnleash American energy. Put\u200c people back to work. Reform the Fed. Restore a culture of merit,\u201d Ramaswamy said on social media. \u201cIf we grow at 3-4% again, most other problems disappear. I\u2019m\u2062 shooting \u2063for 5%. We can do this.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Other Candidates: Traditional Fiscal Conservatism<\/h3>\n<p>Most of the other Republican presidential candidates, who are largely polling in the single digits, \u200csupport more traditional fiscal conservatism.<\/p>\n<p>Former vice president Mike Pence told\u200b NBC News in May that the Trump \u2062administration \u201ccould have done a better job\u201d at keeping the federal debt down.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Christie, \u2063the\u200d former governor of New Jersey, \u200bhas broken with some\u200d of the other contenders\u2063 in\u200d pushing for entitlement\u200b reform, citing the federal \u2063debt.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWe have to look\u200b at things like means testing for the very wealthy [who] don\u2019t need to get Social Security,\u201d\u200b Christie told CNBC\u200d in June. \u201cAnd secondly, \u2063for \u200cpeople in \u200btheir 30s and 40s we need to consider,\u2062 you know, raising \u2062the retirement age.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/politics\/up-for-debate-spending-and-debt\">CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The upcoming Republican presidential debate on August 23rd aims to narrow the distance between candidates and former President Donald Trump, as well as distinguish themselves from other contenders. Leading up to the event, the Washington Examiner&#8217;s series, Up For Debate, will analyze a crucial issue or policy each day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1992869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1992868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1992868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1992868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1992869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1992868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1992868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1992868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}