Newt Gingrich: The American People Want a Balanced Budget

Commentary

Making the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law by Independence Day was an amazing achievement. It was proof that a Republican president and a Republican Congress can work together to achieve amazing things.

The law establishes many profound changes and gives Republicans the opportunity to think through the enormous challenge of balancing the budget within the next five to seven years. We know it can be done. In the 1990s, House Republicans led the country to the only four consecutive balanced budgets in the past 100 years.

These balanced budgets were so powerful that then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan estimated the national debt would be paid off by 2009—and said the Federal Reserve was studying how to manage the money supply if there was no debt.

So balancing the budget can be done—because it has been done.

Furthermore, the American people absolutely want a balanced budget. Consider the following wide range of polls and surveys.

A Harvard-Harris Poll in July 2023 found that 80 percent of voters support a balanced budget amendment. This includes support from 83 percent of Republicans, 79 percent of Democrats, and 76 percent of independents.

Americans for Prosperity in 2023 reported similar findings. Eighty percent of voters supported a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget within 10 years.

America’s New Majority Project found in February 2022 that most Americans believe that there is serious waste in the federal government—including fraud in the Medicare and unemployment programs.

“There was little partisan or ethnic difference in perception of the amount of waste in government, with majorities of Democrats (57–26), Independents (53–32), Republicans (63–25), Blacks (61–15), Whites (55–23), and Hispanics (55–23) all saying that if government actually cut out wasteful spending and corruption, that it would be enough to balance the federal budget,” America’s New Majority Project stated.

The poll found that people largely supported spending cuts—if the cuts were the result of better management. America’s New Majority Project also found that most Americans believe Congress should have to always operate under a balanced budget.

“A balanced budget amendment requiring Congress to balance the budget every year has majority support [of] all voting groups. Overall, 70 percent support a balanced budget amendment, with just 13 percent opposed. Democrats (67–16), Independents (70–11), and Republicans (74–11), Blacks (66–14), Hispanics (62–18), and Whites (73–12) all support a balanced budget amendment,” the poll reads.

The reasons were clear: “Support for balancing the budget is driven by a belief that it will force Congress to set priorities, solve the root causes of problems, and that it is something that every family and business must do, therefore Congress should do so as well,” America’s New Majority Project stated.

The Winston Group reported on Feb 10 that the American people instinctively know that ballooning debt and runaway spending will eventually lead to economic turmoil.

Its study found that 72 percent of people believe the statement “If we continue down this path, in the future we will be faced with higher taxes, higher interest rates, and an economy that doesn’t work for working Americans.”

The Winston Group stated that “this was believed by majorities of Republicans (80 percent), independents (75 percent) and Democrats (61 percent).”

However, The Winston Group also found that Americans do not accept tax hikes as inevitable to solve our debt, Social Security, and Medicare problems. Forty-nine percent of people rejected the assertion that “because of the national debt and needing to shore up Social Security and Medicare, we have no choice but to accept that taxes must go up for everyone.” Only 33 percent agreed with the statement.

Fifty percent of Republicans, 52 percent of independents, and 44 percent of Democrats did not agree that tax hikes were inevitable.

The Winston Group reported, “There is serious concern about protecting Social Security and Medicare, but as we heard in the focus groups, our fiscal problems are ‘not the taxpayers’ burden anymore.’”

The Winston Group reported similar results on March 25. In addition to earning similar responses to the above questions, the poll found that 65 percent of Americans believed that preventing tax increases would allow Americans to save and invest their money for their own futures rather than support the federal government. Only 20 percent disagreed.

The support for a balanced budget amendment is potentially overwhelming. A national debate will only increase this support. The federal budget has been balanced before. With the right reforms, it could be balanced again. This would lead to lower interest rates, less inflation, lower taxes, more affordability, and prosperity. It would also produce a more effective federal government that works faster and achieves more with fewer resources.

Our elected officials must follow the will of the people who elected them. Congress must initiate an all-out effort to methodically work to balance the federal budget within the next five to seven years. Now is the time.

From Gingrich360.com

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.