But not these days! Now, some don’t even know how to spell “word,” i.e., W O R D as in “Keeping your word” and keeping your promises.
[BREAKING NEWS: Speaker Johnson’s House GOP $14.3 billion Israel aid package, which is coupled with $14.3 billion in cuts to the IRS, could end up adding billions of dollars to the nation’s deficits, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Wednesday.]
Newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson, who keeps reminding us he’s a man of God, seems to have missed God’s message: “It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.” (Ecclesiastes 5:5 NIV).
So here we are. Speaker Mike and other Republicans break their word to add $26 Billion to the debt, which doubles the price of helping Israel. It’s a steep price to pay, but instead of governing, Johnson wants to play political games.
Johnson broke his word on the budget agreement earlier hammered out by Biden, McCarthy, and a small group of deputies. It was a two-year budget deal that would hold spending flat in 2024, except in 2025, to boost defense and veterans spending while capping these increases at 1%. Now, Johnson wants to add $26 B to the national debt to protect the billionaires from having to pay their taxes.
True. McCarthy is no longer the Speaker, but neither side signed off without commitment from their Members. Mike Johnson was part of that deal. Then he announced the first bill he intended to bring to the floor was to give funding to Israel, take away funding for the IRS, and (now we know) add $26 Billion to the national debt.
Oops! Every time the IRS loses funding, its efforts to audit the billionaires are slowed and eliminated. One has to assume that the billionaires already know they’re in trouble for avoiding or lying about their taxes, and they don’t want to pay their fair share. We wonder? Would some of those billionaires be supporters of the Republican majority? The investment in IRS funding is expected to generate revenue to help us work toward balancing the budget.
Senate Democrats have already announced that Johnson’s bill is dead on arrival.