Stop Root Canal Republicanism — the GOP Must Be Growthier

The ‘one big, beautiful bill’ is going to pass the House. Bet on it.

Kent Nishimura/Getty Images
Congressman Jodey Arrington delivers opening remarks during a House Budget Committee meeting on February 13, 2025. Kent Nishimura/Getty Images

That the “one big, beautiful bill” didn’t get through the House Budget Committee today is not the end of the world.

The bill is going to pass the House. Bet on it. Invest on it.

President Trump is returning from his successful Middle Eastern trip and he’s turning up the heat on the budget. Posting on Truth Social, he insisted that “Republicans MUST UNITE behind, ‘THE ONE, BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL!’ Not only does it cut Taxes for ALL Americans, but it will kick millions of Illegal Aliens off of Medicaid to PROTECT it for those who are the ones in real need.”

The package of across-the-board tax cuts, deregulation, and new laws to trim spending will pass and will promote a burst of growth.

Speaking of growth, too many Republicans have forgotten the economic power of growth.

A late, great congressman, Jack Kemp, pointed out that rapid growth would create so much prosperity that the demand for federal spending would go down, while the economy would keep expanding. Think of it as spending over GDP.  

The numerator goes down, while the denominator goes up, and the burden of federal spending on the economy diminishes. Using the same logic, the burden of deficits and debt will come way down over time while the economy goes way up. 

Yet the Congressional Budget Office always assumes the economy can never grow more than 2 percent. 

Supply-siders know otherwise.

Lower taxes create new incentives to work and invest.

Sweeping away regulatory barriers is a boon to businesses and to lower consumer costs.

The White House National Economic Council director, Kevin Hassett, suggested the other night that the passage of the reconciliation bill would boost growth to a Trumpian Golden Age 3 percent or even better from the CBO’s paltry 2 percent.

In round numbers, over 10 years, that growth differential is worth something like $4 trillion.

That’s a major league supply-side growth dividend.

Now, tightening work requirements for Medicaid, food stamps, and other welfare-related programs is very important, and it will yield big budget savings as it did in the middle 1990s, when President Clinton and Speaker Gingrich followed a similar approach to curbing welfare and promoting workfare.

Taking illegal aliens off the government dole is another good idea.

Yet Republicans must not forget the importance of growth. 

From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business Network.


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