Cutting programs that serve people is no solution to deficit

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The Gazette last week reported that Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio’s 4th Congressional District) will be running for speaker of the U.S. House, and that “Local Republican leaders have stated their support for Jordan” and his “ultra-conservative views.” I was surprised to hear that, but then was relieved to realize that the news article was from the Lima (Ohio) News and was quoting local Republican leaders there — not in Delaware County.

In a letter to his House colleagues, Jordan apparently listed among his goals: making the 2017 tax cuts permanent, and cutting spending “to ensure that we never see $1 trillion deficits.”

But Jordan has a “deficit problem”: Corporate taxes collected by the federal government plunged to historically low levels in the first six months of the year — right after the tax cuts went into effect. The Office of Management and Budget said this month that that it had revised its forecasts from earlier this year to account for nearly $1 trillion of additional debt over the next decade.

So the tax cuts have boomeranged and are already bringing us the $1 trillion deficit that Jordan wants to avoid. Rep. Jordan: show us where you are going to make the spending cuts to close this gap. I suspect I know: primarily, you’ll want to cut the programs that elevate the health and welfare of all Americans.

All Republicans in Congress who passed the tax bill own the problem, too, for giving huge benefits to the corporations and the wealthy, and they too are responsible for finding solutions.

Delaware County voters, when we cast our votes, let’s vote for candidates who promise serious bipartisan discussions of ways to pay for the rising deficit. Cutting programs that serve all the people is the wrong solution.

Marianne Gabel

Delaware

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