Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” adds $2.6 trillion in debt—and exposes just how far Republicans in Washington have strayed from the party of fiscal restraint.
This editorial ran in the Tuesday 17 June 2025 edition of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.
This editorial is aimed at the few Republicans in Moscow-Pullman who still believe deficits matter, because Democrats stopped pretending years ago. Democrats’ strategy is riding the system long enough for them to die before our Weimar moment. In college towns that bleed subsidies, I’m not expecting a standing ovation. But if fiscal sanity matters to anyone reading this, now’s the time to speak up.
Republicans are calling it “One Big Beautiful Bill,” but H.R.-1 is really a bloated budget Frankenstein—stitched together by politicians who tweet like libertarians but vote like lobbyists. The GOP still claims to be the party of fiscal restraint, yet they’re torching another $2.6 trillion while bragging about “cuts.” Trump’s bill expands spending, balloons the debt, and finishes off what little credibility Republicans had on fiscal discipline—driving straight off the fiscal cliff with a grin, and dragging the rest of us with them.
Let’s start with the basics: the U.S. national debt now sits at $37 trillion, and our total unfunded liabilities—Social Security, Medicare, pensions—exceed $104 trillion. Interest on the debt is now over $1 trillion annually, more than the entire $906 billion defense budget. We’re now borrowing money to pay the interest on money we already borrowed; and Congress smiles and spends more. If your kid maxed out five credit cards, then asked for another one to cover the interest payments, you’d cut him off. But Congress? They call it “stimulus” and keep the presses running.
The “Big Beautiful Bill” includes modest cuts to non-defense discretionary programs and welfare reforms, but the bulk of it extends Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, jacks up defense and immigration enforcement by $150 billion, and includes carveouts, gimmicks, and pork-barrel spending that betrays conservative principles. The Congressional Budget Office projects H.R.-1 adding $2.4 to $2.6 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. That isn’t just reckless. It’s generational theft. With Republicans like these, who needs Democrats?
Elon Musk called it a “disgusting abomination.” He’s not wrong. The bill is larded with temporary tax credits with permanent consequences—gimmicks dressed up as reform.
Principled voices within the Republican Party are sounding the alarm. Reps. Thomas Massie and Warren Davidson called the bill a weak compromise that fails to rein in spending. Sens. Rand Paul, Mike Lee, and Rick Scott called it fiscal lunacy. And Sen. Ron Johnson voiced what every taxpayer should be thinking: why pass a bill that raises the debt by trillions when we’re already underwater? These aren’t backbenchers looking to make noise. These are some of the last Republicans who haven’t traded principle for populism.
Sen. Rand Paul nailed it: “I don’t wanna raise the debt ceiling five trillion.” He’d support the bill if the hike was removed—unlike most colleagues, he sees debt as a liability, not a talking point. Paul warned that if Republicans vote for this package, they “own the debt.” They can’t campaign on fiscal responsibility while rubber-stamping trillion-dollar IOUs. And the response from Trump? Not a counterargument—just a threat. Apparently, disagreeing with a spending blowout now means you’re helping the radical left.
Libertarians and fiscal hawks have warned for years that Washington’s addiction to debt and spending is unsustainable. Democrats ran up the tab with Bidenomics, the Green New Deal, and every other trillion-dollar wish list. Now Trump and the GOP are hitting the accelerator. It’s not a red or blue problem. It’s a systemic one.
And what do we get for this new mountain of debt? The same empty promises to balance the budget “someday.”
A real conservative agenda would pursue a balanced budget amendment, line-item veto authority, term limits, hard caps on federal taxation—and, as Rand Paul put it, refuse to raise the debt ceiling by another $5 trillion to pass a bad bill. If Congress were serious about fixing the debt, they’d pass a one-page bill: freeze federal spending at current levels until the budget is balanced. No automatic increases, no backroom carveouts, no excuses. That forces lawmakers to reallocate, set real priorities, and finally reckon with the bloated monster they’ve created.
Instead, Trump’s bill bloats the federal budget under the banner of populist bravado. It’s all theater—dramatic speeches, red-meat rhetoric, and no structural reform. We don’t need another performance. We need restraint, honesty, and the political will to stop stealing from the future to fund the present. H.R.-1 isn’t beautiful. It’s Republican betrayal wrapped in a slogan. If this is what “winning” looks like, maybe it’s time to lose differently. Then voters can tell the difference between a party that spends and one that lies about it.
H.R.-1 isn’t beautiful. It’s Republican betrayal wrapped in a slogan. If this is what “winning” looks like, maybe it’s time to lose differently. Then voters can tell the difference between a party that spends and one that lies about it.