Morning Glory: Bravo, House GOP

The budget committee of the House of Representatives just passed a budget resolution Feb. 13. It now heads to the full floor. 

Some GOP "moderates" don’t like it. Some GOP "fiscal hawks" don’t like it. It is, however, the "Sorcerer’s Stone" for the House and Senate Republican caucuses. Failure to pass the budget resolution will be catastrophic for the country and the party, and so anyone voting against it can expect a primary challenge in 2026. If they survive such a challenge in the primary, they will lose significant support in the general. It’s a time for choosing.  

There are enormous stakes involved in this budget resolution. Without such a resolution, passed by both the House and the Senate, no part of the legislative agenda on which President Donald Trump campaigned could advance through the Senate. The critical parts of that campaign agenda are: A huge increase in resources to secure the border, detain immigrants who cross into the country uninvited and to deport dangerous migrants as quickly as possible. A border wall is part of the border package of measures.  

FEDERAL JUDGE SKEPTICAL OF EFFORT TO BLOCK MUSK'S DOGE FROM ACCESSING DATA, FIRING EMPLOYEES

Also on the Trump agenda: An enormous increase in defense spending is also called for and urgently needed, especially for the Navy and its ship procurement and maintenance outlays.  

President Donald Trump has made his priorities on the budget clear to Republicans. Now, it's up to them to carry things through. (AP/Ben Curtis)

Trump also promised to revise and extend the provisions of his 2017 tax cuts. That’s part of the budget resolution that passed last week.  

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION

Finally, measures to unlock America’s vast energy resources are needed as part of the resolution.  

There is play in the joints of the budget resolution as it stands. The Ways and Means Committee of the House, for example, can expand the deficit impact of its proposed tax bill if additional spending cuts are found (say, for example, by reducing the number of federal civilian employees.)  

It is unclear whether additional revenue would be counted in this calculation, and placing federal "sin" taxes on state-sanctioned sales of marijuana and related products, and on online gambling transactions, would raise enormous amounts of revenue. So would a one time "conversion window" of 401K and IRA savings to "Roth IRAs" as a tax rate equal whatever would yield the present discounted value of the federal taxes expected from withdrawals timed over the lifetime of the account holders and their heirs. (There are trillions in the enactment of such a provision as accelerated collections would flow into the Treasury in 2026 if the window opened in 2025.) 

Whatever is in the final tweaked bill, any Republican House member who votes against it is not only doomed at the polls, he or she will be effectively out of electoral politics — forever. And quickly. Much as everyone has to vote their conscience, they ought to do so fully aware that their conscience does not bind the electorates of their districts or of those who would seek to impact the decisions of those voters in those states or districts.  

This is straightforward hardball politics. Oppose a party with a one vote margin and thereby frustrate the entire legislative agenda of a hugely popular president within that party, and the curtain will come down on the career. Nice to have known you as an elected member. Enjoy life as a lobbyist who submarined your party and president. 

Hugh Hewitt is host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show," heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990.  Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM HUGH HEWITT