Opinion | The Perils of Lame-Duck Fiscal Policy – By The Editors (Bloomberg) / Dec 21, 2022
A last-minute deal suits Democrats and Republicans alike. Voters will be less impressed
With a government shutdown looming, legislators from both parties are applauding each other for reaching agreement on a last-minute something-for-everyone spending bill. They call it an omnibus measure but the term seems too modest. The plan weighs in at 4,155 pages — how many of the people declaring victory have actually read it? — and ranges far beyond budget matters. This now-standard procedure is deliberately unintelligible to voters and a parody of fiscal incompetence. It’s enough to bring bipartisanship into disrepute.
Here’s the good news: It could’ve been worse.
Until the past few days, a more ambitious deal had been taking shape. The idea was to combine business-tax cuts supported by Republicans with a permanent expansion of the child tax credit favored by Democrats. Without big offsetting tax increases or spending cuts, a plan along these lines would have increased public borrowing enormously — something the US can ill afford. It’s good that the deal has avoided this error.
Some other elements are welcome too. The plan incorporates the Senate’s version of the Electoral Count Reform Act, a bipartisan response to the machinations of January 2021 that will make it harder to overturn the results of future presidential elections. Also good (and equally remote from budget policy), the bill bans the use of TikTok on many government-issued devices on national-security grounds.
