Civitas board member and conservative author Garland Tucker writes in Real Clear Policy about his concerns regarding so-called limited government conservatives in Congress:
As Republican fundraisers crank up their requests for limited-government conservatives to fund 2018 campaigns, congressional incumbents have a lot to answer for. For one thing, where were they when Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos made her request to reduce the size of government?
As we now know, last year DeVos boldly submitted a $9 billion year-to-year reduction in appropriations for her department. How did the Republican Congress respond? It granted the department a $2.6 billion increase in appropriations, instead of the $9 billion requested cut. With control of both houses of Congress and the presidency — and with a secretary pleading for reduced appropriations — is this the best the GOP can do? If so, loyal Republicans should be asking themselves: “What difference does my vote (or my campaign contribution) make?”
Tucker then reminds readers that the Dep’t of Education was established in 1979, and was immediately the subject of Reagan campaign promises to shut it down. The department never faced imminent shuttering, in fact grew rapidly from a budget of $11.6 billion to $68 billion in 2016. More recently, President Trump floated the idea of shutting down the department (or at least drastically reducing it), something the “conservatives” in Congress want no part of.
Concludes Tucker:
Not only is Congress not prepared to shut down the department, the Republican majority cannot even pass a reduction in DoED spending in compliance with the Secretary’s direct request.
Now, you tell me why limited-government conservatives should feel compelled to support congressional Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.
