Beyond the August Recess

by Newt Gingrich

When Congress recesses for summer, Republican members and senators have an opportunity to really shift the national dialogue about spending, savings, deficits, and taxes. 

This is their first post-One Big Beautiful Bill Act opportunity to bring Americans together around the benefits the new law will deliver. Because Republicans passed the bill, and President Donald J. Trump signed it, Americans will benefit from lower taxes, less waste and fraud in our biggest programs, and a more streamlined government.

Importantly, Republicans should point out that passing the budget bill was a critical step toward a much better future for America. It laid the predicate for reaching a balanced budget – with lower inflation, greater affordability, more jobs, and more secure retirements.

The American people will be eager for this dialogue.

As America’s New Majority Project reported:

“A balanced budget amendment requiring Congress to balance the budget every year has majority support among all voting groups. Overall, 70% support a balanced budget amendment, with just 13% opposed. Democrats (67-16), Independents (70-11), and Republicans (74-11), Blacks (66-14), Hispanics (62-18), and Whites (73-12) all support a balanced budget amendment.”

Simply put: This issue has 70 percent positive support. Republicans should talk about the good things they just did (passing the budget bill) and then join with their constituents in setting a goal to balance the budget in five to seven years.

In the 1990s, we found talking about the need for a balanced budget increased support – and the intensity of support from the public. This is a great opportunity to begin unifying the country on an issue in which two-in-three Democrats agree. There’s an almost 11:1 majority among Republicans. This issue has 5:1 support among African Americans and a 3.5:1 support among Hispanic Americans.

After making certain that Americans know how vital the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was, members should return with a commitment to plan hearings, new legislation, appropriations, and future reconciliation bills within a framework of getting to a balanced budget.

To balance the budget in the 1990s, we did the same thing. We cut taxes and regulations to increase economic growth, seriously reformed expensive systems, and frugally focused on every dollar that came from American families through their taxes. This created the only four balanced budgets in the last century.

Members, senators, their staffs, and committee staffs should study this path. These are principles that work. They are not theoretical. The danger in Washington is that current challenges drive out thinking about what really matters in the long run. Years ago, Sen. Jesse Helms warned me that in Washington, the urgent drives out the important. He said my job was to get up every morning and focus on the important for as long as I could until the urgent forced its way through.

I had a similar conversation with then-Gen. Colin Powell in 1987 when he was President Ronald Reagan’s National Security Adviser. We were in his office in the White House. I knew that as a brilliant Army officer he knew all about planning and thinking through future activities. I naively asked him what his planning system was. He looked at me with a grin, laughed, and said, “Newt, my planning document is the front page of the Washington Post. It decides every morning what I have to focus on.”

Every member of the House and Senate will understand the reality that daily activities drive out strategic thinking and strategic planning.

After years of trying, we discovered in 1994 that the immediate had to be guided by the important or nothing serious could get done. We proved that model with the Contract with America. This led to legislative efforts to balance the budget, reform welfare, telecommunications, and the FDA, and invent Medicare Advantage. (Telecomm reform was fundamental to the development of the internet. Democratic Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee John Dingle said he had tried for 20 years and never thought it would get done.)

With courageous, steady leadership, we will get to a balanced budget with lower taxes, more economic growth, higher take home pay, and more affordability. Prosperity will generate revenues to support Social Security and other vital programs.

The time to start thinking and learning from the American people is the August recess. The time to start doing is Sept.1. It will take cheerful persistence and a lot of calm, steady courage – but it can be done.

We owe it to our children and grandchildren – and to our country’s future – to get our fiscal house in order. Balancing the budget is the key.

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