OPINION:
On Aug. 5, 1997, President Clinton and the Republican-controlled Congress, led by House Speaker Newt Gingrich, enacted the Balanced Budget Act. This bipartisan agreement aimed to balance the federal budget by 2002.
Most of the credit goes to Mr. Gingrich because Mr. Clinton had vetoed previous Republican proposals for reducing the debt. The deal resulted in four consecutive years of budget surpluses, a rarity. The big spending addicts returned, and so has the debt, now more than $37 trillion.
Democrats hope the current government shutdown will be blamed on Republicans, as in the past. Perhaps it’s time to bring back Messrs. Clinton and Gingrich to work their previous magic. As with President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, Mr. Gingrich exposed large amounts of wasteful and unnecessary spending.
In an email, Mr. Gingrich tells me he visited Capitol Hill last month and gave budget committee staff of the House and Senate a “workbook” detailing how to balance the budget and pay down the national debt.
As for necessary public support, which he says is crucial, Mr. Gingrich believes voters must be convinced that debt reduction is a necessity. He references a 2014 Gallup poll that found respondents believed the government wastes 51 cents of every dollar it spends. A 2025 YouGov/Cato found that number had increased to 59 cents per dollar. America’s New Majority Project reported last month that 69% of voters support a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to balance the budget.
“A major part of any serious balanced budget-debt repayment program,” writes Mr. Gingrich, “must include hearings and reports highlighting waste, fraud, inefficiency, and ineffectiveness. The theme must be that a modernized, effective government would deliver better results for the American people at a much lower cost. This theme is especially important in health and health care, which must be improved dramatically if the budget is ever to be balanced. Health care is 18% of the GDP and the largest expense of the federal government. It costs $1.7 trillion versus $910 billion for defense. More than 27% of all federal spending is focused on health care.”
Messaging is key, he says, and many messages should be tried until the right one is found. Among them might be President Reagan’s line: “We don’t have deficits because people are taxed too little. We have deficits because big government spends too much.”
Mr. Gingrich says, “Government spending went up 58% from FY 2019 to FY 2025 while the population only went up 3%.”
The former speaker proposes three steps: “First, there must be a concerted communications effort to, in [Margaret] Thatcher’s language, ‘win the argument and then win the vote.’ One possible future means economic decay, fiscal bankruptcy and massive tax transfers from working Americans to foreign bond holders. The effect of that decaying future on the economy, American society and our national security must be driven deeply into the collective mindset. It is simply irresponsible and destructive to allow the current wasteful, self-indulgent and selfish system to continue.
“Second, there must be a broad coalition that sustains this vision for years. The American system, and especially the American news media, has a powerful commitment to having the urgent drive out the important. Elected officials alone do not have the time or communications weight to sustain such a big strategic goal over time. Many people and institutions must be committed to saving America by re-establishing fiscal stability. They must return to this commitment daily, without regard to headlines that seek to distract from the vital long-term goal.
“Third, elected officials, congressional staff and the Executive Branch must commit to be the team that saves America from bankruptcy and economic collapse. If one-third of the Republicans in Congress and the Executive are seriously, constantly focused on balancing the budget and paying off debt, their party and institutions will follow. They must be prideful and militant about doing something historic. The dramatically better future will be worth the time, conflict and frustrations.”
There’s much more in the Gingrich “workbook.” Reducing debt and balancing the budget can again be achieved. All that is necessary is the will.
• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (Humanix Books).
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