A Nuclear Option To Drain The Fiscal Swamp

"Drain the swamp." It was one of President Trump's most powerful messages on the way to victory. Shake up Washington, D.C. Break a few eggs to create a new omelet. Overturn the establishment.

Well, hats off to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for doing some swamp draining when he exercised the "nuclear option" to overturn the filibuster for a Supreme Court justice confirmation. McConnell busted an old 19th-century rule, which was never in the Constitution, and cleared the path for the confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch — who's as good a candidate as can be found. Good for McConnell.

But let's shift our swamp draining focus to fiscal policy. Back in 1974, in the aftermath of Watergate, it was established that House and Senate budget committees would come together to pass a bill with something called "reconciliation instructions." In this way, they would move a product through the committees that would only require 51 votes in the Senate to pass.

The process was allegedly designed to promote fiscal sanity, such as curbing the nation's appetite for debt. Well, that didn't work. Federal debt in public hands was about 23% of gross domestic product back in the mid-1970s. Today it's about 77% of national income. Not much discipline there.

Read the rest from Larry Kudlow HERE.

If you like what you see, please "Like" us on Facebook either here or here. Please follow us on Twitter here.