Supply-Side to the Rescue
How to tackle the debt ceiling and inflation without tanking the economy.
Remember Obama phones?
In actuality, they’re more a free service that other wireless users pay for under the Telecommunications Act of 1996.1 I was reminded of it the other day when my cell provider sent out a message detailing how easy it is to sign up for the Affordable Connectivity Program or ACP. That is, if you’re already on another welfare program.2
It’s called ‘categorical eligibility’ for subsidized internet service if you’re on Medicaid, Section 8, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), National School Lunch Program, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Even if you received a Federal Pell Grant in the current award year.
Of course, recipients may also qualify based on household income…but hey, why bother? It’s all a perfect microcosm for why America is suffering an acute labor shortage under welfare gone wild.
Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan combined with his Inflation Reduction Act made sure Obamacare subsidies don’t fade out until income limits for a family of four are well into six figures.3 This after unemployment benefits spiked along with food stamp (SNAP) recipients just as work-requirements were suspended under $6 trillion worth of COVID relief bills.
Contrast that with our 2018 blueprint when I served on the House Budget Committee. It required able-bodied adults without dependents to do some work for public assistance—including those on the fastest growing entitlement, Medicaid.4 That is now a distant memory. Medicaid spending has ballooned to $734 billion helping to drive a $31.4 trillion federal debt now up against its statutory limit.5
A debt ceiling the Biden administration is intent on raising without any concomitant budget restraint, such as automatic sequestration under the Budget Control Act (BCA) of 2011. Unfortunately, its provisions have been suspended numerous times. In the 115th Congress, the Bipartisan Budget Amendment (BBA) unwisely broke the spending caps and that’s one reason I was proud to vote against it.6