Republicans claim they are slashing government, but they're about to explode the budget deficit to extend President Donald Trump's tax cuts—which would balloon interest payments on the national debt, already one of the largest expenses in the federal budget. That's no way to slash the size of government.
They could offset the lost revenue from tax cuts by reducing spending and entitlements, but that would require hard political choices. Instead, Senate Republicans are attempting to resort to budget gimmicks. Pretending the 2017 tax cuts were always going to be extended makes it look like the current proposal has no cost.
That's pure political cowardice. There is an alternative to this mess.
