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To view this on the COS website, click here [[https://conventionofstates.com/news/fiscal-responsibility-crunching-the-numbers|fiscal-responsibility-crunching-the-numbers]]


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====== Fiscal responsibility: Crunching the numbers ======


Are Republicans really more fiscally conservative?


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|“Fiscal responsibility” tends to run in politically expedient cycles. \\ \\ It usually goes something like this: the party in power spends and spends and spends to its heart’s content.\\ \\ They have an agenda and legislative priorities to accomplish. They have random pet projects to fund. That takes money. And so they spend. \\ \\ Then, the next party takes charge. They also spend, which causes the previous party to suddenly care quite deeply about fiscal responsibility. They start talking about deficit spending, the federal debt, and the misappropriation of taxpayer money. This continues until they’re back in power, at which point they conveniently forget about fiscal responsibility and start spending again.\\ \\ I exaggerate, of course. But only slightly. My primary contention is that, for the most part, people in Washington don’t actually care about fiscal responsibility. They care about accomplishing their goals and blocking the other party from accomplishing theirs. Grievous though it is to hear, endless federal speechmaking about fiscal responsibility is, in other words, a smokescreen. They want the best of both worlds. They want to send a check to every one of their favorite causes and assuage your fears about America’s debt clock. \\ \\ But the American people deserve — and demand — better than that.\\ \\ Check out the following chart from 2023:\\ \\ {{https://content.conventionofstates.com/cosaction-prod/public/content/images/96269/96269_original.png?448x622}}\\ [[https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2023/02/06/economy-remains-the-publics-top-policy-priority-covid-19-concerns-decline-again/pp_2023-02-06_political-priorities_00-01-png/|//Source: Pew Resource Center\\ \\ //]]Notice the sixth highest item on the list: 57% of Americans wanted the president and Congress to //prioritize// addressing the budget deficit. Amazingly, that number increased by 12% between 2022 and 2023.\\ \\ Concern over the national debt and deficit spending continued to skyrocket in the lead-up to last year’s presidential election. Six days before Election Day, the Peterson Foundation, assisted by the Democratic firm Global Strategy Group and Republican firm North Star Opinion Research, [[https://www.pgpf.org/press/2024-4-fci-press-release/|discovered]] that 95% of Democrats and 97% of Republicans hoped for candidates to reduce “deficits to help lower interest rates and control inflation”; 90% of Democrats and 96% of Republicans believed it was important to elect candidates who would address the national debt; and 95% from both parties called for dealing with the debt ceiling.  \\ \\ Voters on both sides of the aisle want fiscal responsibility. But is either party willing to give it? Some may answer that conservatives have. But is this actually true? The following chart from 2020 examines how presidents on both sides of the aisle have contributed to the national debt. It’s a bad look for Republicans and Democrats alike.\\ \\ {{https://content.conventionofstates.com/cosaction-prod/public/content/images/96270/96270_original.jpg?562x292}}\\ [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikepatton/2020/08/14/national-debt-to-surpass-78-trillion-by-2028-what-it-means-for-americans/#d9046675ddf9|//Source: Forbes//\\ \\ ]]As you can see, the debt has grown under every president for over 40 years. But not even that is the worst of it. Although we often think of the GOP as the “fiscally conservative” party, the data tells a very different story.\\ \\ {{https://content.conventionofstates.com/cosaction-prod/public/content/images/96271/96271_original.jpg?562x291}}\\ This chart shows the percentage increase under each president from Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump’s first term. Once again, it’s damning for Republicans.\\ \\ Another study [[https://www.investopedia.com/democrats-vs-republicans-who-had-more-national-debt-8738104|shows]] that “since 1913, Republican presidents added about $1.4 trillion per four-year term, compared to $1.2 trillion added by Democrats.”\\ \\ Overall, both parties are in serious trouble — and yet, both seek to castigate their counterparts across the aisle.\\ \\ In 2024, for example, a Democrat-controlled Senate committee [[https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/democrats/2024/10/the-u-s-economy-performs-better-under-democratic-presidents|alleged]], “The U.S. economy has performed much better under Democratic presidents than Republican presidents in the modern era. In almost every measure of the U.S. economy including total job growth, unemployment, economic growth, manufacturing job growth, manufacturing investment, small business creation, and contribution to the national debt, economic performance is stronger under Democrats.”\\ \\ Alternatively, a Republican-controlled House committee [[https://budget.house.gov/press-release/its-simple-democrats-are-focused-on-spending-republicans-are-focused-on-growth|reported]], “While Democrats continue to ask taxpayers to shoulder more debt, higher tax, and higher levels of government spending for less growth, Republicans across the country are moving our economy forward from the failed economic policies of the Biden administration with policies that are leading to more jobs and bigger paychecks.”\\ \\ So, which is it?\\ \\ We must finally admit the uncomfortable truth: “fiscal responsibility” is unlikely ever to arise from Washington. Both sides are more than willing to feign fiscal responsibility; no one is willing to turn the faucet off. \\ \\ Haven’t we learned our lesson by now? How many times will we make the same ol’ excuses? It’s time for federal reform to begin, not with Congress or the president, but with the American people and the states. \\ \\ It’s time for an Article V convention.\\ \\ //To support our growing grassroots movement to call an Article V convention to propose amendments to the U.S. Constitution limiting federal spending, power, and terms of office, sign the COS petition below!\\ \\ #|PETITION_WIDGET{petition_tag:comms_blog_NA_04/07/2024_fiscalresponsibility:crunchingthenumbers04072025;coalition_id:;anedot_url:}|# //|


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|  __Page Metadata__  ||
|Login Required to view?  |No                  |
|Created:                 |2025-04-07 07:01 GMT|
|Updated:                 |2025-04-13 07:00 GMT|
|Published:               |2025-04-07 13:00 GMT|
|Converted:               |2025-11-11 12:05 GMT|
|Change Author:           |Jakob Fay           |
|Credit Author:           |                    |