Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL) has been one of House Republicans' major voices in favor of cutting Federal spending. In a recent episode of the American Potential podcast, Rep. Donalds described how "Everyone in Washington wants to spend, but nobody wants to evaluate the efficacy of what they're spending on."
"Everyone in Washington wants to spend, but nobody wants to evaluate the efficacy of what they're spending on. If we spend billions on a program, we should at least know if it worked before we spend more money on it. This is NORMAL in the real world but unheard of in Washington," tweeted Rep. Donalds.
Everyone in Washington wants to spend, but nobody wants to evaluate the efficacy of what they're spending on.
If we spend billions on a program, we should at least know if it worked before we spend more money on it.
This is NORMAL in the real world but unheard of in Washington. pic.twitter.com/plxdjtu0Zp
— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) July 10, 2023
Additionally, Donalds spoke of how "one of the great misconceptions in our politics" is the wealthy screw over the poor. Instead, he argued the root cause is the decline in the dollar's purchasing power, caused partly by quantitative easing (QE).
Quantitative easing, as defined by Investopedia, is when central banks such as the Federal Reserve buy securities on the open market to increase the money supply, which can inflate the dollar.
"One of the great misconceptions in our politics is that the rich are all getting everything and the poor get nothing and they get stepped on. But the reality is that it is the destruction of purchasing power by quantitative easing or printing money, however you want to phrase it; that is more destructive to the poor than anything else," said Donalds.
Similarly, Donalds blasted keeping interest rates low for too long. He argued long periods of low rates increase spending. As a result, taxation will also increase, hurting poorer taxpayers. In May, Donalds made this point to NBC's Chuck Todd when he attempted to argue that IRS expansion should not worry anyone except tax cheats.
Donalds concluded with the remarks made in the above clip, calling out Washington for continuing to spend money on potentially outdated programs. And if any programs must remain in place, there must be a plan to make them more efficient, and a long-term debt managing solution must also be reached.
"We have to go through these Federal agencies and really understand if what they are spending money on does not even work anymore. Has it lived past its purpose? Do they need to continue to do that? And if you do, what are the more efficient ways to get it accomplished? I think that is a big second thing. The third thing is we are going to need to figure out a long-term debt issue. We cannot just continue to borrow money at this rate," Donalds concluded.
