Are they auditioning in Washington for a Saturday Night Live skit?

 

The sketch could start with President Donald Trump’s promise to wipe out the $36 trillion national debt. “We’re going to pay it off,” he said on the campaign trail. “We’re going to get it done fast too.”

 

Enter efficiency expert, billionaire Elon Musk, Trump’s choice to guide his Department of Government Efficiency, with a chainsaw. “Waste is pretty much everywhere,” he proclaims, slashing federal jobs and government contracts. His goal is to cut annual spending by $2 trillion, or about one-third of the total annual budget.

 

The parody. Musk proposes sending $5,000 checks out to 79 million taxpaying families to share the DOGE “savings” with them. “I love it,” exclaims Trump who loved having his signature on all those COVID checks. He said 20% of the DOGE savings would go to fund the $5,000 checks.

 

The punch line. “And 20% goes to paying down debt,” Trump says. Huh? That’s just $400 billion of the $2 trillion in Doge cuts going to reduce the $36 trillion national debt.

 

The flashback. In January Musk said he doubted he could really cut $2 trillion in spending. “I think if we try for 2 trillion, we’ve got a good shot at getting 1,” he said.

 

Enter House Republicans led by Speaker Mike Johnson. “We got it done,” he says of his “deficit neutral” budget reconciliation resolution that includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts (mostly extending current tax rates) plus at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts spread over 10 years.

 

The parody. “Why does a deficit neutral budget need a $4 trillion increase in the debt ceiling?” a voice asks. The budget reconciliation process requires proposals to be deficit neutral, i.e., to break even over 10 years. But the resolution passed also increases the debt ceiling by $4 trillion.

 

Closing line. “Adding up what we’ve learned, Elon Musk and House Republicans will help President Trump keep his promise to pay off the national debt fast with spending cuts that need a higher debt ceiling. Have a nice day.”

 

Intriguingly, most of the proposed cuts are just clatter. Musk keeps announcing new “savings” from his cuts then his DOGE staff posts substantially lower numbers on the DOGE “wall of receipts.” There is doubt the Senate will join in with the cuts proposed by the House and overt skepticism that the cuts could be sustained for 10 years.

 

Some numbers. The national debt has passed $36 trillion. Interest payments on the debt are estimated at $952 billion for this year and to surge past $1 trillion next year.

 

Crawford is the author of “A Republican’s Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives.”