The word CUT is not prominent in Congress

By all accounts from major news sources across America, President Donald J. Trump is on a roll. His "Big Beautiful Bill" is now "Big Beautiful Law". The Supreme Court of the United States gave him authority to fire employees of the Department of Education. Leaders around the world fear his tariff threats. Following passage of the budget bill and President Trump's signing it into law on Independence Day, another nine billion dollars of cuts was approved.

The president is strongly in command of his Republican party - so much that pretty much every influential politician in this party craves his endorsement for their elected position. If they know they can't get said endorsement, they bow out. Give the president credit: He has a remarkable work ethic for a 79 year-old man. He has a clever sense of what goes on around him, and he uses it to his advantage.

For instance, I would imagine that President Trump has a bead on most, if not all, of the 435 U.S. House districts in America - not to mention the 100 seats in the Senate. No joke, folks. If he doesn't know about a specific House seat, he has the organization to find out quickly. And, if you are a politician who has crossed him, he'll find you out and work to be sure that you don't survive the next election.

As for Jeffrey Epstein, the man is deceased and has been for nearly six years. I realize that there may be some (well, a lot of) interest in Mr. Epstein and his legacy. But I really don't know and don't care much about it. Not sure where this fits in. If you have a strong opinion, let me know.

But back to the budget. You may (or may not) approve of these cuts. But here's an opinion from Nashville: The cuts weren't enough. 

Yes: You read that right. The cuts made a small dent in the mammoth deficits and debt that our country faces. 

Yeah, I get it: Nine billion dollars in cuts sounds awesome. I would say that such cuts are good, not bad. But ... According to the Department of the Treasury website, ours is a $1.3 trillion debt, with annual deficits of $64 billion or so.

Elon Musk recently expressed his dismay with the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill". Can't blame him. Musk will never have the political clout that the president currently carries. But Mr. Musk helped Mr. Trump reclaim the White House last year. When "Trump 47" a/k/a "Trump 2.0" commenced, Mr. Musk was placed immediately into a prominent position: Head of the Department of Government Efficiency a/k/a DOGE.

As the early winter months of President Trump's second term moved into the spring, Mr. Musk (understandably) needed to break away from government to return to his company - Tesla. 

Since that time, Musk has gone in another direction from President Trump - stating that we aren't cutting enough.

Guess what, folks: Musk is right. But the obvious issue to those of us who have studied political science and who have followed politics for a long time is this: The federal budget is created by the Congress in collaboration with the President. Congress has a lot of control. The President cannot force budget moves by executive order. President Trump gave it his best shot, but, in many (if not most) instances, was shut down by the federal courts.

The Big Beautiful Bill played well in Congress. I would rarely (if ever) advocate for a tax increase. But, here in 2025, we really cannot afford large tax cuts such as the ones recently enacted. Well, we could afford them if they were matched by an equal amount of spending cuts.

But that didn't happen here. The bill that recently became law merely blew another hole in our nation's deficit and debt. DOGE was a valiant effort, but it won't count for much unless the government follows the lead and takes the proverbial scissors to our spending.

James A. Rose

Publisher

Photo: AP Images