Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) unloaded on the Republican Budget Committee Chairman on Monday over the climbing debt under President Donald Trump’s spending policies.
The clash came at a House Rules Committee hearing, where McGovern grilled Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX) over a budget resolution that Democrats say adds $4.7 trillion to the national debt with no offsets.
“I love you, Republicans. You don’t take responsibility for anything,” McGovern said. “You control the House, you control the Senate, you control the White House, I think you control the Supreme Court, and nothing is your responsibility.”
In 2024, Arrington had told the same committee that “not paying for our spending is not only irresponsible, but it is also irrational.”
McGovern asked Arrington to confirm that the national debt had risen $3.3 trillion since Trump took office — from $36.2 trillion to $39.5 trillion. Arrington insisted that the statistic was “misleading” before getting pushback from Rep. Morgan McGarvey (D-KY).
“The debt of this country from George Washington through Bill Clinton was about $5.7 trillion,” McGarvey noted. “The debt from George W. Bush and Donald Trump alone is nearly double that.”
McGovern then pressed Arrington on whether the resolution’s deficit spending could really be called an emergency, zeroing in on the bill’s tax cuts for wealthy Americans.
“Was it an emergency to give tax breaks to billionaires and millionaires?” McGovern demanded. “Because that was not paid for either.”
“It was, in fact,” Arrington shot back.
“Okay. All right. So we just have a disagreement,” McGovern replied. “You think an emergency is making sure that millionaires and billionaires get tax cuts, big corporations — I just disagree with that. That’s a fundamental values question.”
“I didn’t say that, just for the record,” Arrington argued.
McGovern also challenged Arrington over a provision directing $60 billion in new deficit spending toward the Iran conflict, noting the Pentagon already had $75.7 billion in unspent defense funds from a package passed last July.
He called it “irresponsible to spend another $60 billion in taxpayer dollars on Trump’s war when you already have $75 billion available.”
When asked why the resolution contained nothing to lower everyday costs for American families, Arrington blamed the previous administration.
“I would say that the first step in unwinding the cost of living crisis that was created by the failed policies of your party was to stop the wild, reckless, unbridled spending,” Arrington said.
“It sounds like we’re back to ‘let’s blame Joe Biden,’” McGovern replied.
“When it comes to war and tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations, you guys trip over yourselves to spend tax dollars with no offsets,” McGovern charged. “This is your MO. But when it comes to helping American families, Republicans think it would be wasteful spending.”
“They can’t afford their rent, can’t afford to buy homes, childcare costs are out of control, health care costs are out of control,” the Democrat said at the close of his remarks. “They wanna know why the hell we aren’t focused on that. And instead, we’re focused on giving the well-off and the well-connected even more.”
“I think people have had it,” he added.
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