Biden Blew the Budget, Trump’s Cleaning It Up—If Congress Will Let Him | E.J. Antoni, PhD

The Daily Signal YT Channel ^ | Jan 20 2026 | E.J. Antoni, PhD

[texas booster]

For years, the big spenders in Congress—and the Biden administration—worked together to drive the nation deeper into debt as they wasted taxpayer money on their crazy ESG, DEI far Left agenda.

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TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: budget; thedailysignal; vdh; victordavishanson

[texas booster]

Between the Democrats who just wanna see Trump fail, and the big spender Republicans who want to see any budget cuts fail, Trump has an uphill battle against the “uniparty” when it comes to further progress in the spending fight.

Federal finance is the executive branch’s job, but it really comes down to Congress which “passes spending and tax legislation,” explains Chief Heritage Foundation Economist E.J. Antoni, PhD., on today’s special video commentary.

“It’s high time those legislators actually do something to fix the problem that they themselves helped cause.”

[Parley Baer]

Congress is indeed a big problem. Too many RINOs on the Republican side.

[texas booster]

Ping! Out to the Victor Davis Hanson list

00:00 Introduction: The Trump Administration's Efforts
00:20 The Role of Congress in Federal Finance
01:33 Challenges and Achievements of the Trump Administration
03:49 Economic Consequences of Government Spending
06:07 The Urgent Need for Congressional Action
07:15 Conclusion: A Call to Action for Congress

While Prof Hanson is out, Dr EJ Antoni presents a well reason call to action for Congress. Well worth your 8 minutes!

FR Index of his articles: Victor Davis Hanson on FR

Town Hall: Victor Davis Hanson on Town Hall

American Greatness: Victor Davis Hanson on American Greatness

His website: Victor Davis Hanson The Sword of Perseus

One of his sponsors' website: The Daily Signal

Please let me know if you want on or off this new VDH ping list.

As a reminder, Professor Hanson has asked that we do not post the full article of his writings. Thank you for following the link to finish his article.

Content created by the Center for American Greatness, Inc. is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a significant audience.

https://freerepublic.com/tag/victordavishanson/index

[dfwgator]

Congress is indeed a big problem.

[econjack]

No chance. Congress knows that handing out money gets them re-elected. I don’t see a solution, but it cannot continue. I think the best hope would be a line-item veto power given to the President.

[Leaning Right]

> “It’s high time those legislators actually do something to fix the problem that they themselves helped cause.” <

That will never happen. Way too many legislators (D and R) are beholden to way too many special interest groups. Gotta feed those beasts.

A constitutional amendment for a presidential line-item veto would do a lot to fix that. But that won’t happen either.

What’s left? Kick the can down the road, then use the printed presses to pay back the debt. The only question is when that hyperinflation will kick in. That’s the way I see it, anyway.

🙁

[fruser1]

Yup. I have good confidence that Trump will do what’s good for the US economy and that congress will continue the scourge that will kill the golden goose.

[quantim]

“Too many RINOs on the Republican side.”

Yep, they are the death of our country and are nothing but despicable sellouts who have put us on the precipice of total collapse.

AKA as the GOPe, RINOs, uniparty, deep state, swamp dwellers, elites, back stabbers, establishment, surrender monkeys, turncoats, maoists, assistant democrats, traitors, liars, debt junkies, crooks, thieves, scumbags, republicrats, democrat lite, RINOcrats, collaborators and the list goes on and on.

And the right wonders why people don’t go out and vote. Start with the easy stuff, $40 trillion in debt and downhill from there.

[Savage Beast]

The Democrats and their toadies will burn down America and the American People with it before they let Donald Trump take credit for saving them.

The last thing they want is for Trump to succeed--at anything. If they had the wit and the benevolence, they would be doing everything Trump is doing. Instead, they sabotage him whenever they can.

But what else would anyone expect from the party of slavery, the ku klux klan, the Trail of Tears, infanticide, open borders, sex trafficking, election fraud, et al.?

[FreedomNotSafety]

So long as the left controls the strings on SS there is no hope. Otherwise right conservatives people will continue to support whoever promises to keep the sacred monthly check secure, not just secure but growing and with generous health care.

SS plus all other social spending is now on auto pilot and untouchable.

We now have to ah more people in the wagon the. pulling the wagon. The majority of people in this country have discovered that they can have their living at the expense of the minority…those of us still working in the private sector of the economy.

And the wagon is only getting fuller.

[oldtech]

The national debt is way beyond where it should have ever gotten to. What’s going to happen they can’t even pay the interest on the debt? I manage my own finances, living on S.S. & to my knowledge, don’t have any debt except the bills that come every month anyway. There may be reasons the fed can’t operate this way, but somehow they have got to do better...MUCH better.

[oldtech]

I guess I thought the president already Had line item veto??? If not, it’s high time..past the time actually.

[oldtech]

I guess I thought the president already Had line item veto??? If not, it’s high time..past the time actually.

[Reily]

Line item veto was declared unconstitutional by USSC in 1998.

[Leaning Right]

> What’s going to happen they can’t even pay the interest on the debt? <

I suppose it’s possible that the federal government will just default on the debt. Too bad, Treasury bond holders. So sad.

But I’m thinking they’ll go with the Weimar Republic method instead. Pay off the debt with wildly inflated currency. Too bad for everyone. Except maybe folks who hold hard assets.

Ah, but there’s a third option. Some Democrats have floated the idea of seizing retirement accounts to pay off the debt. But it wouldn’t be outright theft, dontcha know? The seized money would be replaced by long-term government bonds paying next to nothing.

Rough times ahead any way you look at it.

[rlmorel]

Excellent.

Thank you for posting this. It is a commonsense commentary. The salient point is not that Congress needs to do their job of creating a budget that cuts spending and is passed in accordance of what is formally required of them, we know that. The key takeaway from this superb video is THIS:

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"...We can see evidence of this progress in the monthly statements from the Treasury Department.

The cumulative deficit for the current fiscal year, which would include the months of October, November, and December, is down 15.3% compared to those same months from the prior fiscal year under Biden.

The Treasury became a victim of its own voracious appetite for borrowing. In December, just last month, interest on the debt was a stratospheric $154 billion.

That was the second largest line item in the entire monthly statement from the Treasury. Only the Department of Health and Human Services spent more.

That means interest on the debt was more than all the money spent by the Department of War. It was also larger than all the spending by the Social Security Administration.

It was larger than all the following combined. Departments of agriculture, commerce, education, energy, homeland security, interior, justice, labor, state, transportation, and veterans affairs.

I ran out of hands.

It may be hard to believe, but the interest on the debt doubled during the Biden years from the deadly one two punch of both the national debt and interest rates shooting up during that time. leaving the Trump administration with yet another mess to clean up. ..."

[Eagle Forgotten]

“A constitutional amendment for a presidential line-item veto would do a lot to fix that. But that won’t happen either.”

For people advocating line-item veto, I have one question: Would you want President Gavin Newsom or President Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to have that power?

Right now, the betting on Polymarket on “Which party wins 2028 US Presidential Election?” gives the Democrats a 54% chance. That number may be too high or too low, but I think a Democratic President at some point in the future is a virtual certainty.

[rlmorel]

I agree. It is past the time for a line item veto. And getting back to REAL budgets, not these idiotic continuing resolutions.

[texas booster]

Thank you for posting that salient fact - and let’s hope that Pres Trump can wrangle some members of Congress to support him!

[Leaning Right]

You make a very good point, Eagle. A power wisely used by a Republican president will certainly be misused by a Democrat president.

But then the question becomes: Which is a greater danger to the Republic, line-item veto power wielded by a D, or spending that will eventually push us into hyperinflation?

I’m actually not sure of that answer.