Assigning blame

Growing deficit

Regarding “Hotcheck GOP” (Page A14, Wednesday), Republican strategist Grover Norquist famously said the GOP wanted to make the federal government small enough to drown it in a bathtub. President Donald Trump’s former strategist Steve Bannon says they plan to deconstruct the administrative state (federal government).

The strategy seems to be as follows: Trump appoints various heads of the federal government who seem to have the goal of limiting the normal functions of various federal agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency and State Department. The GOP passes a budget that cuts various social programs. The recent GOP federal tax plan is constructed under budget reconciliation rules, which require a simple majority for passage. They give large reductions in taxes to corporations and the wealthy and thus go against their own deficit reduction vows knowing their $1.4 trillion increase in deficits, when passed will additionally activate various future pay-asyou-go cuts, such as large automatic cuts to Medicare, etc.

The normal GOP response when all the cuts they themselves have caused are implemented — and a realization hits that the future deficit is still too large — is to go back to their original Grover Norquist pledge: The GOP will not raise taxes. Thus more cuts to federal budgets. Ron Curtis, Houston

Get a grip

Regarding “Fire up Congress” editorial (Page A14, Wednesday), the editorial board has lost all sense of perspective in its editorial. To advocate defaulting on our federal financial obligations because you do not like the pace and amount of money that the U.S. Congress has provided to the state of Texas for Hurricane Harvey relief is not just juvenile but irresponsible.

There are 330 million citizens who count on our federal government to work and stay open for them. If the process takes time and does not have the results that you want, that is the political system and form of government that you have supported along with its elected and appointed representatives for decades.

To spite all for a few when the state of Texas and local governments have not given all that they can is a bankrupt idea and ridiculous. Brandt Mannchen, Humble

Dems at fault

Regarding “Hot-check GOP” editorial (Page A14, Wednesday), the editorial takes off on the Republicans as if they are the culprits on deficits, while eight years of Obama administration borrowing and spending was so massive that it resulted in a horrifically ineffective economy.

Do not even begin to tell anyone that the Democrats are not outof-control borrowers. Both are too aggressive in spending, but the Dems’ have the title by far. Reagan Sirmons, Houston