Those fine, principled Freedom Caucus stalwarts, keeping a keen eye on the deficit and working to make sure it shrinks no matter how many people starve to death, have apparently decided that the deficit isn't such a big deal—but they're not backing down on the letting people starve to death part.
Republicans in the House Freedom Caucus may be shifting their uncompromising, tough budget stance under President-elect Donald Trump, according to a report in the National Review.
According to the piece, there is discussion underway to accept that just 50 percent of Trump's infrastructure bill would have to be offset with spending cuts elsewhere– a precedent that they never would have accepted under President Barack Obama.
After Trump was first elected, members of the House Freedom Caucus were vocal about their opposition to some of Trump's costly legislative priorities like a $1 trillion infrastructure bill.
"If Trump doesn’t find a way to pay for it, the majority of us, if not all of us, are going to vote against it," Raul Labrador (R-ID) told reporters, according to the National Review piece.
But that was then. Now? The National Review says that "there has been informal talk of accepting a bill that’s only 50 percent paid for, with the rest of the borrowing being offset down the road by 'economic growth.'" That's code for "massive tax cuts for the wealthy." That'll be particularly fun when Congress gets the bill for Trump's expanded nuclear arsenal. Nukes don't come cheap. Clearly, more people are going to have to starve.