In Washington, wasteful government spending almost always goes up. “When a business or an individual spends more than it makes, it goes bankrupt,” Ronald Reagan observed. “When government does it, it sends you the bill.”

As a result, the growth of government and wasteful spending often seem inevitable. But House Republicans’ Fiscal Responsibility Act proves they aren’t. Last year Republicans made a common-sense commitment to America: Entrust us with the majority and we will stop the out-of-control inflationary spending that is harming our country.

The American people know that Democrats’ spending addiction has caused significant problems, including the inflation that has broken family budgets. Rapid interest-rate hikes in response to inflationary spending caused three of the largest bank failures in history in the past several months.

All of this has made America more dependent on foreign debt-holders. The total debt we now owe to other countries is $7.4 trillion. Countries like China are buying more of our farmland, more of our businesses and more of our debt.

Everyone knows this is unsustainable and irresponsible. But to change course, we need to change how Washington operates. That is what House Republicans have fought for since Jan. 12, when I called on President Biden to negotiate a responsible debt-limit increase. For 97 days, Mr. Biden dragged his feet and instead promoted a far-left wish list that included more reckless spending, more taxes and more debt. Apparently he thought he could ignore the national debt crisis like he ignores the crisis at the southern border.

House Republicans never gave up. While the president ducked negotiations and Senate Democrats were missing in action, Republicans passed a bill that forced Mr. Biden to the table and changed the paradigm. With the introduction of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, we are changing the direction in Washington through a responsible debt-limit increase that cuts spending, saves taxpayers money and restores economic growth.

Perhaps the most historic and foundational change is cutting spending year over year for the first time in more than a decade. Taking aside veterans’ healthcare, which will be fully funded, we will return to 2022 spending levels for nondefense accounts and set top-line spending at 1% growth for the next six years.

In other words, we will spend less money next year than we did this year—stopping inflationary spending while fully funding national defense, meeting our obligations to veterans, and preserving and protecting Social Security and Medicare. No other debt-limit increase in the past decade has reduced overall spending, reduced nondefense spending and reduced the deficit. The Fiscal Responsibility Act is true, transformative spending reform.

Another transformative change to how the government operates is the first-ever administrative pay-as-you-go rules, which require the executive branch to find dollar-for-dollar savings in government for costly new rules and regulations. In the first two years of the Biden administration, the president unilaterally spent $1.5 trillion by executive fiat. With new paygo rules in place, we will hold Mr. Biden accountable, rein in executive overreach and save taxpayers trillions.

We also cut unnecessary spending. We slash $400 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Global Health Fund, which during the pandemic directed funds to countries like China. We claw back tens of billions of dollars in unspent Covid funds, making this the largest spending rescission in American history.

We rejected White House demands for $5 trillion in new taxes and instead eliminated funding that would be wasted this year to hire Mr. Biden’s new army of Internal Revenue Service agents. Washington has a spending problem—not a revenue problem—and government should exist to serve you, not go after you.

We also unleash policies to encourage economic growth. We add new work requirements for adults without dependents who receive money from SNAP and TANF welfare programs. That will help beneficiaries contribute to society, develop their talents, lift themselves out of poverty and achieve financial freedom and personal success. Another vital step is to streamline permitting. Our agreement achieves the first significant reforms to the environmental-review process in more than 40 years and will let us build more infrastructure, produce more energy in America, compete more effectively with China, and lower costs for families. After two years in which Democrats created a culture of paying people not to work and attacking U.S. energy production, these consequential reforms will turn our broken society into a productive one.

All in all, the Fiscal Responsibility Act is truly worthy of the American people. It does what is responsible for our children, what is possible in divided government, and what is required by our principles and promises. Only because of Republicans’ resolve did we achieve this transformative change to how Washington operates. We are 141 days into this Republican majority, and we’re only getting started.

Mr. McCarthy is speaker of the House.

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Source: Kevin McCarthy: Wasteful Government Doesn’t Have to Keep Growing – WSJ