With Republicans preparing their final reconciliation bill before the midterm elections, I wanted to share new commentary from the Cato Institute’s Romina Boccia, Katherine Thompson, and Benjamin Giltner arguing that the package is a missed opportunity to reduce federal spending and deficits.

Thompson and Giltner focus on the bill’s defense provisions, which would provide more than $60 billion to continue the unauthorized war with Iran without clear objectives, a defined endgame, or safeguards for future munitions drawdowns. Combined with the FY 2027 Defense Appropriations Act, they estimate the package would bring Pentagon spending alone to roughly $1.16 trillion, excluding other national security spending, emergency supplementals, and borrowing costs.

Boccia argues that Congress should offset any new spending with reforms that reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in federal welfare programs and slow the growth of entitlement spending. At a minimum, she says Republicans should deliver the $600 billion in savings they pledged in last year’s reconciliation framework but ultimately failed to achieve.

The blog also criticizes instructions allowing up to $12 billion in additional agriculture spending, arguing that another round of farm subsidies would paper over economic damage caused by federal trade and foreign policy rather than address its root causes.

You can find Romina, Katherine, and Benjmain’s full commentary here. If you’re interested in speaking with Romina about the bill’s fiscal implications or Katherine or Benjamin about the defense provisions, I’m happy to connect you.