GOP's version of 'Custer’s last stand' rewarded with tongue-lashing from WSJ editors

House Republicans got a tongue-lashing from the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board on Friday, after the spectacular failure to advance President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" on tax cuts, energy deregulation, and border security.

The Budget Committee, a crucial step for the bill, failed to recommend it, with a handful of GOP hardliners frustrated over the bill not having further spending cuts joining every Democrat to block the measure. And, the board wrote, they agree with those hardliners.

"The real problem is the so-called Republican moderates, who are running the party from the rump," the board wrote. "These lawmakers don’t want to touch Medicaid, not that the concessions the moderates have been given so far have stopped false attacks from Democrats (or GOP Sen. Josh Hawley). The immoderate moderates also don’t want to touch Joe Biden’s green subsidies. The current House bill postpones some subsidies from phasing out until 2029."

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Similarly, the endless debate and argument over repealing the cap on the state and local tax deduction for Republicans in high-tax states has become a "Custer's last stand" of politics, wrote the board.

"The moderates won’t even name a clear price to stay bought, dismissing a tripling of the current SALT cap to $30,000," they wrote. the leader of this rebellion, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) has said the GOP wouldn't even have a majority if not for lawmakers like him — "But what’s the point of a majority if you don’t do anything with it? The moderates are basically demanding that the GOP ratify the Biden spending path on discretionary spending and entitlements," the board raged.

By contrast, the board argued, the Freedom Caucus hardliners who tanked the bill today are making clear demands, like kicking in the Medicaid work requirements sooner and phasing out subsidies for renewable energy more quickly.

"The conservative revolt can’t fix all the disappointments in the House bill, which includes no new cut in tax rates and won’t provide the boost to the economy that lifted incomes in Mr. Trump’s first term," concluded the board. Nonetheless, "the House conservatives will be portrayed as grumps, but they’re right to send up a warning flare."