Republicans would like you to believe they’re committed to reducing the deficit.

The truth is, they aren’t.

Every time someone questions the Department of Government Efficiency’s outsized and incompetent dismissals of government employees, the talking points of congressional Republicans apparently direct them to talk about the pressure exerted by the deficit — they all do.

Every time one questions their massive cuts to important programs, whether it’s the exercise of soft power internationally or health care at home, Republicans’ standard response is the need for deficit reduction. And interviewers tend to let them get away with it.

But Republicans’ professed commitment to deficit reduction is not honest. They aren’t telling the truth.

Last week, every House Republican but one and every Republican senator but two voted to vastly increase the deficit. House Republicans voted for a budget that cut spending by $2 trillion while instructing House committees to cut taxes by $4.8 trillion. Basic arithmetic tells us that this bill would increase the deficit by $2.8 trillion over the 10-year budget window.

So House Republicans, who would like to wear the mantle of deficit reduction, actually voted to increase the deficit by $2.8 trillion.

That’s without counting additional interest payments on the debt, and only if the Republicans' overly rosy economic assumptions pan........

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