The government has been focused on trying to reduce the economic damage from coronavirus, but none of the cash that has been poured in comes for free, Rep. Kevin Brady said Friday.
"We've tried to inject cash into those local employers, lend to the bigger ones, defer payments where we could but just try to keep the businesses in place to ride it out," the Texas Republican said on CNBC's "Squawk Box."
"We think that gives us a stronger rebound. That makes sense, but there's no question we have poured a lot of cash into the economic side of this coronavirus challenge. None of that is free."
The United States is fortunate that it came into the crisis "with the strongest economy on the planet," Brady added, but still, at the end of the day "we're going to have to have a fiscal plan to address all of this."
However, he said that even though the economy was strong, the United States was still facing the challenge of being an aging country where most of the spending now and in the future will be focused on "three or four key programs, none of which are financially sound...this is one of those cases where neither party can do it for the long term because none of this is free."
Brady also said he doesn't think there will be a backlash of more regulations and restrictions based on the dollars that are having to be spent, as the nation's businesses did not invite their financial problems through "misbehavior."
The bigger picture, still is in determining what practical ways can be used to help businesses reopen safely as healthcare conditions permit, said Brady.
"Then, we're going to have to have an adult conversation about how we tackle what was a problem before the crisis, which is an aging country with real health care needs driving the deficits," said Brady.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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