Politics & Power Quote by Dick Durbin

Durbin’s line is less an economic forecast than a political judo move: take a popular-sounding “tax cut” and reframe it as a bill that arrives later, in someone else’s mailbox, with “state and local” stamped on the envelope. The intent is to puncture the branding advantage Republicans typically enjoy on taxes by arguing that federal cuts don’t eliminate the cost of government; they just relocate it downward, where it’s harder to hide and easier to resent.

The subtext is a warning about fiscal federalism as a shell game. States, unlike Washington, usually can’t run persistent deficits without consequences. If the federal government reduces revenues (and especially if it trims aid), states still have to fund schools, Medicaid, roads, and pensions. They respond the only ways they can: raise sales and property taxes, hike fees, or cut services. Durbin wants listeners to connect the dots before the backlash gets misassigned. When the property tax jumps or the bus route disappears, he’s arguing, don’t blame your mayor; blame the upstream decision.

Contextually, this is aimed at moments when Congress pushes large tax packages with rosy growth assumptions and partisan messaging. Democrats, often boxed in as “tax-and-spend,” use this argument to flip the script: the Republican move isn’t smaller government, it’s unfunded government. The cleverness is in the phrase “greater pressure” - it doesn’t promise apocalypse, it predicts a squeeze. That rhetorical moderation makes the accusation feel more credible, and more damning.