Washington's spending fight heats up next week as Democrats try to derail House Republican attempts to shave $61 billion from the federal budget. Believe it or not, their favorite argument seems to be that cutting government spending reduces economic growth. Seriously.

Chris Van Hollen, the budget leader for House Democrats, declared on CBS's "Face the Nation" last Sunday that the GOP budget cuts—a 2% reduction out of $3.6 trillion in fiscal 2011 spending—would cost 800,000 jobs. Democrats have been repeating this claim endlessly,...