Since I arrived in Washington in 1991 as a young investigative reporter, I have watched the national debt explode tenfold. It was $3.6 trillion that year I arrived. This year it will blow past $37 trillion.
When our Founding Fathers created this country, they gave Congress the power of the purse string. They did so because they believed the institution closest to the people would be the best steward of their monies.
But the last two generations of lawmakers have grossly abused that power in ways our founders could never have imagined. Today’s House members and senators are too far detached from the people and too deeply entangled with the special interests that fund their campaigns to appreciate the harm their fiscal recklessness has unleashed.
Today, they’ve been comfortable adding $2 trillion of debt per year, a crushing liability that my great great grandchildren who I will never meet will be forced to carry. Our Founders – who were businessmen like farmers, candlemakers, publishers, and entrepreneurs — could not possibly imagine a Congress comfortable burdening future generations with such crushing debt.
And that debt is beginning to have a profound effect. Its interest payments are eating up more and more of each year’s budget. It’s making institutions less eager to buy American bonds, something that has seldom happened in our storied history. It’s causing the great credit, faith and trust of the American government to be downgraded. It’s deflating the dollar and causing foreign central banks, and even American states, to turn to gold as a back up. Finally, it is giving the enemies of America like China great comfort that one day soon we will be knocked off the hill where our shining city has burned so brightly as a beacon of freedom for the rest of the world.
Such warning signs would have shamed and embarrassed earlier generations of Americans. But not this generation or its members of Congress. They actually believe saving $200 billion a year of the recent $2 trillion annual explosion in federal spending is a success story. Everyday Americans with even a rudimentary math education know that is not success. It is a recipe for failure.
Yesterday I gave a speech to the National Association of Christian Lawmakers at Liberty University. Four decades ago, Ronald Reagan said government isn’t the solution. It’s the problem. Yesterday I suggested Congress isn’t the solution to the debt crisis, it’s the problem.
The real solution are the states and their ability to exercise their powers of federalism to rein in a debt-mongering central federal government, and it wayward purse string holders. They can join forces with President Trump in the aftermath of the Big Beautiful Bill and commandeer the debate, the action and the debt crisis, I hope you enjoy watching the remarks I made.
Reprinted with permission from John Solomon.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
Congress has been the weakest link in any sort of spending control for decades now. Fiscal restraint is simply NOT something the vast majority of the members of Congress are interested in. Outside of the House Freedom Caucus, fiscal restraint is considered a dirty word.
Years ago, Congress used to have to pass a series of 12 spending bills to fully fund the federal government each fiscal year. That hasn’t happened since 1996. Since then, Congress has shown it is incapable of even completing that simple but boring task. The reason we have this situation is the American people, who when offered the choice between a fiscal conservative or a “moderate Republican” almost always opt for the “moderate Republican”. The problem is most “moderate Republicans” are pretty much like most Democrats. They love to spend taxpayer dollars on whatever they think will ensure their next re-election victory. So, the national debt keeps rising, while most GOP members of Congress can’t seem to agree on almost anything to actually cut.
Just look at the nonsense playing out in Congress right now regarding the reconciliation bill as an example. They can’t even return Medicaid spending ratios to the pre-Covid levels years after the so-called “crisis” has long passed.
There is nothing preventing Congress, after the passage of the reconciliation bill, from working on the next series of regular order budgetary bills by going line-by-line through the entire federal budget and slashing away 90% of the unnecessary spending. Just as Senator Ron Johnson has suggested for years. Nothing but the will of the vast majority of the members of Congress to actually do it for fear of losing their next re-election bid. Which is what is wrong with having a professional political class in this country, instead of what was envisioned by our Founders of just average Americans willing to spend 4 or 6 years in Washington and then going back to their regular lives.
American voters could of course insist on it, but I’m a realist and not holding my breath that the vast majority of the American public really wants a fiscally responsible federal government. Not after decades of creating a huge, social welfare safety net, that has morphed into a safety hammock with air conditioning, a wide-screen TV and meals.
Let’s not let the Executive branch off the hook either.
Gingrich and Clinton didn’t like each other but that didn’t keep them from balancing budgets 30 years ago. No deficit hawks sitting in the big chair since then.
I’m not sure how the states are going to fix Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, national defense and our federal tax system. Those are the drivers of our national debt, despite what the DOGE folks came up with. Are we going to turn these programs over to the states? The real solution is voters.
The ONLY way to cut the debt, curb the spending and give taxpayers the relief they deserve- IS TO HAVE LESS GOVERNMENT. We need to eliminate the wasteful Departments like HUD, Ed. Energy- EPA. USAID, ALL of them. Education provides NO education and in fact has dumbed down education to the point that a college degree is almost useless as a 4th grade education. GRADUATES that cannot do basic math, make change from a register, with a complete coherent sentence or even read cursive! That is the Dept of Ed’s accomplishments. Scholarships and grants? Contractors can do that, and even with graft, fraud and theft- we will save BILLION$$ HUD? instant slums. Now they just act as landlords. EPA? the most anti- progress agency ever. If they had their way, we would live in mud huts and tents- burning cow dung for cooking and heat ( I know the Vegans would faint. Dept of Energy? provides no energy. In fact they do as much as possible to insure that we do NOT have energy to heat and cool our homes, schools or run the factories. Dept of Agriculture… a ponzi scheme for farmers. HHS? what do they do? dept of Interior.. What have they done FOR the Interior? Except make it impossible to drill, dig, or burn anything for energy. Can’t even keep the Parks up. Homeland Security- hmm. The largest most powerful police department in existence. and for what? We can ELIMINATE Trillion$ of spending just by eliminating these departments. Why do we need any of the departments/agencies? There is only one reason- to feed the Deep State- and control government even if you aren’t in power-.Basic government provides for what the people cannot do individually or collectively! 1- protect the borders ( Democrats- FAIL)-2- deliver the mail (Congress- FAIL)- regulate the roads and highways( truckers would say Yuck). Regulate airspace- ( not doing well, guys). 3- Defense- FAIL- if you inject social problems into the military- you lose before you can start). What else should our Federal government do? All the other stuff is a tax burden we do not need.
This article is missing one of the biggest problems developing in the USA is the CEO wages from year 1978 to 2024. During this period, CEO compensation went up 1,085% and the average worker percent went up 24%. This is changing the USA the wrong way, as one just needs to believe that the MIDDLE INCOME generations brought us thru the Great Depression & WWII & made America the greatest country in the world. And after WWII, the POTUS & Congress supported this generation with GI Bill and GI loans to unite this country again. The Trump tax cuts of 2017 favor the top wage earners & corporations a lot more the lower earners.
Do not agree with this article, Congress is the problem for approving the debt spending and the POTUS is one of the worst offenders the last 16 years of Obama, Trump, and Biden. Voters may like the tax cuts, but since 2000, 57% of the debt is due to the Bush and Trump tax credits. And today it is estimated that Trump tax cuts are $3,7 Trillion to debt instead of income in taxes, Trump is not running for reelection so this would be a good time to quit with the tax cuts.
Forget the great great grandchildren eating this mess.That’s just wishful thinking.We are already and have been suffering inflation,which is the result of deficits and the Fed monetizing those deficits.Congress members are the messengers.The problem is the voters,who are short term greedy and long term ignorant.Therefore,changing the captains of the ship won’t work,unless the voters choose correctly.So,there is no solution,until things get a lot worse and people are forced to face facts.Got money?Got gold?
Downsize GOVT
CUT spending
Cut fraud &waste
Restore funds to voters; SSN, Medicare, direct deposit
Cut processes, procedures alone driving costs
Cut admin overhead
We need to stop funding the federal government. The ONLY thing they do with OUR money is POCKET IT, build ponzi schemes, and raise OUR DEBT!! They aren’t effected by the debt they cause for us!! But we’re left to feel all the negative effects. It all needs to stop!!
TERM LIMITS!! That’s the solution. Send these professional politicians back to their home states after 4-6 years. No need for them to stay, sucking on the public teats.
what do you do when your government and the politicians are selling out the country? thankfully it will be over soon
Drain the swamp all you folks voting for Congress people. It isn’t a popularity contest. Voters should do research on candidates and select those who can “do the math”, have business experience are honest and are patroits who love our country and want it to be great again.
YES!
States are the solution.
Specifically, CONVENTION OF STATES is the solution, giving power BACK to the States. Giving power BACK to We the People!
http://coventionofsttes.com