Last week the U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill that raised the legal limit on Government borrowing by $1.9 trillion (a tax bill of $6,000 for every American). The debt limit increase will keep the Government from defaulting for another year. The national debt was pushed to $14.3 trillion – a total bill of $40,000 for every American. As a Government we are borrowing more than 40 cents for every dollar we spend.
In 2009, the U.S. overspent $1.4 trillion and is expected to overspend by $1.6 trillion this year. To put that figure in perspective, the U.S. is going to borrow more money this year than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of entire country of India. It is frightening to realize that we are borrowing an equivalent of a country’s entire economic output - a country with over 1 billion people. Even worse, a large percentage of our debt is owned by foreign governments, including China ($772 billion), OPEC ($185 billion) and Russia ($118 billion).
In the first month of my campaign, I gave a few press interviews in which I focused on three issues: jobs, national debt, and education. I said that “the greatest challenge facing this country is the national debt.” The national debt has evolved from a challenge to a national security issue.
I was very encouraged last week when the Congress passed PayGo legislation, and the President’s budget submission included a freeze on some discretionary spending. The new PayGo rules would require future spending increases or tax cuts to be funded by either spending cuts or tax increases elsewhere in the budget. While the PayGo legislation is a good start, it is not a long-term debt-reduction solution.
I was encouraged also when the President recommended a national debt commission. I have been calling for a national debt commission since announcing my candidacy. The new commission would be very similar to the former Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) with a few changes.
Because of polarization in Washington, the appointment of an independent panel by the President is not feasible. Thus, I recommend that the two major parties nominate eight members each to make up the panel.
The panel would be given a deadline and funding to publish a report with recommendations. The commission’s recommendations would be approved or disapproved in their entirety. As with the BRAC commission, the President would have the opportunity to approve or disapprove the recommendations. He would not have the power to changes them. If approved, the recommendations would to Congress for an up or down vote. The U.S. Congress would have the opportunity to disapprove the recommendations within 45 days or the recommendations would become law.
So where does this leave the American people? We have elected officials who want to cut taxes, raise taxes, cut spending, and/or increase spending. We have both sides blaming each other. It matters not how our national debt got to be so huge, our country wants a solution. Our national security is too important for partisan politics.
