Our national debt stands at $31.5 trillion (with a T). Unfortunately, our debt has rapidly increased under Democratic and Republican leaders. Now, another debt ceiling debate is looming in our nation. This week, I was joined by Mike Lee of Utah and 23 Senate Republicans to put President Biden on notice that, “We do not intend to vote for a debt-ceiling increase without structural reforms to address current and future fiscal realities and manage out-of-control government policies.”
The main reason our debt has skyrocketed from roughly $1 trillion under President Reagan to just over $10 trillion under President Obama and now more than $31 trillion under President Biden is that Congress continues to ignore the tough decisions to stop our debt from spiraling out of control and punts the tough decisions—to responsibly fund the government and keep it functioning— until we face yet another a government shutdown. No responsible parent will say, “Life is tough. I think I will make it easier on me by making it harder on my kids.” A responsible nation should not dump the consequences of overspending on the next generation.
Forcing Congress to stay in D.C. until the budget work is done is the most effective way to get Congress to actually get the government funded on time. I introduced the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act, a commonsense non-partisan solution to put the pressure on lawmakers instead of hurting federal families and services during a shutdown and actually force Congress to stay in session every day until they confront our debt and spending problems.
Shutting down the government does not solve the problem. It creates new problems. But currently there are very limited methods to focus Congress on the national debt, unless we pass my bill.