Congress Has No ‘Appetite’ for Spending Cuts, While America Starves for Fiscal Sanity

Feb 21, 2019 by AFP

The National Debt Clock is ticking up at an alarming rate. Frankly, we’re afraid it may run out of numbers.

We’re more than $22 trillion in debt, having spent $4 trillion last year alone.

Deficits are on the verge of going back up to $1 trillion each year.

We’re heading for a financial catastrophe.

So of course our elected officials are going to act now and start spending responsibly — right?

Nope.

“I don’t see at this point a lot of appetite for cutting spending,” said House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth (D-KY).

Unfortunately, if there’s one thing that seems to bring both political parties together in Washington, it’s the unwillingness to exercise an ounce of fiscal restraint. This is especially true for the largest “mandatory” spending programs that make up some 85 percent of total new debt.

If the Congressional Budget Office’s annual budget forecast is any indication (spoiler alert: it is), the fiscal outlook for the next decade is beyond grim. Spending is forecast to grow to $7 trillion and the debt to grow to $31 trillion.

Washington may not have the appetite for a change, but those numbers should be a wake up call to everyone that we need to start tightening the belt — before it’s too late.

And reining in spending won’t just avert a fiscal crisis, it will also help unleash more economic opportunity, greater financial security, and a brighter future for every American.

Overspending has been a problem for decades – it’s about time for Washington to sink its teeth into solving it.