Recent News
Congress doesn’t have to balance the federal budget, nor does it try. It doesn’t pursue debt-to-GDP targets, deficit targets, or any other comprehensive budget targets.
A couple weeks ago, the CEO of TikTok, Shou Zi Chew, testified before Congress to answer questions about the social media application currently used by Americans to share video content.
Congress could, however, borrow a best practice from the states: line-item budgets.
Congress needs a new approach to automatic budget enforcement to replace the failed model that relies on across-the-board cuts. Instead, enforcement should help Congress budget responsibly in the first place by setting up automatic consequences that make small, repeatable, surgical adjustments to various federal programs.
Today, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) introduced the Agenda to End Budget Brinkmanship, a policy framework for congressional lawmakers to end the budget battles and fix the broken process causing Washington’s budget dysfunction.
Right now, many in Congress are hoping to expand government subsidies for health insurance, including major expansions of Medicaid and Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Some of these lawmakers argue that more spending is a good answer to inflation because the additional money will help make it easier for people to afford health care.
But that gets the problem exactly wrong.
Federal borrowing has reached the statutory debt limit, yet Treasury has another five or six months of “extraordinary measures” until the real deadline in June or July. The federal government must avoid default this year while ending the debt accumulation’s march toward slower growth, fiscal crisis, and global instability.
Tax-free health savings accounts save money, reduce medical inflation, and give patients more choice and control. Expanding access to HSAs is key to reducing medical inflation and giving Americans more personalized options in health care.
Failure to control spending and debt—over the last 15 years but especially during the pandemic—created today’s inflation crisis and broader economic turmoil. The good news is that Congress can fix this.
