Balanced Budgets and Responsible Spending
Today, our nation's debt sits at over $30.5 trillion and continues to climb at an alarming rate. Our nation's leaders are printing and spending money like there is no tomorrow, and they are failing to realize that one day the bill will come due. China owns $1.065 trillion of the United States' debt, second only to Japan. Some experts project that China will surpass Japan as the largest owner of American debt as early as the end of 2022. Having this much debt puts our economy and our nation's future at risk. Add owing debt to nations that hate America, and you have a recipe for disaster. As staggering as our deficit is, we can fix it and put America on the path to prosperity if we act now. No more legislating without budgets, corporate bailouts, subsidies for special interests, or federal funding for illegal immigrants. We must cut all foreign aid and put America first. Many would argue that this is abandoning our allies, but they do not see the same issues here at home that I do. Inflation is destroying the middle class; supply chain issues are now affecting the food supply; families cannot find formula to feed their children; and an unsecured southern border is allowing an endless supply of dangerous drugs (fentanyl, cocaine, meth, and heroin) into our country. It is time for America to invest in ourselves and get our affairs in our own country in order. We must take care of business here at home to ensure that America is the great bastion of hope and freedom for centuries to come.
I propose, as others have in the past, that we pass a balanced budget amendment. We should never spend more money than what is brought into our nation's treasury, with the only exception being times of war. A balanced budget amendment will force both sides of the aisle to come to the table and hold serious discussions on reducing wasteful government spending. We must get our nation's balance sheet healthy so that we can invest in areas such as education, veterans' care, border security, mental healthcare, and making repairs to our crumbling roads and bridges.
President Reagan said it best in his 1981 Inauguration Address:
"But as great as our tax burden is, it has not kept pace with public spending. For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children's future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals."
"You and I, as individuals, can, by borrowing, live beyond our means, but for only a limited period of time. Why, then, should we think that, collectively, as a nation, we're not bound by that same limitation? We must act today in order to preserve tomorrow. And let there be no misunderstanding: we are going to begin to act, beginning today. "
We must act now to build a stronger America and ensure that our country's best days still lie ahead.