America is Addicted to Spending

This week, Congress voted to raise the debt limit to pay for the historic spending of the past year. President Biden recently tweeted that the US "always pays its debts when they are due," which is why he supports fast tracking the process to raise the debt limit. Sadly, his argument only puts us in a never-ending cycle of borrowing more to finance debt instead of committing to getting our financial house in order.

In 2021, the Democrat- controlled Congress spent $6.8 trillion dollars, which is over $20,500 each for every man, woman, and child in the United States. And just last week, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that President Biden's so-call Build Back Better Act could cost $3 trillion more over the next ten years. With all that spending, it's no wonder that we hit the nation's debt limit: a limit we'll most likely hit again in 2023 unless we change course now.

Unfortunately, that is not as easy as it may seem. Americans are addicted to government programs and the spending required to keep them going. As a proponent of limited government and fiscal responsibility, I believe our government should not control the lives of American citizens from cradle to grave, as modeled in President Biden's Build Back Better plan. While it is easy to accept seemingly free goods and services, it is never truly free. Each one of us pays for every "freebie" in our taxes and through debt to foreign countries like China.

Our national debt has been a cause of concern for many Republicans and some moderate Democrats for quite a while, but the recent spending by this Congress to expand the federal government's role in Americans' lives has further raised the alarm. After all, the closest thing to immortality is a government program. This year the massive, partisan COVID-19 relief bill established a child tax credit with an expiration date of one year. Behind the scenes, the expiration was set with a wink and a nod between Democrats knowing that once the law was in place, it would continue to be extended indefinitely, adding to the debt far beyond the original quote.

I voted against raising the debt limit because we must stop the cycle of endless spending. I simply couldn't be party to raising the debt limit without also committing to a concrete plan to lower our future spending. Like every family and every business in America, we must balance our checkbooks and live within our means. It is the responsibility of Congress to be good stewards with the funds entrusted to us by the citizens of this nation, instead of piling debt onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. I will always fight for fiscal responsibility and advocate for a limited government for the sake of individual liberty and the economic freedom of the next generation who will be harmed by our reckless spending.