Our national debt is over $21 trillion and growing. It presents one of the greatest long term challenges we face as a country, one which we must all come together to confront. For Fiscal Year 2019, the federal budget is estimated to be $4.407 trillion. This comes in three spending categories. Mandatory Spending ($2.738 trillion), Discretionary Spending ($1.305 trillion) and Interest on the National Debt ($363 billion). Depending on economic growth and government revenue, there is projected to be around a $1 trillion deficit. Due to this concern, I have long supported a Balanced Budget Amendment to restrain federal spending to the amount of revenue it collects. On April 12, 2018, the House of Representatives voted to propose a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Unfortunately, due to Democrat opposition the resolution did not have enough support to pass. However, I remain committed to working with anyone, Republican or Democrat, to bring greater balance to the U.S. budget. |