Issues > Debt

In 1994, one of the cornerstones of the Republican Contract with America was a proposal for a Balanced Budget Amendment. At the time, they were serious. Today's Republicans appear decidedly less so. Although a Balanced Budget Amendment proposal still appears in the GOP Platform (albeit with the conveniently conditional "except in time of war" clause), no Republican has put forth an economic plan that would actually accomplish a balanced budget.

And yet many conservative voters remain loyal to the GOP, if only because the Democratic Party has proven itself even more unreliable on the matter of addressing our debt and deficit issues. In the late '90s, the combination of divided government and ballooning private enterprise managed to temporarily salve our budgetary woes, but more recent years have demonstrated that even the supposedly fiscally-responsible Republicans cannot be trusted to balance the budget even when they control both the Legislative and Executive branches.

Today, the U.S. government's debt stands at over $9.6 trillion dollars. It continues to grow at a rate of almost $2 billion per day. Despite their rhetoric to the contrary, Republicans have proven that they are unwilling to tackle this task. And despite their justified condemnation of the GOP's fiscal irresponsibility, the Democrats are not capable of reining in government costs to a reasonable and manageable size.

When neither Democrats nor Republicans can be trusted to deal with America's deficit or debt, it must fall to independents to fight that war. As a Bull Moose, I will not vote for any annual budget that is not balanced. I will fight for the reinstitution of the House PAYGO rules. And I will do my best to identify and eliminate wasteful spending, whether it be in the largest Cabinet department or the smallest Congressional appropriation.

I also have more of a personal stake in seeing the budget balanced than do most in Congress. Often, it is said that deficit spending today merely passes the burden to the next generation. Well, I happen to be that next generation. It is I and my peers who are already faced with the consequences of decades of deficit spending, and it is we who will suffer if America's debt is not addressed soon.