With The Out Of Control National Debt Now $23 Trillion, Congress Must Freeze Spending

[HARDCORE]

With the out of control national debt now $23 trillion, Congress must freeze spending


By Rick Manning

While Democrats like to blame the Trump tax cuts for recent deficits, the fact is that federal tax revenues increased in both FY 2018 and FY 2019. Deficits grew because spending outpaced revenue growth. Rather than worsening deficits, the Trump tax cuts might actually have helped prevent larger deficits by averting a recession.

After all, the world economy is slowing; and had the U.S. economy gone into recession, then tax revenues would have almost certainly declined — and the deficits probably would have been larger.

Nonetheless, the rising debt, now $23 trillion, is a threat to our national security and our economy, and it must be addressed. That is why Congress should, at a minimum, freeze spending for the next three years to allow time for revenues to catch up with expenditures.

Nearly two years have passed since the Republican Congress passed Trump’s tax cuts; here are some key numbers from the two fiscal years that have ended since that time. In FY 2018, federal revenues increased by about $14 billion while spending increased by over $120 billion. In FY 2019, revenues increased by over $130 billion while spending rose by nearly $340 billion. So the growing deficits are not the result of federal revenues dropping, but rather Congress’s unwillingness to align spending with income.

With the national debt rising, interest on the debt is rising too. In FY 2019, interest on the debt cost taxpayers over $574 billion. Just how much is $574 billion? It is more than nine different Cabinet agencies are estimated to have spent in the last fiscal year. Those nine agencies are the Education Department, the Energy Department, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, the Interior Department, the Justice Department, the Labor Department, the State Department, and Veterans Affairs. Of course, it is important to remember that interest rates are very low right now, but that could change causing interest costs to spike.

The nation’s debt is an existential threat to the nation. Nearly a decade ago, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, declared, "The most significant threat to our national security is our debt." Obviously, the national debt has only gotten worse in the intervening years. As interest on the debt continues to consume a larger and larger portion of the budget, it will crowd out necessary spending for national priorities, including defense.

High levels of debt also slow economic growth. Part of the reason for this is that when investors put their money into government bonds, there is less money available to invest in new and growing businesses. This phenomenon may help explain why the U.S. economy has not grown faster in recent years in spite of generous tax cuts and regulatory reform.

While the national debt and interest on it is growing, we are also facing a looming gap between the funds available and the funds needed to pay Social Security and Medicare benefits. In fact, according to the latest report from the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, the Social Security trust funds will be depleted by 2035, and the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will be depleted by 2026. The Trustees also project that next year, for the first time in nearly forty years, Social Security will pay out more than it will take in.

With the national debt over $23 trillion, Baby Boomers retiring, and Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds running out of money, we simply cannot afford to keep adding hundreds of billions of dollars a year to the debt. To begin to address this problem, Congress should, at least, freeze spending through 2022.

Richard McCarty is the Director of Research at Americans for Limited Government Foundation.

[Boats]

10 Perks Congress Has That You Don't

However, what could be most disconcerting thing of all are the perks members of Congress get as a "thank you" for serving their country. I've highlighted countless company perks over the years that companies grant their employees, and some did involve exorbitant pay packages, free gym memberships, and hefty retirement plans. But there are few company perks that compare with these 10 taken together.

1. A base annual salary of $174,000

Admittedly, there should be some premium in pay for setting the laws and running the country as elected officials, and certain companies do grant their employees exorbitant pay packages, but being a member of Congress includes a minimum annual paycheck of $174,000, which is more than three times higher than the average private-sector salary of $51,986 in 2010, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

2. Free airport parking

How much would you pay for an airport parking spot that was directly next to the terminal you landed at? For Congress, it's a big fat zero. At one time in its history, long before the Airport Authority controlled Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Dulles International Airport in the Washington, D.C., area, the federal government operated them. When the Airport Authority took over in 1987, as a courtesy, it kept 92 combined spots reserved between both airports for members of Congress. At a rate of $22 per day, that represents almost $740,000 in forgone revenue annually for Reagan National.

3. A free, on-site gym for House members

Not only are members of the House of Representatives treated to their own exclusive gym, but it also comes with flat-screen TVs, a swimming pool, a sauna and stream room, and paddleball and basketball courts. This wouldn't be too bad, except that Congress kept its gym open during all 16 days of the government shutdown, putting the onus of cleaning and maintenance fees squarely on taxpayers.

4. Weakened insider trading restrictions

Despite passing the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, perhaps known better as the STOCK Act in 2012, Congress gutted the primary disclosure component earlier this year. While still making it difficult to make trades on inside information, this means they don't have to publicly disclose their trades and potential insider knowledge. It's laudable they passed the restrictions, but it's hard keep them honest if it's difficult to access the information.

5. Up to 239 days off (Wow!!!)

According to the congressional calendar released in late 2012, there were 126 congressional sessions on the docket without a single five-day work week, leaving members of Congress with 239 days to work outside of Congress. Sometimes this means working within their home state, and in other cases it can mean a vacation. Members of Congress get the entire month of August off, get two weeks around Easter off, and weren’t scheduled to work a single weekend, according to this year’s docket. Of course, the congressional docket can be changed and, as we saw as recently as the debt-ceiling debate, members of Congress will indeed work weekends as deemed necessary.

6. Congress receives health-care subsidies under Obamacare

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, individuals are required to have health insurance or face a penalty that increases each year through 2016. For individuals earning less than four times the annual poverty level (about $46,000) or families earning less than four times the poverty level (close to $92,000), they are eligible to receive a partial or full subsidy on their health insurance through Obamacare's health exchanges. Congress, however, also gets a large portion of its health insurance subsidized by the public on Obamacare's health exchanges despite making more than four times the poverty level.

7. A better retirement plan

According to figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, the average Social Security recipient is going to net $15,000 a year in benefits while a public workers' pension will average around $26,000. By contrast, a retired member of Congress who's served 20 years will average $59,000 annually in pension benefits. In addition, Congress members (actually all federal workers) have access to the Thrift Savings Plan, a 401(k)-like investment vehicle with fees of just 0.03%. To put that into context, Bankrate notes that this means just $0.27 in fees for every $1,000 for the Thrift Savings Plan, compared with the average 401(k), which charges around $5 in fees for every $1,000! Over a lifetime, that can mean thousands less in fees for congressional employees compared to public- and private-sector workers.

8. Members of Congress fly free

OK, so not every flight is free for members of Congress, but a vast majority of flights between their home states and Washington, D.C., are funded with taxpayer money. What's really unique is that lawmakers are afforded the ability by airlines to book themselves on multiple flights without being charged multiple times because of their very liquid schedules.

9. Death benefits

Should a member of Congress be killed while in office, the surviving family of that member would be entitled to receive at least one year's worth of salary, or a minimum of $174,000. In contrast, family members of soldiers in the United States armed forces who perish while defending our country domestically or overseas are entitled to $100,000 in military death benefits, as well as funeral and burial expenses.

10. A $1.2 million to $3.3 million allowance

Members of the House receive a $900,000 annual allowance for a staff as well as a $250,000 budget for travel and office expenses, paid for entirely by taxpayers. Each senator, on the other hand, gets a budget close to $3.3 million based on figures from the Congressional Research Service. Again, certain companies do offer lavish pay packages and perks to employees so it may be a bit hypocritical to pick on Congress for this one point. However, I’m not aware of any business out there where all employees equally get at least $1.2 million in expenses at their disposal.

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Personal note:

279 days off - WOW! How in the hell did we ever get so top heavy! It's no wonder people want to work for the Government. And they piss and moan about our economy. They give money to other countries can you imagine how well off we American's could be if that money was in our pockets.

Did they ever pay back the Social Security monies they took away from us? NO!! As I recall it was borrowed with a promise to paid it back - yea right! We paid into it - but they took our money and never paid it back. I do believe Our Leadership is way over paid for services "not rendered" to its Citizens.

Back on 2011 while speaking to members of Congress about its 9% approval rating, "We're almost now at the margin of error for zero!" Their performance and profit making makes us look like fools. We get the scraps (if that) and they end up living the good life without any performance gains for it's citizens. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE!!??

They borrowed money (or made more - thereby increasing our debt further) - to give to other Countries - do we ever get reimbursed or are these freebie's? They hand out money to Foreign Leader's and what do they hand us? Higher taxes and less medical care. This really doesn't sit well with me. How About You?

Boats