[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 149 (Tuesday, September 24, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6344-S6345]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Government Spending

  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, here is a number for everyone to think 
about today: $35.3 trillion--$35.3 trillion. That is our Nation's debt 
number. As you can see, we have gotten there because of years of 
deficit spending.
  Right now, this massive sum, which is our national debt, represents 
more than $100,000 of indebtedness for every man, woman, and child in 
this country. While this number is almost impossible to comprehend, it 
poses one of the greatest threats to our Nation's stability, security, 
and survival.
  To put this issue in perspective, our debt-to-GDP ratio is 121 
percent, meaning our Nation's debt is one-fifth larger than our 
Nation's annual economic output. Think about that. The debt is larger 
than our output. By comparison, our debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of 
World War II was 106 percent. That was the record high before we got to 
the COVID-19 pandemic.
  As our debt balloons, the annual cost of interest payments on the 
debt continues to rise, and this crowds out vital services that ought 
to be going to people who need them. In fact, through the first 6 
months of fiscal year 2024, our country spent more taxpayer money 
servicing the debt than we spent on our military. We spent $440 billion 
on interest payments on our debt. When faced with this reality, 
Tennesseans and Americans will probably wonder: Well, how did we get on 
this path to fiscal disaster?
  Of course, $35.3 trillion in debt didn't just appear overnight. Each 
year, the Federal deficit--and I have got a chart here that goes back 
to 2005 and shows you what the deficit was every year--which is the 
annual difference between government spending and taxpayer money that 
is collected and coming into the Federal Government, all gets tacked on 
to our national debt, and under the Biden-Harris administration, this 
deficit spending has exploded.
  You can see these numbers. Last fiscal year, the Federal deficit was 
nearly $1.7 trillion. It was up more than 21 percent from $1.4 trillion 
in 2022. If you will recall, the Biden-Harris's Inflation Reduction 
Act--the Green New Deal giveaway that Vice President Harris sat right 
up there and cast the tie-breaking vote for--was supposed to somehow, 
miraculously, reduce the debt.
  Still, so many Tennesseans say: How can you say you are going to 
spend more and that is going to reduce what you spend? It is void of 
common sense.
  In fiscal year 2021, meanwhile, the Federal deficit reached more than 
$2.7 trillion. Now, we know some of that overlapped with the final 
couple of months of the Trump administration, but the spending occurred 
primarily under the Biden administration and under that $1.9 trillion 
American Rescue Plan. It was the driving force of this administration's 
four-decade-high inflation rate.

[[Page S6345]]

  Indeed, if you go back and you look at inflation, it was 1.4 percent 
the day that President Biden and Vice President Harris took office. 
Today, the latest number is 20.3 percent. In fact, excluding the 
emergency COVID spending in 2020, deficit spending under the Biden-
Harris administration is at its highest point in American history--as I 
said, 121 percent of GDP. Previously, after World War II, it was at 106 
percent.
  The only other administration that has come even close to these 
numbers under Biden-Harris is the Obama-Biden administration. Before 
congressional Republicans fought for and secured serious spending cuts, 
that administration ran annual deficits as high as $1.4 trillion 
between fiscal years 2009 and 2012.
  With the deficit soaring again, our country needs another serious 
course correction. Yet, under their 2025 budget proposal, the Biden-
Harris administration has called for--and I want you to get this 
number. Their 2025 budget proposal calls for $86 trillion in spending 
over the next 10 years--$86 trillion. It would increase our national 
debt--that $35.3 trillion number--it would increase it by $18 trillion.
  Now, bear in mind, this is spending they are putting on the books. 
They are claiming it. They are out here shouting for it. Bidenomics, it 
is working. But, again, we look at this and say: How can you spend more 
and then say you are reducing the deficit? It is void of common sense.
  Instead of fiscal recklessness, our country needs fiscal 
responsibility. Every year, I have legislation that would slash Federal 
spending--and I do these bills every year--by 1 percent, 2 percent, 5 
percent for discretionary spending, excluding Defense, Homeland 
Security, and Veterans Affairs. I fully believe anybody can find a way 
to save one penny, two pennies, or a nickel out of what they are given 
to spend.
  At a time when growth in government hiring is now outpacing growth in 
private sector hiring, Congress must also address the ballooning size 
of the Federal Government, which now employs nearly 2.4 million 
bureaucrats. It is time to start freezing salaries and freezing Federal 
hiring.
  While there are many more steps that need to be taken to put America 
on a better fiscal trajectory, these moves would begin to tackle the 
threat that is posed to our Nation and to our freedoms because of 
overspending. If we don't get busy with this and find some ways to 
wrestle with this debt and with this out-of-control spending, it is our 
children and grandchildren who will suffer by having to pay that bill.