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Floor Speech
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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.
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.
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