Debt could stabilize in 10 years.
Congressional Budget Office Director Phillip Swagel said that reducing deficit spending by 50 percent, as measured as a percentage of the country’s GDP (gross domestic product), would stop the acceleration of the national debt in ten years.
At present, the nation’s annual spending deficit equals 3 percent of GDP—not including the interest payments on the national debt.
This reduction of the deficit over ten years would require a cumulative reduction of $5 trillion in spending over that time period. But, he warned, if federal spending patterns continue as they are, the debt will expand from 98 percent of GDP at the end of 2023 to 118 percent at the end of the next decade.
The Congressional Budget Office listed 17 areas where major spending cuts could achieve the needed changes. They range from putting a cap on federal Medicaid spending, setting flat amounts for Social Security benefits, and putting a tax on greenhouse gas emissions.
Congress is debating an increase in the national debt ceiling while Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden are negotiating to raise the limit. The president wants Congress to pass a “clean” increase to protect any national default on the debt, and Speaker McCarthy said there will be no default but he is insisting on a “responsible” increase to the debt ceiling which must be accompanied by cuts in spending.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Director Swgal as he oversees the Congressional Budget Office.
- For Speaker McCarthy as he advocates for cuts to federal spending.
- For President Biden as he promotes his administration’s budget.
Sources: Wall Street Journal, The Epoch Times
