The Congressional Budget Office projects the U.S. national debt will increase by $20 trillion in just 10 years. This isn’t sustainable, and it’s also why it’s perfectly reasonable for Republicans to push for savings in the budget.
Some facts for reference: only about 1/3 of our spending is discretionary, meaning the annual budget we fight about every year. This includes all spending on government agencies like Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Environmental Protect Agency, Transportation Department, etc. And the other 2/3rd? That’s all “mandatory” spending, which means programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That’s also the fastest growing area of spending because our population is aging. People are living longer and having less kids, which has made these retirement safety nets fiscally unsustainable.
Unfortunately, most people don’t even know these basic facts about the budget, which makes it easy for opportunistic politicians to lie about the debt and who is to blame for the debt crisis. The truth is that it’s everyone’s fault, and we need everyone to be all in for a solution.