Irresponsible politicians- what’s new?

The United States borrowed $944 billion in the first 11 months of fiscal year 2022, including $217 billion in August, according to the latest  Monthly Budget Review from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). 

The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget:

As we approach the end of the fiscal year – and still without a budget in place for next year – this latest report is a reminder that the budget deficit remains alarmingly close to the trillion-dollar mark and will only grow if lawmakers do nothing to reverse course.

In early August, policymakers showed real signs of restoring fiscal responsibility. They made the pivot to real deficit reduction with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, but that lasted barely a week. Instead of continuing down a fiscally responsible path, President Biden signed an executive order forgiving massive amounts of student loan debt. This move wiped out the ten-year deficit reduction enacted by the IRA twice over with a stroke of a pen. 

Over the past eleven months, we’ve witnessed 40-year high inflation, increased interest rates, and several pieces of budget-busting legislation. We are borrowing $3 billion per day – a previously unthinkable amount – and there is more bad fiscal news to come with Medicare only six years from insolvency and Social Security insolvency only 13 years away. We need our political leaders to rise to the challenge of putting the country on a strong fiscal footing.