The following was written by Richard J. Smith, contributing writing for Convention of States.
Much has been said and written about the 2018 omnibus spending bill. The $1.3 trillion bill was signed by President Trump on March 23, 2018. Shockwaves were felt across the nation that a Republican-controlled House, Senate, and President could enact such a law.
With the constant discussion over a bloated budget and deficit, when was the last time you can remember a balanced national budget?
On February 3, 1998, President Clinton claimed to unveil the first balanced federal budget in almost 30 years. He said, “This budget marks the end of an era. An end to decades of deficits that have shackled our economy paralyzed our politics and held our people back.” That sounded great to the American public, coming from a president in office just over five years.
How did President Clinton accomplish this feat? The answer is, he did not balance the budget at all!
Under the Constitution, President’s only job is to sign or veto appropriations bill. Congress controls the purse strings with all spending bills originating in the House of Representatives. Over the years the Congress has gradually delegated more and more of their Constitutional authority over your tax dollars to the President (see the book, Passing the Buck: Congress, the Budget, and Deficits by Jasmine Farrier, 2004, University Press of Kentucky for full details).
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) published their own reports during this time frame of budget success as claimed by President Clinton. The public debt was lowered as reported by the CBO.
However, the public debt is only one of two components to the overall national debt. The other component of national debt is intra-governmental holding (or transfers of debt). Fortunately for President Clinton, the CBO does not report intra-government holdings.
However, the United States Treasury counts debt held by the public and intra-governmental transfers as part of the national debt. The bottomline is that you as a taxpayer are responsible for both.
In fact, the records of the United States Treasury reflect a $281 billion dollar deficit during the same years Clinton claimed a surplus. Myth busted! This modest debt pales in comparison to the tsunami of debt about to hit us.
What is the answer to controlling and lowering (or eliminating) the national debt?
According to the Government Accountability Office, reducing the debt and deficit right now is not enough. Spending reductions and revenue increases need to be made consistently over the next 75 years to keep debt constant as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and address the gap between projected growth in program spending (aside from spending on interest payments) and revenue. If action is delayed, the changes needed will be more significant.
The answer to our national debt problem is not in Washington, D.C. You are the answer.
Only through a constitutional amendment to restrain federal spending can we begin to maintain the stability of our economy.
