The Congressional Budget Office released its latest 10-year budget estimates this week. The news is bleak. Of greater concern, however, is that few elected officials in Washington seem to care.
The report contains a number of unsurprising yet eye-opening nuggets about the inability of Congress to responsibly manage the nation’s financial concerns. The deficit for fiscal 2025 was $1.775 trillion and is projected to rise steadily over the next decade to an astounding $3.115 trillion by fiscal 2036, nearly a quarter of GDP.
The red ink keeps gushing despite the anticipation of record revenues. The CBO expects tax collections to total $5.6 trillion in the current fiscal year, rising to $8.3 trillion by fiscal 2036, increasing more than 48%. Yet spending will grow at a more rapid pace, from $7 trillion to $11.4 trillion.
Democrats who believe the country has a revenue problem take note.
Higher costs for entitlements — an aging population carries a price tag — and interest payments on the debt will swallow up vast amounts of taxpayer money. “All told, net interest outlays are projected to increase from 3.3% of GDP in 2026 to 4.6% in 2036,” the CBO concludes, “at which point they would account for nearly one-fifth of all federal spending.”
This should concern both Democrats and Republicans. Rising debt payments represent the culmination of years of fiscal folly and threaten a number of progressive spending priorities.
The CBO’s projections make a number of assumptions about economic growth rates that may or may not be accurate. They also reflect “what would happen to federal spending, revenues, deficits and debt if current laws governing spending and taxes generally remained the same,” the report notes. The passage of more fiscally sound policies could alter the nation’s course. Yet Congress has shown little inclination to act as the problem worsens each passing year.
“There are no surprises here or bright spots of encouraging news: Our nation’s deficits, debt, interest payments and trust funds are all in terrible shape,” noted Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, in a news release. “Fiscal leadership is not easy — it requires committing to not making the situation worse by withholding support for new legislation that is debt financed, focusing on actual solutions rather than casting blame, and being willing to make tough policy choices that will be the centerpiece of any serious debt deal.”
Time is running short. Reserves in the Social Security Trust Fund are expected to dry up by 2033 or 2034. Medicare is in a similar predicament. Voters who prefer fiscal responsibility to national bankruptcy should support candidates committed to action rather than destructive inertia.
Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service
