In a jointly published op-ed this morning, five senators, Jim DeMint, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Ron Johnson, called for a cut, cap, and balance budget -- one that balances at the least within the next 10 years.
The full faith and credit of the United States — on which depends our reputation and, ultimately, our security, prosperity and freedom — is at risk today as never before. In recent years, under presidents and Congresses of both parties, we have racked up yawning deficits and mushrooming debt that now pose a danger to America as we know it.
Without immediate action to control federal spending, deficits will continue to grow as a proportion of gross domestic product, and our accumulated national debt will soon reach world-destabilizing levels.
If you'll remember, last week, Senators DeMint, Lee, and Paul introduced a 5-year balanced budget proposal, "A Platform to Revitalize America." Currently, it's the only proposed budget that balances within the time frame specified in S.J.Res. 10, the Balanced Budget Amendment supported by all 47 Republican senators. It would eliminate four cabinet level agencies - Commerce, Education, Energy, and Housing and Urban Development - reduce most discretionary spending to 2008 levels, repeal ObamaCare and Dodd/Frank, and privatize the TSA.
Now, as the senators point out in their op-ed, there are some who say even balancing the budget within 10-years would cause undue hardship and would amount to harsh "austerity measures." If you think that's the case, allow me to point you in the direction of a recent GAO report identifying 1500 wasteful and duplicative government programs, amounting to around $400 billion that could be saved per year by eliminating just these programs and agencies. If anyone is causing undue hardship on the American people, it's those politicians who refuse to acknowledge waste in the federal budget and take the actions necessary to curb such spending to prevent the piling on of debt on future generations.
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