Our nation faces many significant threats. Iran is quickly developing its nuclear weapons capabilities, North Korea is launching missiles with impunity in so-called test launches, China is circumventing international trading norms and restricting the export of critical minerals, and terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah are not only set on the elimination of Israel but also the destruction of the United States.
These tangible escalations of violence, intimidation practices, economic warfare, and assaults on our values are highly concerning and must be addressed. However, our nation also faces a covert threat that grows increasingly uncontrollable with each passing day. That threat is our national debt, which recently topped $36 trillion.
The facts about the national debt are dire, and its dangerous trajectory has only accelerated in recent years. In February 2022, our national debt hit $30 trillion, and in October of the same year, it peaked at $31 trillion. In June 2023, it eclipsed $32 trillion; three months later, it surpassed $33 trillion; and about three months after that, it crossed $34 trillion. In July 2024, our national debt surpassed $35 trillion, and just 118 days later, we registered $36 trillion in debt.
That means that every U.S. household shoulders roughly $274,000 of the national debt, and each person bears about $107,000. Even more alarming, the federal government paid $892 billion in interest payments alone on our national debt in fiscal 2024, eclipsing the amount we spend on our military annually.
This trend cannot continue unchecked. Congress needs to follow Iowa’s lead and balance our budget, eliminate unnecessary government spending, and make sensible cuts to regulations to grow our economy and, in turn, reduce our debt-to-GDP ratio.
First, to balance our federal budget, we have to actually pass fiscally responsible budgets annually. Congress hasn’t achieved that basic goal since 2015, and the last time that our nation had a balanced budget was 23 years ago.
However, even failing to pass a budget, the federal government registered a $1.8 trillion budget deficit for fiscal 2024, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that we will produce another nearly $2 trillion budget deficit for fiscal 2025 — if not larger. One of the most basic functions of Congress should be to pass balanced budgets every year, just like every American family, farmer, and business must do every day, month, and year.
Second, we must cut reckless spending and eliminate the waste, fraud, and abuse that has plagued our government for far too long. Recent findings on government mismanagement have determined that more than 150,000 federal employees owe a combined $1.5 billion in taxes, useless studies have cost taxpayers an obscene amount of money, the border crisis has cost taxpayers over $150 billion, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program erroneously pays out $1 billion in benefits every month.
On the other hand, enormous spending bills such as the Democrats’ nearly $2 trillion American Rescue Plan spurred 40-year-high inflation and added to our deficit. We have to do everything possible to reverse these awful spending habits, pinpoint areas where we can save taxpayer dollars, and pay down the debt.
Finally, we have to reduce our debt-to-GDP ratio, which stands at 123%. In other words, our total national debt is 123% of our gross domestic product, which is the monetary value of the total amount of final goods and services produced in our country over a certain period of time, usually a year. One way that we can do that is by growing our economy, and one way to grow our economy is by cutting red tape.
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Letting Americans keep more of their hard-earned money through a simplified tax code powers our economy. Reducing burdensome and time-consuming regulations on our businesses and farmers lets them focus more of their time on supporting their employees, doing their jobs, and making a profit. Eliminating unnecessary taxes and red tape on energy producers, including Iowa biofuels, can lower gas and utility prices and allow our nation to retain its status as a net exporter of energy. These combinations would make America more prosperous and more fiscally stable in the process.
While this is a ground-level analysis of what needs to be done to get our fiscal house in order and prevent a debt crisis down the road, these key provisions offer a commonsense framework for debt reduction. In Iowa, we’ve cut taxes, reduced wasteful spending, eliminated duplicative government programs and agencies, and preserved our balanced budget in the process. It’s time for the federal government to prioritize our national debt and recognize the covert threat that it poses to our national security.
Rep. Randy Feenstra is a member of Congress representing Iowa’s 4th Congressional District.
Roby Smith is the state treasurer of Iowa.