The Blaze: America has a spending problem Congress refuses to fix
Washington Democrats just voted against the one rule every American family already lives by: a balanced budget. Last week, I brought my Balanced Budget Amendment to the House floor. It failed. Our national debt is $39 trillion and climbing.
My amendment would have forced Washington to live within its means by phasing in a simple requirement: Congress cannot spend more than it takes in.
Democrats used to support that idea. Last week only one voted yes. Let that sink in.
Opposing a balanced budget is not a noble disagreement. It is ignoring a crisis. Interest on the national debt already costs more than national defense. By midcentury interest payments are projected to be twice as large as defense.
Balancing the budget is not about hitting zero on a spreadsheet. Revenues are not the problem. Overspending is. Families know how this works. They pay the mortgage and groceries first, skip the extras, and live on what comes in. They don’t blow the paycheck on stuff that doesn’t matter. Washington refuses to do the same.
That’s not radical. That’s basic American common sense.
The debt passed $39 trillion on March 17, 2026—up $4.5 trillion in just two years. That breaks down to $289,000 per household, and interest payments alone are projected to hit $1.04 trillion in 2026—that’s $7,700 per household just to service Washington’s tab this year. And as you read this, it’ll be higher.
That’s bad enough. But add in the waste, fraud, and outright abuse, and the picture gets even uglier.
Since 2003, the federal government has made nearly $3 trillion in improper payments. And our states are rife with fraud as well. Just look at Minnesota: a federal prosecutor said half or more of the roughly $18 billion in federal funds sent to 14 state-run programs since 2018 may have been stolen. Half… Or more. That’s billions of your money siphoned off through fake autism centers, phony housing providers, and shell companies. The Feds and States are ripping you off.
We’ve been aware that government spending was out of control for years. But at this scale, it’s not just waste anymore, it’s become a feature of the system. Democrats’ refusal to even vote for a Balanced Budget Amendment shows they have zero interest in fixing it. They’d rather keep the autopilot running and the credit card maxed out than make the tough, common-sense calls that match spending to what American families actually want and need.
That refusal was on full display last week. Democrats chose more debt, higher taxes, and fiscal chaos. This is proof they are not concerned with bankrupting Americans. Almost as alarming as the Democrats’ “no” votes, however, is that we’ve already experienced the consequences of fiscal irresponsibility, and Congress has yet to change course. We already lived through the consequences.
The Biden-Harris years added trillions in new debt giving families the worst inflation in forty years. Prices exploded while paychecks stayed flat—especially for working moms stretching every grocery dollar, seniors on fixed incomes, and anyone living paycheck to paycheck. That’s the real-world price of refusing to balance the books.
I offered a real fix. My Balanced Budget Amendment would make Washington do what every family already does: live on what comes in, pay the important bills first, cut the extras, and stop borrowing from the kids to cover today’s spending. This is not complicated. It is basic math. It is common sense. It is America First.
As we approach America’s 250th birthday, the best gift we can give the next generation is a government that finally lives by the same rule every family does and stops pretending the mountain of debt does not matter.