FreedomWorks Reacts to Alarming CBO Budget Outlook
Washington, D.C. – Following today’s release of the Congressional Budget Office’s updated Budget and Economic Outlook: 2024 to 2034, Adam Brandon, FreedomWorks president, commented:
“Once again, the CBO reminded Americans how quickly we are heading off a fiscal cliff. There’s good news and bad news. The good news is, we know exactly what is driving us towards insolvency: trust fund programs and interest on the national debt. The bad news is, many in Washington don’t want to have an adult conversation about this issue, let alone begin to address it.
According to CBO projections in the report, ‘Discretionary spending falls to historic lows,’ while ‘Social Security and Medicare boosts mandatory outlays.’ Further, ‘Starting next year, net interest costs are greater in relation to GDP than at any point since at least 1940, the first year for which the Office of Management and Budget reports such data.’
The first step towards having a substantive conversation is the formation of the Fiscal Commission that would be created with the passage of H.R. 5779. The Commission would be tasked with addressing the serious long-term structural problems with federal spending, modernizing trust fund programs, and stabilizing the debt within ten years. Difficult? Yes. Impossible? No. The alternative is to do nothing and watch the depletion of the Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund by 2031, and the Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund by 2033.
If the do-nothing crowd feels comfortable reneging on our promises, that’s on them. FreedomWorks does not. We will continue to push for solutions that address our structural problems and respects the promises we’ve made to the American people.”
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FreedomWorks exists to mobilize the principled center and politically homeless in America who do not feel their values of fiscal responsibility, social tolerance, and individual liberty are being represented in political discourse today. We seek to restore common sense and competence to public policy and American political life.
