On the recordNovember 3, 2023
This is actually an amendment that is brutal. It is not a happy place to go, but I am trying to be intellectually honest here. Every dime we vote on as Members of Congress is now borrowed. Remember, Mr. Chairman, the last fiscal year we borrowed 8.4 percent of GDP. Every dime of military is borrowed; every dime of nondefense is discretionary, which is functionally what we are going over right now, and, what, $300 billion, $400 billion of Medicare. For my brothers and sisters on the left, their solution is often: Well, raise revenues. Mr. Chairman, we are engaged in this insanity right now where we are borrowing money to send it to entities that have their own taxing authority. I have been the treasurer of the fourth biggest county in America. I managed the bank, I managed the tax collections, and I managed the finances, or parts of the finances. I understand local government and the burdens there, but we had taxing authority. Is it rational in a society, particularly with the higher interest rates, for us to borrow and then send the money to entities with their own taxing authority? Mr. Chair, I understand both on Republicans and Democrats, we despise this because there are lots of things we like. There are things I like that I voted for for years now, but I just look at the math, and I keep wondering: Is it both moral or rational for us to borrow money and send it to entities that have their own taxing authority?…
