U.S Govt. Will Soon Be Spending More on Debt Interest Payments Than National Defense

weaselzippers

Thanks, Barack!
Via Daily Signal:

How do you begin addressing the U.S. government’s nearly $20 trillion debt? For one senator, the answer begins with wasteful spending.

In an interview with The Daily Signal on Monday, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., announced he would release the second edition of his “Federal Fumbles” report on Nov. 28. The first report, which exposed 100 wasteful government spending examples, was released in 2015.

Lankford is offering solutions for stopping the growing national debt, which has exploded under nearly eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency. […]

In creating a new “Federal Fumbles” report, Lankford said he and his colleagues gathered material for it during their day-to-day activities. Lankford said that as issues come to lawmakers’ attention throughout the legislative process, they are added to the government waste report.

“We’re identifying this as we go through our normal oversight process, our normal readings, as we go through GAO [Government Accountability Office] reports, as we look at different agencies, as I’m conducting hearings,” Lankford said.

 

The national debt is not only important to address because of its ramifications on the economy, Lankford said, but also national security.

“It should be a top priority because if we are going to look at our national defense and being able to have a strong military and a good [Veterans Affairs] program … we cannot have a burdening debt and we cannot have a rising amount of interest,” he said. “It pulls out what we should do day to day in our national defense.”

By the beginning of the next decade, Lankford said, the U.S. government will be spending more on debt interest payments than national defense.

“Last year, our federal government spent $223 billion, or 6 percent of all discretionary spending, on debt interest payments alone,” Lankford noted in a press release.

Thank You Daily Signal and Zip.