Tom Tauke: Neither Joe Biden nor Donald Trump seems willing to address the national debt

Tom Tauke is a director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and former congressman from Iowa. He recently wrote an opinion piece in the Des Moines Register, and excerpt of which is below.

When listening to the recent presidential debate, it was clear the candidates are unwilling to seriously address a critical issue facing our country: the skyrocketing portion of our national budget going to interest on our debt. $892 billion a year. $2.4 billion a day. $100 million an hour.

It’s a sum so mammoth it eclipses what we will spend on national defense this year. It’s the second largest line item in the federal budget, behind only Social Security. It’s eating up 13% of our national budget, and seriously squeezing our ability to spend for current needs. And as the debt balloons, the interest payments consume a bigger share of our resources. This year more than one-third of personal income tax revenue goes to interest payments.

Read the entire piece here.

Published works by members or staff of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget do not necessarily reflect the views of all members or staff of the Committee.