Subject: Coats: Take Steps Today to Reduce National Debt

In his final State of the Union address earlier this year, President Obama stated that he wanted “to focus on the next five years, the next 10 years and beyond.” But throughout his remarks, he failed to discuss one of the most important issues our country faces in the coming years: our $19 trillion national debt.

Despite all the financial obligations that will eventually come due in the “beyond” years, the president never addressed the topics of fiscal sustainability and debt reduction. This omission was glaring, given how our national debt has risen sharply over the past seven years, from $10.6 trillion when Obama took office to over $19 trillion today.

The good news is solutions do exist to address this situation before it is too late. These include:

A balanced-budget amendment: Passing a balanced-budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution is a good first step to get our country’s fiscal house in order. American families have to live within their means, and a majority of states operate under a balanced-budget requirement in their state constitutions — it is time the federal government does the same.

Responsible spending cuts: Washington does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem. Current tax revenue is above historic levels, but the federal government’s spending still far outpaces its income.

Preserving programs heading for disaster: The main drivers of our national debt are spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. These programs provide much-needed benefits for millions of Americans, and they need to be preserved both for current retirees and future generations. This is not a problem we can continue to ignore. Taking no action will have disastrous consequences for beneficiaries of all these programs.

A civilian BRAC for mandatory spending: Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) is a process by which an independent commission makes recommendations to improve Department of Defense efficiency, and Congress then considers these recommendations as a whole. The BRAC process has worked well for the military and should be applied across the entire federal government. An independent panel of private sector experts should go through all mandatory spending programs to identify ways to cut costs and make federal programs more efficient. Then these recommendations should be put before Congress for an up-or-down vote with no procedural gimmicks or amendments.

If policymakers do not address our fiscal problems, our nation’s ability to pay for essential government functions will be severely constrained, our economy will suffer and our national security will be at risk. The time is now to take steps toward financial stability.

(Source)

[Dan Coats is the senior senator from Indiana and chairman of the Joint Economic Committee.]