America must stabilize spending and reverse debt growth. That is the budget America needs. To accomplish the goal lawmakers must pursue bold reforms. An area where the president’s budget falls short is in addressing the growth of entitlement spending.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects annual entitlement spending will nearly double in the next decade. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security spending will consume 59% of federal revenues by 2030.
We have known for a decade Medicare and Social Security spending are unsustainable. We have known both are on a path to insolvency. The budget should propose fundamental reforms to these programs. The changes must lower costs while returning control to the American people. Health care and retirement are part of our social safety net. They are not rights.
This 2021 presidential budget proposal does not achieve the goal. It provides only modest reforms to health care and Social Security’s disability insurance program. It will be impossible to reduce spending and stabilize debt without reforming entitlement programs.
We cannot understand the importance of the President leading the way. Trump’s budget would reshape the federal government. It does refocus it toward constitutional priorities. It does not reduce total spending. However, it takes 15 years balancing the budget in 15 years. That’s too little too late.
There is much more work to be done. America’s long-term debt trajectory is unsustainable. Left alone it will negatively impact current and future generations. The president’s budget provides the groundwork to avert such a result. However, he must continue to lead Congress toward bigger and bolder reforms. What’s needed in a federal the budget is not open to debate… it must contain debt reduction.
