Washington Is Addicted to Spending

Washington Is Addicted to Spending

“Washington politicians have become addicted to spending and debt.”

That’s former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, a No Labels co-founder, on the news that the federal debt now tops $31 trillion.

“We’re mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren at record rates at a time that they’re going to end up facing increasing competition in an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world,” Walker told No Labels on Thursday.

There’s a more immediate danger as well.

Said Walker: “Interest is the fastest-growing expense in the federal budget, and what do you get for interest? Nothing.”

Indeed, the federal government will spend about $399 billion just on interest on the debt this year. That’s more than twice what the federal government spends on education, and nearly four times the full annual budget for the Department of Homeland Security.

It wasn’t always this way.

Walker: “We had a moment of bipartisanship in the 1990s. … [House Speaker Newt] Gingrich and [President Bill] Clinton and others worked together to restore fiscal sanity. We had four years of surpluses and two years where we reduced the debt.”

No Labels is working to make such cooperation possible again. Please join us.

AMERICA — NEEDS YOUR HELP.