Op-Ed: Comptroller Elise Nieshalla: Restoring America’s financial solvency
We concur with Senate Resolution 600 and House Resolution 190, which declare our country’s debt is “a national security threat” and that deficit spending is “unsustainable, irresponsible and dangerous.” Furthermore, it gives us great pause that we are speaking in these ominous terms of our great nation, which serves as the beacon of freedom and opportunity for the world.
Balancing the budget and reducing spending are among the most difficult, yet essential, actions our president and members of Congress could take. That is why 36 state financial officers have come together to sign a letter that will be delivered to each of them to convey our support to deal with this problem that is on scale with, if not greater than, the border crisis.
The following facts are deeply concerning:
In fiscal year (FY) 2023, the federal government collected $4.5 trillion in revenue and spent $6.3 trillion;
The cost of servicing the debt in FY 2024 increased 30 percent from FY 2023 to over $1 trillion this year — more than the annual cost of Medicare ($839 billion) and of the U.S. Military ($820 billion);
The national debt is increasing by nearly $2 trillion per year. (Note: It took 205 years for our country to accumulate its first trillion dollars in debt.).
Coupled with higher interest rates, the nearly 50 percent increase since 2019 in federal spending, that has continued well beyond the public health emergency, has drastically accelerated the deterioration of our nation’s fiscal position.
This is a crisis many decades in the making, with responsibility shared by both parties. Solving it will be a generational challenge. Not solving the problem presents high risk that our creditors will question America’s financial stability, the dollar will be replaced as the reserve currency, and we will lose our nation’s status as the global leader.
To prevent this looming day of reckoning, which could easily occur within our and our children’s lifetimes, requires a commitment to begin addressing this situation now.
We write to ignite a much-needed sense of urgency. Our call to action includes the following:
Ensure total 2025 federal spending is less than in 2024;
Implement a concrete plan to put the federal government on a path to a balanced budget as soon as possible; and
Unleash economic prosperity by cutting red tape and tapping into our nation’s vast natural resources with a timeline for reducing the debt that is empowered by a growing economy.
These three actions represent a powerful, disciplined, and promising path forward. By combining fiscal responsibility with our centuries worth of energy resources that leverage advanced clean technologies — we can produce a steady climb out of our massive pit of debt.
As hard as our states work to be fiscally responsible and pass balanced budgets, we are vulnerable to the rapidly dissolving financial position of our country. We as citizens of the states and this country must rally behind President-elect Trump and the men and women in Congress to, with the determination and grit of our country’s founders, restore America’s financial solvency. Our hard-won independence depends on it.
Elise Nieshalla is the Indiana State Comptroller and the Chair of the National Debt Crisis Task Force for State Financial Officers.