By Congressman Andy Biggs
Once again, the United States Congress is putting its inability to manage its pocketbook on display for the world to see. Disaster relief? Spitball some numbers, in excess of $100 billion, don’t figure out a way to pay for it; include pedestrian trails and military bases and pet projects in 40 different states — the vast majority not impacted by the hurricanes—and call it good.
Add to that a continuing resolution (CR), which will keep ongoing spending for the next three months, producing an additional $800 billion to the national debt and keep all of the horrible Biden Regime policies in place.
Americans regularly, and rightfully, blame the federal government for the ills that exist in the nation. Much of that disapprobation falls upon Congress and the president. And occasionally people remember the more amorphous blob—the administrative state, the bureaucracy, the swamp.
At the same time, Americans turn to the federal government to solve all problems. Potholes in the streets? Call your local city council who will then contact U.S. senators and members of the House demanding more federal dollars be remanded to the states to manage local issues.
Most Americans, as evidenced by the last election, want a smaller, more fiscally responsible federal government. The massive federal debt, which exceeds $36 trillion, is now in the consciousness of Americans. They may not realize that the propulsion for that out-of-control debt is the structural deficit of the national government: roughly $2.5 trillion per year. That means we spend $2.5 trillion more than we receive in revenue each year.
It also means red ink as far as the eye can see.
Americans want the federal government to be more sensible with the federal budget. So why is the leadership of the House and the Senate holding closed door meetings in order to continue our current spending mess? Frankly, it is because the Speaker vowed never to let there be a lapse in federal spending.
The media long ago crafted its narrative that the world will come to an end if Congress allows even a short lapse in spending to occur. The media, the Left, and the D.C. Uniparty refer to it as a government shutdown. The military-industrial, the education-industrial, the big-Pharma interests, and every other rent seeking area of the economy have a meltdown at the thought of a lapse in federal spending.
They quake at the idea that President Trump will reduce federal spending.
And that brings us back to the CR and the disaster spending packages. Neither will have revenue to pay for or offset the total cost. All related policies that are currently in place will persist. Leadership will have to buy votes by trading additional spending on pet projects for members of Congress and senators.
And, in point of fact, it isn’t even this generation of Americans that will have to clean up this fiscal waste site, it is the future generations who will have to pay the piper when he comes calling.
Cong. Andy Biggs was first elected to serve the people of Arizona’s 5th District in 2016, and currently serves on the House Oversight & Accountability Committee, as well as the House Judiciary Committee, where he is Chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime & Federal Government Surveillance. 
