PORT ORANGE -- The debt crisis that we’ve all been hearing so much about is a serious matter. This situation didn't just happen overnight; it is the result of years and years of political inaction by our elected leaders.
As we all know, the federal government has gotten into the habit of spending money it doesn’t have.
To make this work, they’ve had to borrow trillions of dollars from creditors, promising to pay it all back later with interest. It’s gotten so bad that the law now prevents Congress from spending any more money.
Unfortunately, the bills on some things that Congress has already bought are now coming due. There’s no money, though, so the only way to pay these bills now is for Congress to vote to raise the “debt limit” – basically, this is the credit line on the federal credit card.
Unless the politicians in Washington do something by next Tuesday, August 2nd, the United States will be unable to pay these bills. While it is technically possible to avoid raising the debt limit, it won’t simply make the debt go away. The money’s already been spent or appropriated. It would be like not paying your monthly credit card bill.
Most of the politicians in Washington now seem to agree that raising the debt limit is inevitable, because allowing the U.S. to default on its debt would seriously damage our economy. But Republicans don’t want to vote to raise the limit without spending cuts, while Democrats want guarantees for “revenue increases” (new taxes) in the future. The situation seems to be at a stalemate.
Now, I am not a federal official. But I think I may have some insight for them. In Tallahassee, we’ve been faced with a very similar situation. For the last several years, because of the slow economy, we’ve had less money to spend to fund state government than we thought we would. (When the economy is bad, people spend less, so the government takes in less money from things like sales taxes.)
Now, I am not a federal official. But I think I may have some insight for them. In Tallahassee, we’ve been faced with a very similar situation. For the last several years, because of the slow economy, we’ve had less money to spend to fund state government than we thought we would. (When the economy is bad, people spend less, so the government takes in less money from things like sales taxes.)
Facing these shortfalls, we’ve had to make some tough choices. We haven’t raised taxes – that would simply increase economic pain across our state and hurt our economic recovery. We haven’t borrowed more money -- we don’t want to pass our debts onto our children and grandchildren. Plus, state law prohibits that kind of borrowing. We haven’t engaged in political posturing or the blame game – that simply wastes time and takes our energy away from the more pressing issues.
We’ve done what families and households all over Florida have had to do – we tightened our belts and made sacrifices. Each year, we’ve cut our spending to reflect the amount we can afford. If we didn’t have the money for something, we didn’t fund it. We also reformed state entitlement programs, since they are projected to eat up larger and larger portions of the state budget in the future.
These reforms will cut costs and keep these programs from swamping the state budget. We even put away money into our reserves, so that we would have access to it in the future. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s the right thing to do.
We can’t pass on the responsibility for our spending to future generations.
We can’t pass on the responsibility for our spending to future generations.
All in all, these actions will lead to a brighter fiscal future for our state. Politicians in Washington face a similar situation. Some may view it as a challenge, but it’s really an opportunity. This debt crisis could be just the right time to get a grip on our national debt and our addiction to spending money we don’t have.
By showing leadership on these issues, they could reach an agreement to get the spending under control before it bankrupts our country.
Our leaders in Washington have a real chance to change our nation’s long-term fiscal outlook for the better. I hope they take it.
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Editor's Note: State Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange (Dist. 28), writes her weekly column exclusively for NSBNews.net, New Smyrna Beach's daily online newspaper and Volusia County's alternative news source.
NSBNews.net, also known as VolusiaNews.net, provides Volusia County 24 / 7 Internet newspaper coverage, 100% free with breaking news, news of record and investigative reports from New Smyrna Beach, FL, for a 21st-century digital world.