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America’s Biggest Threat Isn’t Coronavirus, It’s Congress’s Response To It

election certification in Congress
Image CreditR Boed / Flickr

What Congress is doing, as it always does, is attempting to throw money at the problems that we and state and local legislatures have created.

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Congress, not the coronavirus, is the biggest threat to the future and well-being of the United States of America.

Republicans and Democrats don’t have many bipartisan achievements, but we can confidently take credit for our nation being $26.7 trillion in debt, adding up to roughly $81,223 per every American alive today. That figure becomes all the more troubling once one realizes that is around $20,000 more than the average American has saved for retirement.

Last week, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report that should be causing alarm on Capitol Hill. It says the federal debt held by the public is projected to reach or exceed the entirety of the United States’ gross domestic product (GDP). The last time our national debt exceeded GDP was in 1946, shortly after the nation was fighting and financing the Second World War

You wouldn’t know our nation is facing a fiscal crisis if you were to stroll about the halls of Capitol Hill, which have remained mostly empty for the past six weeks. Last week, while the House remained out of session, the Senate returned to resume “debate” on what could amount to another 10-figure relief package.

If and when anything passes the upper chamber, it will assuredly not meet the $3.5 trillion request coming from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her Democratic cohorts. Leadership will continue to play this “game,” and the American people will lose.

The chosen few in political leadership in Washington run the game. What does it look like? Trillions of dollars of your children’s money being divided up with three people in the room: Pelosi, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The rest of Congress has no say. We are held hostage until they agree, and find out about the details no sooner than the press.

What Congress is doing, as it always does, is attempting to throw money at the problems that we and state and local legislatures have created. We’ve locked down our economy, isolated Americans from their loved ones and friends, forced stringent protocols on businesses, allowed mob rule to take over our cities, and now believe that more money, not a complete reversal of these failed policies, is the path forward. It is patently absurd.

The best thing we, the elected leadership of America, can do is move towards a full reopening. We must release the restrictions of businesses and the American people to let them choose how to best return to normalcy.

If we continue down the path of irresponsibly spending and trying to centrally plan our economy, the outlook is dire. According to the International Monetary Fund, the United States is the only nation among the world’s most developed economies whose debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to continue rising after next year. The United States is now in the company of Japan and Greece for having the highest debt-to-GDP ratio.

Washington is all about power rather than solving this huge and dangerous problem. It’s politically easier for both parties to hide behind massive legislation and point fingers when things don’t work out. We don’t need more politics, we need leaders to stand up for hardworking Americans who are tired of this political gamesmanship.

There is another way: put a bill on the floor and open it up for amendment. Let us debate and vote on amendments. And when there is no more to offer, let us vote on the bill.