Crapo to CBO Director: Can We Continue to Spend Ourselves Into Prosperity on Borrowed Money?

Washington, D.C.-Under questioning from Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, the head of the U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirmed that our nation's$18 trillion national debt remains a drag on the economy and job growth, and continued increased federal spending used as a short-term strategy to boost the economy will have serious negative long-term effects on the country's economic future. Crapo, a senior member of the Senate Budget Committee, participated in a hearing this morning to examine CBO's annual Budget and Economic Outlook report where he questioned Director Elmendorf on the urgent need to begin paying down our massive national debt. 

Elmendorf further went on to add that our historically high levels of debt relative to the economy--as it is now and projected to be in the coming years--puts the U.S. in largely unchartered territory and poses a risk to the U.S. economy and the country's fiscal future.  According to the report released by CBO this week, our national debt is expected to grow by a staggering $9 trillion over the course of the next ten years, and the cost of the interest payments on the debt alone will rise to 5.6 trillion-roughly 13.5 percent of total annual federal spending.  

Crapo has signed onto several bills in this Congress that call for balancing the federal budget and controlling spending by moving to a biennial budget process at the federal level. To learn more about this legislation, click here.

To view the clip of the exchange on YouTube click here