The debt ceiling debate provides no love for taxpayers 

The constitutionally mandated annual State of the Union address (SOTU) provides an opportunity for the president to tout his achievements and make his case to the American people for more support of his agenda. It also provides the chance for critics of the president to note the issues that he either mentions in passing or completely fails to discuss. 

In his Feb. 7, 2023, SOTU, President Biden failed to describe how he planned to cut wasteful spending, just like his two prior addresses. And he made only a passing reference to the need to raise the debt ceiling by June 5, 2023, despite his involvement in the same process in 2011, when he agreed to $2 trillion in spending cuts and an increase in the debt ceiling as part of the Budget Control Act, which set spending caps for the next 10 years. Instead, the president focused on what he considered wins from last Congress, even though several of those so-called wins were actually losses for the American people, increasing costs at the gas pumps and grocery stores through the imposition of many Green New Deal policies, creating the looming threat of massive IRS audits by increasing the number of auditors by 87,000, and contributing to a massive $31.5 trillion national debt. 

Increases in the debt ceiling are necessary to prevent the government from defaulting on its legal financial obligations, including paying “Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds, and other payments.” Past discussions surrounding increasing the debt ceiling, which is considered necessary to prevent the federal government from defaulting on its payments and risking an economic crisis, have included efforts to stop or reduce wasteful spending and reform the budget process. The debt ceiling has been raised by Congress 78 times since 1960, most recently in October 2021.

However, the key issue that Congress and the White House must address is the runaway spending that is happening across the federal government. With all the new spending programs enacted through the American Rescue Plan Act, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020, the Coronavirus Response and Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, more than $5 trillion in new spending has occurred in short period of time.   

The improving jobs numbers touted by the president during his SOTU address should be taken with a grain of salt, according to one fact-checking article, which indicated that much of the improvement in employment numbers was generated by people returning to work following the pandemic, and labor participation still behind the pre-pandemic level of 63.4 percent. The same article noted that “Consumer prices were still up 6.5% in December from a year earlier,” and families are struggling to pay “for essential goods, like food and rent, that are increasing at a faster rate than the overall rate of inflation.” 

After President Biden repeatedly said that he would not negotiate with Republicans because they did not have a plan, on Feb. 8, 2023, the House Budget Committee released 10 recommendations as part of their commitment “to finding reasonable and sensible solutions to our nation’s debt crisis. This includes identifying wasteful, inefficient, and unnecessary federal spending.” The proposals include recovering $100 billion in unspent COVID-19 relief funds, reinstating work requirements for welfare program eligibility, eliminating the forgiveness of student loans, and eliminating improper payments that now total $281 billion.   

President Biden should get past his unwillingness to earnestly look for areas where the government can reduce spending, reform the budget process, and reinvigorate the economy.  While he has at least met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), if he continues to resist tying spending cuts to the debt ceiling, he will fail to recognize the impact of rampant government spending on taxpayers. Americans sit down at the kitchen table and review their budgets to find ways to pay their bills, sometimes having to choose among buying food, filling up the car with gas, and heating or cooling their homes as they suffer from the inflation caused by President Biden’s massive spending spree. The White House and Congress must sit down at the table and do what is necessary to stop the waste and reduce the national debt. 

Deborah Collier is vice president of Policy and Government Affairs.