Mike Crapo Speaks On National Debt

Senator Mike Crapo Speaks on National Debt
Elise Sakievich
[email protected]
REXBURG - Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho spoke to the townspeople of Madison County Friday,
focusing on a threat to the country that, according to Crapo, outranks ISIS.
Its probably the biggest threat our nation faces, he said. This is a threat thats going to
tear our country down if we dont deal with it.
Crapo acknowledged the many dangers to America. But the presentation hes been giving
throughout all of Idaho focuses on only one: our national debt.
We are having a debate in Washington D.C. about whether we have a national debt
crisis, he said.
According to Crapo, President Obama is convinced that the crisis is over. He and others
in Washington are referring to the 66 percent drop in deficit over the last six years.
Crapo said those in Washington who say everything is under control are those who
support the taxing and spending philosophy.
What they dont find out is that the two years preceding the time they started counting,
the deficits increased by almost 800 percent, he said.
The chart Crapo displayed showed deficits increasing by 1.4 trillion dollars within two
years. When the deficit went back down, Washington said wed won, he said.
What they dont point out is that we still have a $450 billion deficit, Crapo explained.
The White House and Congressional budgeters tell Crapo that the pathway of increasing
deficit will return if Washington continues on its current path.
The national debt today, in 2015, is $18.5 trillion, Crapo said.
According to Crapos information, if nothing is done about this issue, that debt will grow
to $27.3 trillion over next 10 years.
This is a problem, he said. A huge drag on our economy.
Crapo went on to describe the presidents budget and the process it goes through.
The President gets the first step, Crapo said. He makes a proposal, then the House and
Senate each develop their own budgets.
They conference their budgets and agree on one among themselves if they can. Though
they havent had a budget they could agree on for the past four to five years, Crapo said, because
of the fighting in Washington.
President Obama has proposed a budget that shows a 7.5 percent increase in spending in
one year, according to Crapo. Over the next ten years, the interest on our national debt will
become $5.3 trillion.
Before continuing, Crapo explained the two categories of spending in Washington:
discretionary spending and mandatory spending.
Mandatory spending covers what are called entitlement programs. Congress doesnt
vote on this category because its made of laws voted on by previous congresses and approved by
previous presidents.
The money is spent regardless of whether congress ever meets or votes again, Crapo
said. Its on auto-pilot. The three biggest of them you know well: Medicare, Medicaid and
Social Security.
If you qualify for program, youre entitled to be paid, Crapo said. Those three programs,
with interest on our national debt (also mandatory spending) make about 95 percent of the
category.
Crapo said some would like to vote on such expenditures, but would require the approval
of 60 votes in the Senate, the majority of the House and the president.
Today we dont have a willing President whod sign any bills wed send him to try and
control this spending, Crapo said. Until we can get that line-up of political agreement in
Washington, this mandatory spending goes on auto-pilot.
The second category, discretionary spending, is voted on. Crapo said roughly half of it is
the national defense budget, while the other half covers everything else.
The President is proposing $5.3 trillion of new spending, and $2.1 trillion of new taxes,
Crapo said.
Weve got to have a stronger budget, he emphasized. What we propose will not have a
tax increase. It will be on a pathway to balance and it will control spending. We will be brutally
attacked for controlling the spending in Washington. Thats a fight youll see within the next two
weeks.
Crapo said more needs to be spent on national defense. Interest today is over $300
billion, taking that much out of what our national defense needs.
According his information, in five years interest will become greater than all non-defense
spending on all parts of government (except for entitlement spending). Just two years from that,
it will be greater than the entire national defense budget.
After that, Crapo said, it goes out of control.
Weve got to deal with our national debt, he said. Thats not something I need to
convince Idahoans of, but it is something that we have to convince our nation of.
Crapo served on the Bowles-Simpson Commission, a group appointed by the President at

the beginning of his presidency with the purpose of dealing with the nations debt.
Crapo said they put together a plan that would have changed the numbers that he was
showing that day.
The problem in Washington wasnt that taxes were too low, he explained. It was that
spending was too high.
In coming to a solution, Crapo said the commission realized they didnt have to raise
taxes.
They recognized that our tax code is so anti-competitive to our own business interest in
America. It is so expensive to comply with, so complex and frankly so unfair that it had to be
fixed.
An economist told them that if they would fix the tax code instead of raising taxes, they
could generate the greater revenue that the president wanted by simplifying the code and
reducing rates.
What we proposed was to take out the current system, to clean out loopholes,
expenditures, deductions, credits, and simplify the code.
They got the agreement to move from a six-tiered system to a three-tiered system with
lower rates. An economist told them it would generate more by stimulating economic growth and
allowing America to become competitive again.
The President walked away from that proposal, Crapo said. We werent able to do it.
Crapo told those at the meeting that the point of his presentation was to help people take
the necessary stance against this issue, to get serious about it.
He concluded his presentation with a short talk on the regulatory reach of the
government, another issue, and then answered questions.

Mike Crapo Speaks On National Debt

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Senator Mike Crapo Speaks on National Debt

Crapo served on the Bowles-Simpson Commission, a group appointed by the President at

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