Mo Brooks sees impending “disaster” in new CBO budget projections

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Congressman Mo Brooks (Republican- district 5) has said that the newly released 10-year budget projections by the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) would mean “financial and economic disaster.”  In a press release, Brooks said “The Congressional Budget Office’s latest 10-year budget projection paints a bleak picture of America’s financial future.”

“As the CBO report makes clear, a lack of tax revenue is not the problem,” Brooks said, “out of control Washington spending is the problem. Washington elected officials have for years spent money American does not have, has to borrow to get, and cannot afford to pay back. In Fiscal Year 2018, the federal government’s revenue was $3.329 trillion while Washington spent $4.108 trillion, leaving a deficit of $779 billion.” He continued,  “America spent 23% more than it brought in. If a business or household handled their finances as poorly as the federal government, that business or household would long ago have gone bankrupt. According to CBO, revenues are up and set to increase every year through 2029, yet deficits continue to explode. Spending, not a lack of revenue, drives America’s dangerously high deficits.”

Brooks concluded, “America’s current fiscal path is ‘unsustainable’ according to United States Comptroller General Gene Dodaro and the Congressional Budget Office. In accounting language, the word ‘unsustainable’ means current finances cannot last and that an American financial disaster is the end result. Stated differently, America’s budget outlook is bleak, and, absent restoration of financial responsibility, America will inevitably experience a debilitating insolvency and bankruptcy that will be triggered the moment America’s creditors decide to stop loaning American even more money that we do not have, have to borrow to get, and cannot afford to pay back. Washington’s reckless spending is the greatest generational theft in American history. It is immoral to burden our children and grandchildren with a ticking time bomb that will inevitably result in an all-out financial meltdown.”

CBO Director Keith Hall agrees with Brooks that debt “is on an unsustainable course.” He suggested revenue increases and cuts to revenue programs or both in order to address the problem. The CBO also predicts that that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year, CNBC reports.