U.S. Rep. Case leads bipartisan effort to address nation’s deteriorating federal finances

U.S. Rep. Ed Case, who represents Hawai‘i’s House District 1 in Washington, recently announced that his 47-Member U.S. House Problem Solvers Caucus released its fiscal stability framework to reverse the rapid deterioration of the nation’s fiscal condition.

“Our federal budget continues on an increasingly unstable and unsustainable trajectory,” said Case in a release about the action.

The Democrat serves as vice chairman of the Problem Solvers Caucus and co-chairman — with Republican U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina — of the Problem Solvers Caucus Budget, Tax, Appropriations, Debt and Deficit Working Group, which developed the framework.

“Not only common financial sense, but every metric — annual deficits, total debt, growth in total debt, debt-to-[gross domestic product] ratio, interest payments as a percentage of debt and [gross domestic product], interest payments as the now-largest share of the federal discretionary budget and even larger than defense, and more — all paint a bleak and deteriorating picture that places our economy, national security and critical programs at great risk,” Case added.

According to a recent report by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, the gross national debt is now at $38.4 trillion, with the increase in gross national debt from the past year amounting to $6,566.84 per person — or $16,574.81 per household — while total gross national debt amounts to $112,881 per person — or $284,914 per household.

Interest on the national debt is now the largest single expenditure in the federal discretionary budget, which is allocated annually by the House Committee on Appropriations, on which Case is serving his 8th year.

The Problem Solvers Caucus framework is as follows:

• With national debt and debt-to-gross domestic product at record levels and annual interest on the debt now exceeding even defense, we must act now to restore fiscal stability.
• We endorse a bipartisan, inclusive fiscal commission to deliberate and provide Congress with clear options to do so.
• We endorse House of Representatives 3289, the Fiscal Commission Act, and House of Representatives 222, the Sustainable Budget Act, as vehicles to advance fiscal stability.
• We urge the House Committee on the Budget to hear and advance both House bills above and other legislative proposals to create a fiscal commission and otherwise pursue fiscal stability.

Click here to read the Problem Solvers Caucus release about adoption of the framework.

The Problem Solvers Caucus is a group of lawmakers — split between Republicans and Democrats — committed to advancing commonsense solutions to key issues facing the nation.