OPINION:
In just days, Americans will gather for fireworks, parades and ceremonies marking the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
We will remember the remarkable story of a small group of Colonies that became the most powerful nation in the world, whose Founders pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to build it.
We will celebrate the people who carried that experiment forward. We will talk about what previous generations gave us.
Yet as we celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday, we are also preparing to hand the next generation something no previous generation has left: a federal debt soon expected to exceed $40 trillion.
That is more than $115,000 for every person in the country. The burden has arrived just as America faces slower population growth, higher interest costs and fewer workers supporting more retirees.
It is also a warning that the way Washington budgets is no longer equal to the responsibilities of self-government.
This is not the kind of legacy America should have.
It is impossible to conceptualize the true size of $40 trillion, so let us analyze the ways it shows up in your daily life. The more our federal government borrows through bonds, the higher interest rates will rise, making it more expensive to buy a home, finance a car, start a small business or carry a credit card balance.
In fact, the United States has passed a critical threshold in recent years: We are now paying more interest on our national debt than we are paying for national defense.
This means that one out of every five tax dollars you spend goes only to interest payments — not to roads, schools or essential services. That money is simply to pay the interest our nation owes on the debt.
This ball and chain we drag behind us narrows the choices and freedoms available to the Americans who will come after us. Every single bill that comes out of Congress and increases our annual deficits adds to the tab that future generations must pay for our irresponsibility.
We are celebrating the blessings of liberty while quietly attaching an invoice — a big one.
Congress did not arrive here by accident. Lawmakers in both parties have spent years approving tax cuts and spending increases without paying for them. Budget deadlines have become suggestions. Temporary policies are extended as if they cost nothing. Emergencies become excuses for avoiding discipline long after the emergency has passed.
The result is a government that treats budgeting as a political inconvenience rather than one of its most basic duties. No household, business or state government could operate this way indefinitely. Washington should not pretend that it can either.
America can do better than this. I know because I have seen it done. During the Great Recession, I helped Georgia balance its budget despite 20% across-the-board revenue cuts. The choices were difficult, but leaders took the numbers seriously and communicated to constituents exactly why we needed to make the changes.
Budgets passed with broad bipartisan support because people understood that governing means deciding, not delaying.
Washington must break its cycle of delay and denial. Congress should start by restoring order to the budget process: Pass budgets and appropriations bills on time, set clear fiscal targets and face consequences when it fails to do the work. A “No Budget, No Pay” law would help create accountability in Washington just as it has in California.
Congress should also strengthen pay-as-you-go rules so that new spending and tax cuts do not add to the debt. If a priority is important, lawmakers should explain how they will pay for it.
Finally, leaders in both parties need a credible plan to reduce deficits and stabilize the debt over time. No serious solution avoids trade-offs. The only question is whether we make them responsibly now or under duress later.
This Independence Day, 250 years into our country’s history, we should celebrate the country we inherited, but we should also ask what kind of country we intend to pass on.
The Founders gave us a remarkable inheritance. We should not make our children pay the bill for our failure to protect them.
• Carolyn Bourdeaux is the executive director of Concord Action and the Concord Coalition and a former member of Congress from Georgia.
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