Fiscal Responsibility & Congressional Accountability
VoteJan: For Curbing Debt and Deficits!
Jan Schneider is, of course, concerned about budgets, deficits and the national debt.
A Growing National Debt
The United States national debt is close to $40 trillion, which equates to around $116,000 for each citizen and more than three times that amount per taxpayer. The debt also greatly exceeds the gross domestic product of close to $31 trillion for 2025.
Another Debt-Limit Crisis Is Approaching
Meanwhile, the U.S. debt ceiling was raised to $41.1 trillion in July 2025. Forecasters project the national debt will reach this $41.1 trillion ceiling as early as late winter to mid-2027, leading to yet another debt-limit crisis. A default could well plunge the U.S. and world economies into unprecedented chaos. Among other dire consequences, the U.S. credit rating would almost certainly be downgraded; financial markets could tank; and Social Security, veterans, military, food-stamp and other payments would likely be delayed. Brinkmanship with partisan grandstanding presents enormous risks.
Congress Must Reclaim Its Constitutional Authority
Congress has relinquished its power of the purse and war powers to the whims of an unhinged president. Affordability and economic security for millions of working families and others have been sold out to tax cuts for the ultra-rich and wealthy corporations in the One Big Beautiful [Bad] Bill; millions are losing health insurance, with many suffering and dying; ICE is terrorizing immigrants and other residents—many of them legal—especially in “blue” states; and the U.S. is mired in a counterproductive and, I believe, illegal war of choice costing at least $1 billion to $2 billion a day. Yet President Donald Trump continues to erect monuments to himself.
Fiscal Responsibility Without a Balanced Budget Amendment
This is no way to run a country or an economy. Still, while steadfastly supporting balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility, I oppose a Balanced Budget Amendment. It would deprive federal policymakers of essential flexibility to address national-security, economic and natural-disaster emergencies, while giving dangerous additional power to congressional extremists.
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