Rick Scott on Balancing the Budget and our National Debt

Message from Senator Rick Scott

Dear Fellow Floridian,

This week, our national debt hit $40 trillion. It's hard even to fathom just how much money we're talking about, and even more difficult when you think about how much the United States government is now paying in interest on that debt.

Here are a couple of things to put it in perspective:

• If we paid down $1 million every day since the birth of Jesus Christ, we still wouldn’t have covered even 2% of the current national debt.
• Meanwhile, we’re currently paying $3 billion per day in interest ALONE.
• Congress managed to double our debt from $20 trillion in less than NINE YEARS. It was less than $6 trillion just 25 years ago. The federal debt is an exponential problem.

Think about it like a credit card bill that keeps growing with no plan to pay it off, causing prices to rise, the value of the dollar to fall, and your paycheck to cover less and less of the expenses piling up around you. We can’t sustain this.

Florida families are facing this reckless reality every day, and it's why I'm fighting to Make Washington Work for YOU by demanding Congress STOP THE SPENDING and BALANCE THE BUDGET.

That’s why I have sponsored numerous bills to tackle the swamp’s decades-long spending addiction, such as:

• Leading the Balanced Budget Responsibility Act to provide the president with the authority and discretion to curb wasteful government spending and balance the federal budget.
• Cosponsoring Senator Jon Husted’s Principles-Based Balanced Budget Amendment, which would amend the Constitution to require the federal government to balance its budget, just like every American family and business does.
• Fighting the Senate’s reckless, wasteful, and corrupt earmarks.
• Introducing my Locating Every Disbursement in Government Expenditure Records (LEDGER) Act to require the Department of the Treasury to track all government payments.

As your governor, I balanced the budget, cut taxes, paid down nearly one-third of our state debt, supported private-sector job growth, and lowered costs for families. Washington needs that same approach.

It’s time to cut wasteful federal spending, pay off our debt, and restore fiscal sanity so that we can protect the American Dream for our children and grandchildren.

Sincerely,

Rick Scott

National Debt

The U.S. national debt has surpassed $40 trillion for the first time

This marks an historic milestone in a borrowing buildup that has accumulated over generations, through wars, recessions, tax changes, and the expansion of major federal benefit programs under presidents of both parties.

The Treasury Department reported that total public debt outstanding reached about $40.047 trillion Tuesday, according to The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

The number is striking, but the more significant measure for economists is debt held by the public — money the federal government owes to investors and other entities outside the federal government.

That figure is approaching the size of the entire U.S. economy, with publicly held debt already exceeding 100% of gross domestic product, according to the Journal.

The $40 trillion figure represents the cumulative result of decades of federal borrowing rather than the policies of any single administration. The United States has carried debt since its founding, when the young nation borrowed heavily to finance the Revolutionary War.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has set a goal of reducing the federal deficit to 3% of GDP by 2028.

Read more about our debt

Deadline today for Democrats and Republicans to make a Deal

Trump, Dems Leave Meeting Without Shutdown Deal

By the time this blog launches, a deal might have been made

Congressional leaders on Monday left a White House meeting with President Trump without a deal to avoid a government shutdown before government funding lapses in a little more than 24 hours.

Both Republicans and Democrats remain dug in on their positions. Barring a last-minute breakthrough, a shutdown is increasingly likely.

Democrats are demanding that Republicans agree to concessions on health care to illegals. The GOP is set on a clean seven-week funding extension.

Read about it...

Democratic leaders are pushing for an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies from the COVID-19 era, set to expire this year, and a reversal of Republican-supported Medicaid changes.

If no deal is struck, at 00:01 EDT on Wednesday (05:01 BST), the US will have its first shutdown for nearly seven years. At this point, prospects for some kind of government shutdown appear high, and Vice-President JD Vance said as much after Trump met the congressional leaders on Monday.

Republicns want to reduce government and our national debt is just under $37.0 trillion, a figure that grows when government spending exceeds its revenue, which Democrats continue to do.

Our Deficit is lower thanks to Tariffs

Debt-Deficit Picture Is Now $1 Trillion Better Than Congressional Budget Office Thought

Tariffs “will reduce total deficits by $4.0 trillion altogether,” CBO says

The Congressional Budget Office, whose gloomy view of the long-term federal budget picture skewed public debate over the One Big Beautiful Bill, issued a trillion-dollar revision.

It did so on a Friday afternoon (okay, 11:45 on on Friday morning) in the summer during Congress’s August recess, on a day when economic news was dominated by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole self-satisfied tribute to his own supposed “success in bringing down inflation without a sharp increase in unemployment.”

Back on June 4, when Congress was debating the One Big Beautiful Bill amid hotly contested estimates of its fiscal impact (see, “How ‘Big’ Is the One Big Beautiful Bill?” May 30, 2025), the CBO estimated the effect of the tariffs at a “$2.5 trillion decrease in primary deficits and $0.5 trillion reduction in interest outlays.”

Now that it’s mid-August, about 10 weeks later, CBO has a revised estimate: “We project that increases in tariffs implemented during the period from January 6, 2025, to August 19 will decrease primary deficits (which exclude net outlays for interest) by $3.3 trillion if the higher tariffs persist for the 2025‒2035 period.

By reducing the need for federal borrowing, those tariff collections will also reduce federal outlays for interest by an additional $0.7 trillion. As a result, the changes in tariffs will reduce total deficits by $4.0 trillion altogether.”

That’s a trillion dollar swing—to $4 trillion from $3 trillion—from June 4 to August 22.

Read more about it...

It's simple

Cut government down to what is necessary

America’s Last Chance

By Fletch Daniels

What a difference a few months make. This time last year, we were hurtling toward societal collapse. The government's growth rate and requisite spending had hit such obscene levels that the question of whether we, like Wile E. Coyote, had raced over the edge of a cliff was no longer theoretical.

Four years of Kamala Harris as president without an injection of some corrective mechanism first would have imploded America like the Death Star. Frankly, the path the Biden puppet masters put us on was so cataclysmically destructive that recovery is still no sure thing.

The math remains ugly. The key statistic is that around 40% of every tax dollar taken goes toward paying interest on the national debt. That number would have been mere child’s play to a Democrat administration. Forty percent?

We can do better than that. Push the throttle to Ludicrous Speed. We’re going where nobody has gone before. Nothing short of 100 percent is acceptable.

It always comes down to the math, and math doesn’t lie. It’s brutally honest for anyone wise enough to pay attention.

Read The American Thinker

DOGE will have their hands full

DOGE insider reveals the wildest government spending splurges in the sights of Elon's agency

A top Republican on the House DOGE caucus has revealed to DailyMail.com some jaw-dropping government projects that will be cut by Donald Trump's new initiative.

The president-elect tasked Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy with cutting trillions in federal spending in the coming years using the newly developed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

And the pair have already been hard at work injecting their influence in to politics.

House DOGE Caucus Co-Chair Aaron Bean, R-Fla., exclusively revealed to DailyMail.com some of the most egregious government waste projects federal workers are approving, many at massive costs to taxpayers.

'We're giving cocaine to animals to see does it turn them transsexual?' the Republican lamented to DailyMail.com over the phone. He suggested similar government-funded studies need to be halted by DOGE.

'It just, it's the craziest thing that you would never spend your own money on. But when agencies have money to burn, they will spend money on literally everything.'

Read more about it...

Chip Roy Slams GOP

Chip Roy Takes on His Own Party: Calls Out GOP for Betrayal

Republican Representative Chip Roy (R-TX) exploded on his GOP colleagues during a crucial vote on a continuing resolution aimed at preventing a government shutdown.

Not mincing words, Roy lambasted his party for abandoning fiscal responsibility and betraying conservative principles.

In a fiery speech on the House floor, Roy railed against the bill, which he said would increase the national debt by a whopping $5 trillion. He also called out his fellow Republicans for adding $110 billion in unpaid-for spending and suspending PAYGO, a measure designed to enforce budgetary discipline.

Biden committed $1 billion in aid to rebuild infrastructure in African nations

Biden pledges $1 billion in disaster aid to Africa while North Carolina struggles post-hurricane

President Joe Biden announced a $1 billion investment in Africa during his visit to Angola on Tuesday, pledging support for rebuilding homes and infrastructure in nations affected by natural disasters.

The announcement highlights a troubling disconnect, as residents in Western North Carolina continue grappling with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene without sufficient federal assistance.

Key Details:

1. While attending a summit in Angola, Biden committed $1 billion to help African nations recover from natural disasters. The funding is framed as part of his administration’s push to strengthen U.S.-Africa relations and enhance global disaster resilience.
2. Hurricane Helene caused over $53 billion in damages in Western North Carolina, displacing thousands and leaving critical infrastructure in disrepair. Recovery has been slow, with Asheville residents only recently regaining access to reliable clean water and rebuilding efforts still ongoing.
3. Biden’s announcement has drawn attention to what some call a misalignment of priorities, as many in North Carolina struggle with unmet recovery needs. The administration’s decision to allocate significant funds abroad has led to calls for more focus on domestic disaster relief.

Read more...holy crap!

Biden shouldn't be flying (he should be tied to a chair) anywhere and committing money to another continent for their infrastructure when our debt is 33 TRILLION DOLLARS and rising by 1 TRILLION every 100 days. 

Kamala's Communist Policies to eradicate Capitalism

Harris Economic Agenda Could Add $2T to Deficit

Vice President Kamala Harris is trying to convince voters her economic platform will be cutting costs for Americans, but a study released Friday revealed the Democrat presidential candidate's plan will increase the nation's deficit by $1.7 trillion over a decade.

The study by the nonpartisan nonprofit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget also said the figure would grow to $2 trillion if temporary housing policies were made permanent.

Harris revealed the first policy statement of her campaign, now almost a month old. Her "Agenda to Lower Costs for American Families" would, in her first 100 days in office,

• "cut taxes for the middle class

• reduce grocery costs

• take on price gouging

• lower the costs of owning and renting a home

• continue to bring down the costs of prescription drugs

• relieve medical debt for millions of Americans,

according to a fact sheet released by her campaign.

Kamala's first 100 days

Read the Study

Let's hope Biden is the last of the BIG spenders

Biden Administration Borrowed $5 Billion Per Day in Fiscal Year 2024

So far in the fiscal year 2024, the federal government has had to borrow about $5 billion every day.

The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday the federal budget deficit was $1.5 trillion for the first 10 months of fiscal year 2024, which covers October through July.

The CBO stated that the $1.5 trillion deficit for the first 10 months of FY 2024 was $103 billion less than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year.

The federal budgeting agency projects the deficit for 2024 will be $2.0 trillion. The deficit for fiscal year 2023 was $1.7 trillion. But the CBO says the differences in the deficits those years could be attributable to budgeting “timing shifts”.

The think tank Truth in Accounting states the real national debt is closer to $156.8 trillion if unfunded Social Security and Medicare promises were included.

And Obama and later Biden were the biggest spenders...deficit-to-GDP ratio. See chart

Read more...

Shrinking the size of Government

Elon to help Trump shrink size of government

Polls show Donald Trump could very well win a second term.

Elon Musk says he would work with Trump to shrink government.

Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk announced he was endorsing Donald Trump after Trump survived an assassination attempt on his life.

In an interview with Lex Fridman for his podcast, Musk said Trump showed “courage under fire” when he defiantly stood up after being shot in the head and pumped his first while imploring his supporters to “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

“You can’t feign bravery in a situation like that,” Musk added.

Musk has talked to Trump about a government efficiency program and volunteered to be on that commission. We have an unsustainable debt of over $35 trillion.

Read about it...

The Swamp's Spending Bill

Speaker Johnson Suddenly Under Heavy Fire – House GOP Accused of Epic Betrayal

A new spending package has been released of 1.2 Trillion

And it looks like House Republicans under Mike Johnson are caving to Democrats left and right.

• The new spending bill from Congress contains numerous gifts to the woke left

• Biden wants $100 million for DEI training for the DHHS.

• Sen. John Fetterman wants over $300,000 for a failed podcast that has 100 viewers.

• There is $9 million in earmarks from the late Sen. Feinstein, who died last year.

• Funds LGBTQ Group Pushing Chest Binders, ‘packers,’ Fake Breasts On Teens

There are restaurant reservation systems better organized than this. Yet these lawmakers are trying to mortgage America’s future by spending $1.2 trillion we don’t have.

Read more...

We have SERIOUS problems--Biden doesn't see it

Biden only concerned with Distractions

In recent news, President Joe Biden has once again come under fire for his failure to address the pressing issues facing the country. Many have criticized his policies for exacerbating problems, such as the struggling economy and the crisis at the southern border.

Instead of taking real action to address these issues, Biden has been accused of engaging in distractions and trivial matters.

One issue that has particularly irked the public is Biden’s handling of inflation. Many have called for the president to cut excessive spending in order to combat rising prices. However, Biden has shown no signs of slowing down his spending, which has sparked frustration among Americans. Instead, he has chosen to focus on more trivial matters, such as “shrinkflation” and “junk fees” in the food delivery industry.

Biden recently took to social media to voice his concern over the rising cost of food delivery services. In his post, he appeared to be out of touch with reality as he acted as if he had just discovered the existence of delivery fees.

This sparked even more criticism, with people questioning whether or not Biden has actually used food delivery apps in the past decade.

Read more...

More millions going to Ukraine even if we are in Debt

Biden Cobbles Together $300 Million For Ukraine After Pentagon Replenishment Funds Run Dry

The Biden administration announced an additional military aid package for Ukraine on Tuesday, even as the Pentagon has overdrawn billions of dollars for its ongoing support for Kyiv’s war against Russia.

The Pentagon will quickly deliver an additional $300 million in weapons aid to Ukraine, the first such package delivered by the Biden administration since December 2023, The Associated Press reported on Tuesday. The Pentagon warned in December that it had run out of replenishment funds, and as of March has overdrawn the funds by $10 billion.

This is so much more important than our border...U.S. national debt totaled $34.39 trillion as of March 1, 2024.

The U.S. government spent more than it collected during the 2023 fiscal year. The total bill for the year was $6.13 trillion and this created a deficit. Federal spending equaled 22.8% of the total GDP in 2023. The government funds goods, programs, and services each year that support the United States and the interest it's incurred on outstanding federal debt. [Investopedia]

Read about it...

Festivus Report Released

Rand Paul Releases Annual ‘Festivus Report’ Detailing Billions in Government Waste

For years now, Senator Rand Paul has been releasing an annual ‘Festivus Report’ to highlight government waste and this year is no different.

Paul’s list includes some truly amazing items this year, such as funding to study transgender monkeys.

It’s amazing what the government spends our tax dollars on, while telling us there’s not enough money for other things, like a border wall for instance.

“Shockingly, in one short year, the career politicians and bureaucrats in Washington have managed to approach $34 trillion in debt, without so much as a second thought.”

Paul blasted both political parties for contributing to the shortfall by voting to raise the debt ceiling in late May, “which empowered the government to borrow an unlimited amount of money until 2024.”

“As Congress spends to reward its favored industries and pet projects, the American taxpayers are forced to pay the price through record high inflation and crippling interest rates,” he said in the report.

Read more...

Elfs tell Santa the truth

Countries Holding America's Debt

12 Unexpected Countries Holding America’s IOUs

While every American understands the devastating impact of the current national debt crisis, the details of who the United States owes money to and why it matters may not be so clear.

Owing a country in terms of national debt happens when a nation issues government bonds to raise funds, and both foreign countries and domestic investors purchase these bonds. This makes the issuing nation indebted to these bondholders, which can include other nations. The cumulative amount owed to creditors, both domestic and foreign through these bonds is what constitutes the national debt.

Japan, alone, is a high-stakes creditor, currently holding over $1 trillion of America’s debt.

The debtor country, in this case, the United States, must make periodic interest payments to bondholders and repay the principal when the bonds mature. Currently, with a national debt nearing $33 trillion, the annual interest payments alone are a staggering $475 billion. If the current spending trends are not curbed, these interest payments are projected to triple, reaching a concerning $1.4 trillion by 2032.

The recent spending spree and reckless mismanagement of the national debt under President Joe Biden’s administration raises legitimate concerns about the nation’s fiscal direction and the challenges it poses both now, and in the future.

In 2021 the U.S. gave more than $3.3 billion to Israel, 11% of the year’s entire distribution to specific countries. That year, Israel received more than twice the amount seen by any other country, and nearly all of it was designated as military aid. Ranked by total aid received in 2021, Israel was followed by Jordan ($1.6 billion), Afghanistan ($1.40 billion), Ethiopia ($1.39 billion) and Egypt ($1.29 billion) [USNews}

Read about the countries to whom we owe trillions

New Debt is an Act of Congress, not Joe Biden's

John Fetterman slapped Clarence Thomas with one ugly threat

Democrat Senator John Fetterman has not been back in Washington, D.C. for long but he is already causing trouble. This time it’s too much – even for Fetterman.

Democrats like Senator Fetterman can’t stand the thought (is he capable of thinking?) of agreeing to even one nickel in spending cuts so they are now pushing a hairbrained scheme for Joe Biden to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling by executive fiat using Section 4 of the 14th Amendment.

The plain text of Section 4 of the 14th Amendment makes it plainly obvious how absurd this scheme is. [patriotpulse]

A simple reading of the text shows that the government can only incur new debt via an act of Congress. And who is writing this crap for John Fetterman who is really "out of it." Democrats continue to abuse and use their diminished electeds and to promote them as if they are coherent.

Fetterman even went so far as to dare Clarence Thomas and the other conservatives on the Supreme Court to stop Biden by ruling that Biden overstepped his Article II authority to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling and risk economic calamity. And Section 5 states that the Congress shall haved the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of Amendment 14.

Amendment 14, Section 4 reads:
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Tell President Biden: Negotiate To Pay Our Bills & Get Our Fiscal House In Order