On July 23, 2019, while Washington and the media were fixated on special counsel Robert Mueller testifying before Congress, Kentucky Democrat, Rep. John Yarmuth introduced the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019. The bill would, for the fourth time in six years, blow through the spending caps put in place in 2011 that were the basis for a deal to raise the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion dollars at a time when the national debt was $8 trillion less than it is today.

This latest budget bill raises non-defense, discretionary spending levels by 4% and defense spending levels by 3% for the next fiscal year. These increases are happening despite inflation being at less than 2% and latest GDP growth numbers now just above 2%. The bill also suspends the debt ceiling, allowing our nation’s debt to climb above the current $22 trillion that our government owes to foreign countries, pension funds, banks, and Americans who have purchased U.S. Treasuries. Our carrying of this debt requires ever higher interest payments, nearly $400 billion this year, more than what we pay annually for Medicaid by 2020 and more than what we will pay yearly for defense by 2024.