February 5, 1997

Our Federal Debt is "Genarationally Immoral"

Paul E. Tsongas served as a United States Senator from Massachusetts from 1979 through 1985. Following his retirement, he helped found the Concord Coalition, the nonpartisan organization that helps educate Americans about the adverse impact of huge, structural deficits on the nation's economic future. Sen. Tsongas died from pneumonia on January 18, 1997, after fighting cancer for more than a decade. He has been eulogized widely for his responsible approach to fiscal problems.

On February 15, 1994, Senator Tsongas testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in strong support of the Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment. His testimony is printed below.

There Is No Political Will To Balance the Budget

"We are all here because of one simple truth -- the leadership of our country, in both parties, lacks the political will to balance the federal budget. Indeed, this terrible reality has been true for a full generation. * * *

Our Current Habit of Spending & Borrowing Is "Generationally Immoral"

"Deficit spending has become as American as apple pie. We have gone from tax and spend to a bipartisan addiction to spend and borrow. We have all argued over the merits of tax and spend. But there can be no argument about spend and borrow -- it is generationally immoral.

Trillions of Dollars of Debt Heaped Upon Our Children

"The national debt in 1980 was less than one trillion dollars. By 1996, it will approach five trillion. [Editor's note: At the end of fiscal year 1996, the debt subject to limit was $5.137 trillion.] In these last several years we will accumulate, and then bequeath, four trillion dollars of debt to our children and grandchildren. And what's more, we do so without any observable sense of remorse or regret. We've had one helluva time, and they will have to pay for it. Good luck, kids. Hope you make it.

Indebtedness Means Joblessness

"The economic arguments for a balanced budget are, of course, obvious. A nation spending $212 billion this year on interest on the debt will be less competitive than if it had invested that same $212 billion in our industrial base. Translated this means that all across America jobs that could have been are not, and as a direct real-life consequence, thousands of American families woke up this morning pained by a joblessness that was caused not by their inadequacy but by the fiscal irresponsibility of their leaders.

"Added to this is the fact that we kidnap 70 percent of our total national savings to pay the federal deficit. All of the rest of America saves; the federal government spends beyond its revenues; and hundreds of billions of dollars that could have created permanent jobs in the private sector are lost.

"Deficit spending costs decent Americans the dignity of a regular job. That has been true for a generation. But why do our leaders inflict this pain upon people? For one very simple reason. There have been votes -- lots of votes -- in deficit spending. There are perceived to be no votes in fiscal discipline.

A Formal Mechanism Is Necessary for Fiscal Discipline

"This harsh assessment is not a reflection on officeholders past and present, although I acknowledge that it certainly sounds that way. It is rather a recognition of human behavior, inevitable in any democracy. Recognizing harsh realities in advance of their common acceptance is asking for trouble, especially when it calls for widespread sacrifice. It is precisely for this reason that mechanisms of discipline such as Base Closing Commissions and the Balanced Budget Amendment are essential to do what all of us know has to be done.

". . . It's time for all of us to understand that America's economic survival is not a matter to be put off. There is a new world economic order and those nations that try to move chained to a ball of enormous debt will not prosper. No one can refute this fundamental fact. Only a balanced budget amendment can inject the discipline to achieve this indispensable end."

[Notes: The debt limit number that has been inserted into the text was taken from Congressional Budget Office, The Economic and Budget Outlook: Fiscal Years 1998-2007, Table 2-12 (Jan. 1997). The headlines in the paper were added by RPC; they were not a part of the testimony.]