Congress has stared into the abyss of debt, and the abyss has stared back. The national debt just topped $22 trillion for the first time ever, yet barely a peep was heard in the halls of the Capitol. The debt-to-GDP ratio has more than doubled in less than 20 years, rising from 33 percent in 2000 to 78 percent today. Within 10 years, it will reach 93 percent, the highest level since just after World War II.

While currently the federal budget deficit is around $900 billion, beginning in 2022, it will exceed $1 trillion per year, every year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Over the next decade, deficits are projected to fluctuate between 4.1 percent and 4.7 percent of GDP, well above the average over the past 50 years.

Yet instead of discussing how we will afford what we are already slated to spend, Congress is debating how much more government should add to that. The national conversation is focused on Medicare for all, how many billions should be allocated for a wall, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal. Far from reforming our out-of-control spending, these policies would only cost more.

Based on the muted public response, you’d never know that a mere decade ago, the national debt was half of what it is today, or that the debt is projected to keep up its exponential rate of growth as the U.S. population ages. Even if Congress were to vote against every dollar of new spending, the debt held by the public will still be 150 percent of the total economy by 2047. And by the looks of this new spending bill, it will reach that ratio far sooner than that……more