Tennessean - echo letter to the editor: America in debt

"GOP budget deal that is projected to add $1 trillion to our current $20 trillion national debt" ~ Donald Griffin

Plunging America into debt - Echo letter published in the Tennessean

Plunging America deeper in debt

On Feb. 13, Sen. Lamar Alexander sent an email that included the following:

“Congress passed and Donald Trump signed a 2-year budget agreement into law that sets priorities for our nation: fighting the opioid crisis, ending sequestration funding restrictions on our military, and improving our nation’s roads, bridges, locks and dams. It also extends funding for the community health centers that nearly 400,000 Tennesseans rely on for their health care, and extends funding for Cover Kids, which provides health insurance to nearly 74,000 Tennessee children and pregnant women.”

My response was as follows:

Sen. Alexander: You forgot to mention in your comments on the two-year budget deal that it is projected to add $1 trillion to our current $20 trillion national debt. This will become more of an issue as interest rates rise, resulting in debt service taking a larger and larger portion of the federal budget.

Also, exacerbating this problem was the removal of the debt ceiling, which will allow Congress to continue adding more debt without any meaningful debate.

Your decision to vote with the Senate Republican leadership for political purposes will encumber future generations of Americans with the burden of dealing with this massive debt.

Donald A. Griffin, Franklin