Republic, Not a Democracy by Adam Brandon

Author:Adam Brandon
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781510756359
Publisher: Skyhorse
Published: 2021-07-14T16:00:00+00:00

Congress is supposed to pass 12 appropriations bills each year to fund the federal government before the end of fiscal year, which ends on September 30. The last time Congress passed all of these appropriations bills on time was in 1997.51 Congress has routinely consolidated the bills into at least one big package to fund the federal government. If an agreement on these appropriations bills can’t be reached before the end of the fiscal year, Congress often passes a continuing resolution to fund the government at existing discretionary levels, either temporarily until an agreement can be reached, or for an entire fiscal year.

Nearly 70 percent of federal spending isn’t subject to congressional appropriation. The largest part of this is called “mandatory” spending, which includes programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, food stamps, federal employee and military retirement programs, and more. The smaller portion is interest payments on the share of the national debt held by the public.

Here are some facts. Including the Hospital Insurance program, Medicare faces unfunded liabilities of $45.7 trillion.52 Social Security has unfunded obligations of $16.8 trillion.53 These were pre-pandemic estimates. The Medicare Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will be insolvent in 2024. The Social Security Disability Trust Fund will be insolvent by 2026. The Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Trust will be insolvent in 2031.54

These programs will face immediate cuts when they become insolvent unless Congress acts. This isn’t a small feat. The solvency of these programs may be even worse now. As I write this, the public’s share of the national debt is nearly $20.7 trillion.55 That’s how we get the $83.2 trillion figure that I mentioned before.

Congress knows that these programs are going broke. During the debate in 2019 on a budget that increased federal spending by $320 billion over two fiscal years, Steve Womack, who, at the time, was the highest-ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, defended an increase in discretionary spending by pointing out that mandatory spending is what is driving budget deficits. “I think we have to fix that. I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know this,” Womack said.56

It would be funny if it weren’t so frustrating. Womack is literally charged with developing these solutions. This is the best and brightest that House Republicans have? I know for a fact that there are a lot of smart fiscal conservatives in the House, but Womack is the guy House Republican leadership put in control of the committee.

Even before the spending Congress passed in response to the pandemic, America was in financial trouble. For the first time in American history, we have an age demographic problem.

We have an aging population. Never in our history have we been an old nation. We have always been a young nation. We aren’t having enough children, and fewer immigrants are coming to America. In 1945, there were roughly 42 workers for every beneficiary of Social Security.57 Today, there are almost three workers for every beneficiary. By 2040, there will be a little more than two workers for every beneficiary.

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