精品麻豆

United States Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) at a forum Tuesday in Phoenix said math, not political expediency, should guide policy decisions in Congress if the nation is going to get its fiscal house in order and prevent the national debt and its interest payments from overtaking other government responsibilities like Medicare and Social Security. 

Speaking alongside fellow panelists former U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.), Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines, and former Arizona state treasurer Eileen Klein, Schweikert had harsh words for members of Congress in both parties and the news media who aren鈥檛 willing to speak truthfully about the negative effects of chronic borrowing and the national debt. 

鈥淓very dime a member of congress votes on is borrowed money,鈥� Schweikert said. 鈥淚nterest will be the most expensive thing in your government. You鈥檙e basically an insurance company with an army.鈥�

A consistent fiscal hawk throughout his career, Schweikert often reserves time on the House floor to make presentations complete with charts and graphs that illustrate the deep challenges facing the government鈥檚 books.

He returned to form on Tuesday, zooming through a slide presentation that offered a bleak view of the prospects of the U.S. fiscal environment if lawmakers in both parties fail to act.

Many of the fiscal issues facing the country are rooted in demographics, Schweikert said, and the country鈥檚 declining birth rate.

• The country could have more deaths than births in 7-8 years.
• Pay-as-you-go programs depend on new workers in the workforce to pay into programs to support existing beneficiaries.
• 聽Senior poverty is likely to rise.
• Financing Social Security and Medicare will consume larger and larger amounts of the government鈥檚 budget.

One potential way to address the problems, he said, is to shift to a talent-based immigration system.

鈥淲e should be running around the world stealing every hardworking, smart person who wants to do things,鈥� Schweikert said.

As for international students studying in the U.S., Schweikert wants to keep them here.

鈥淓ducate them here and send them home? That鈥檚 insane,鈥� he said

After presenting the daunting challenges, Schweikert said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 fixable, just the scale of it is hard. A majority of the population cannot see 12 zeroes in their head.鈥�

To get much needed reform, however, voters will have to demand it.

鈥淢aybe it鈥檚 time the public starts demanding that members of Congress start telling the truth,鈥� he said.