Crises Facing America

Floor Speech

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Mr. ROSE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Vice Chairman Johnson for organizing this Special Order hour tonight and for yielding me time to speak.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to ring the alarm bell regarding the United States' current financial crisis caused by the Biden administration and Democrats' far-left policies and out-of-control spending. Just last week, the national debt eclipsed $30 trillion.

As our national debt balloons, American taxpayers will be left to foot the bill, not only for the billions and trillions of dollars we are spending annually but also on a dramatically increasing cost-- interest on the debt.

The Federal Government has continued to kick the can down the road, ignoring the explosive problems caused by our out-of-control spending and greatly diminishing our future generation's quality of life through no fault of their own. What a gutless and inexcusable thing to do.

Well, our time is running out, as we expect interest rates to rise in the immediate future. If interest rates rise to just 5.1 percent, as was the case in 2021, American taxpayers would suddenly be burdened with an annual interest payment on the national debt of $1.5 trillion, twice the budget for the Department of Defense, or almost 75 percent of all income taxes collected in fiscal year 2021.

Put another way, three-quarters of the income taxes Americans pay would go toward nothing more than paying interest on the national debt, while only a quarter would be left to pay for much-needed programs and expenditures like the Justice Department, infrastructure, and defense.

Americans' pocketbooks are hurting. Whether at the gas pump, at the grocery store, or for the energy that heats your homes, prices are going up everywhere due to President Biden and Democrats' far-left policies and out-of-control spending.

Just last week, House Democrats doubled down on these disastrous decisions by ramming through their $325 billion America COMPETES Act-- more like America concedes to China act, if you ask me--which only will worsen America's economic crisis.

How can anyone sit here today and encourage this reckless and irresponsible behavior? I have two sons; Guy, who is 4 years old, and Sam, who is 10 months. They will have to make payments on this massive debt for their entire lives, and the generations that follow will do the same unless we act. We must rein in Washington's out-of-control government spending to prevent future generations from paying the price for our financial mistakes.

This ticking time bomb, otherwise known as our national debt, has been ignored for far too long. With rising interest rates on the horizon, now is the last time and the best time for President Biden and Members of Congress to take a serious look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we really think the American people are okay with our country being steered off this fiscal cliff.

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