OPINION:
Last month, the Pentagon asked for an additional $200 billion in funding for the war in Iran. The White House is on the hook to review this sizable request — more than 20% of the yearly Department of Defense budget — and submit it to Congress.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was absolutely correct when he emphasized during a recent press conference that “it takes money to kill bad guys.”
The predicament for the Trump administration and preceding administrations since 9/11 is the foreboding increase in the national debt, resulting from a failure to offset budget outlays and supplemental funding requests with corresponding tax increases or budget cuts.
The national debt results from the federal government borrowing money by selling securities, including Treasury bonds, bills and notes.
The ratio of debt to gross domestic product is a key indicator of the significance of national debt.
For fiscal year 2024, for example, the U.S. national debt of $35.46 trillion exceeded the average GDP of $28.83 trillion, which is a debt-to-GDP ratio of 123%.
Every year, Congress raises the debt ceiling, but it does not authorize new spending. Instead, it allows the Treasury Department to borrow more money to fill the budget shortfall by funding whatever Congress has approved. This includes recurring obligations such as Social Security and Medicare, as well as the massive interest on the national debt, which currently exceeds the Department of Defense’s annual budget.
Our national debt now stands at more than $39 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the national debt will exceed $52 trillion by 2035. Interest payments on the debt are more than $2 billion a day.
Higher debt risks are driving up the historically low interest rates our country has enjoyed for decades. Interest rate increases have a corresponding negative impact on servicing our rising national debt, creating a vicious circle of increased borrowing and debt.
U.S. citizens hold most of our national debt, but it’s worth noting that Japan holds more than $1 trillion and China holds $750 billion. So that $200 billion for the war in Iran? That’s a bill my children and maybe their children will have to pay unless Congress makes the hard decision to find some offset cost-cutting or additional revenue.
Rather than seeking to balance the budget, which would require public debate over national priorities, Congress has borrowed money to pay for post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the economic stimulus package resulting from the 2008 recession, and economic relief from the COVID-19 pandemic.
For Congress, it’s simple arithmetic: How can it match federal revenue, including income taxes, payroll taxes and corporate income taxes, with increasing mandatory spending and net interest on the debt?
Congress has repeatedly refused to deal with the short-term pain of reducing the national debt through a combination of increased revenue through taxes, reduced government spending and economic growth.
For sure, these are hard choices. There would be heated debate, and some constituents would be angry at their representatives for suggesting Social Security reform, raising the retirement age or eliminating waste and inefficiency from the defense budget, all while trying to grow the economy to expand the tax base and improve the debt-to-GDP ratio.
Let’s remember that the national debt crisis only grows worse with procrastination. We might not be able to predict the exact date, but at some point, failure to reduce the national debt will trigger a financial crisis that will severely affect our national security.
At the very least, the debt spiral will cause massive inflation, thereby driving down the value of the dollar and severely impacting our ability to take care of our citizens and defend our nation against ubiquitous overseas and domestic threats.
Our enemies — especially China, Russia, Iran and North Korea — benefit most from the political gridlock Capitol Hill has suffered for decades, which thus far has made it impossible to negotiate the necessary, bipartisan way forward.
The blame does not reside solely with our congressional representatives. With the midterms approaching, interested voters should ask candidates how they plan to reduce our national debt while holding them accountable for being conscientious stewards of our sacred national finances.
So let’s approve the additional $200 billion in Defense Department funding, but not before Congress debates and finds a way to pay for it. Future generations of Americans will thank us.
• Daniel N. Hoffman is a retired clandestine services officer and former chief of station with the Central Intelligence Agency. His combined 30 years of government service included high-level overseas and domestic positions at the CIA. He has been a Fox News contributor since May 2018. He can be reached at danielhoffman@yahoo.com.
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