The Wharf Dockmaster Building was treated to a dose of accountability and tough love last week as Senator James Lankford joined a room full of Congressional staffers, policymakers, and activists for The Millennial Debt Foundation’s The Debt Bomb II – 50 Years of the Congressional Budget Act.
Wryly suggesting that: “we need to have a funeral service [ . . . ] and say thank you for delivering 4 times in 50 years,” the Senator pointed out that the dysfunction budgetary process incentivizes Congress to do nothing about the fiscal challenges facing the nation right now.
Those challenges are formidable. For the first time in our nation’s history, the cost to service our debt has exceeded the defense budget, running afoul of Ferguson’s Law.
Our ballooning deficit will crowd out badly needed investment in our national infrastructure and endanger necessary life support for the worse off among us.
As a partial remedy for this dysfunction, Senator Lankford, along with Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, put forth the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act early last year.
Watch the recap video below, and be sure to stay informed on our future events by clicking “Join Us” up in the top menu.