Without spending cuts, the national debt will grow to nine times the gross domestic product by 2080, Rep. Bob Goodlatte said Monday.
Quoting figures from the Office of Management and Budget, the Republican noted the country’s national debt of $14.3 trillion is 70 percent of GDP, or 100 percent when money borrowed from Social Security is considered. The debt level last reached 100 percent of GDP during World War II, he said.
“Some of you know the kind of sacrifices made with rationing of almost any kind of product,” the congressman told about 40 people during a visit to Waynesboro, which is in his 6th District. “My father was a paint salesman and had to give up that job because he didn’t have enough gasoline to get around to his customers or enough paint to deliver. He went to work in a Westinghouse plant making radios for jeeps and tanks.”
Goodlatte said he hopes to see recent attention on the national debt sustained.
“It needs to continue to be a hot topic years into the future,” he said. “It’s very negatively affecting our economy.”
If adopted by the U.S. Senate, a spending plan proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan that passed the House would balance the national budget in 28 years, Goodlatte said.
But Mayor Frank Lucente wasn’t buying that.
“That’s not saving money,” he said. “That’s playing a game with money.”
Instead, Lucente said he’d like to see the nation’s top earners taxed more while overall spending is cut.
While defending the Ryan budget as making meaningful cuts, Goodlatte said he supported a Republican Study Committee budget that would balance the budget within nine years.
“We could do it in six years, but that means people really having to buckle down and understand that the government cannot form new programs, has to reform the programs it has now and eliminate a lot of programs it has now,” he said.
The lawmaker pointed to Medicare and Medicaid as the two “biggest problems” contributing to increased debt.
“If we do not reform [Medicare], it won’t be available for anybody,” he said. “We can make it sustainable.”
Goodlatte proposed that people younger than 55 enter a new program in which private insurance companies would compete to provide coverage. The government would pay for all coverage for low earners, no coverage for high earners and provide support to others based on income and need.
In the case of Medicaid, he suggested turning the program over to the states while capping federal funding at the rate of inflation.
On a related topic, a proposal to repeal the president’s health care plan received applause from Monday’s audience at Gavids Steak House.
With the goal of cutting spending in mind, Goodlatte said Republicans should “come right out of the gate with tax reform.”
“Everything should be on the table, including ethanol subsidies,” he said.
Additionally, the congressman said he hopes to see a balanced budget constitutional amendment he’s proposed come to fruition.
After the lunch meeting, Goodlatte toured economic development projects in the city, including the Mill at South River and the site of a planned 170-acre business park near Interstate 64’s exit 96. He said he was excited about the prospects and hoped to lend a hand where possible.
“I’m encouraged by Congressman Goodlatte, what he’s done for us and what he stands for at the federal level,” said Waynesboro City Councilman Tim Williams. “I think he knows, as most people in Virginia know, that Waynesboro, we do have momentum to attract new business and we just want to keep that momentum going.”
