Cowards in Congress blame others for our national debt. Just fix it, already

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., is one of the more rational legislators on Capitol Hill. He’s long been willing to call out the kooks, both in his own party and in the GOP.

That’s why his ludicrous statement this week stood out.

“The national debt was caused by 4 things,” Khanna tweeted. “1) Reagan’s tax cuts, 2) Bush’s tax cuts, 3) Trump’s tax cuts, and 4) Bush’s overseas wars.

“We don't need a fiscal commission to study it,” he added.

Instead, I gave him a simple chart.

National debt chart is filled with red ink

No congressman, senator or president dares reduce the national debt because it’s so much easier to blame the other side of the aisle. Also because politicians are cowards.

Over the past decade, I’ve updated this little graph every year or two. And every year it requires more red ink.

It’s really two graphs in one: above the zero line shows the revenue and deficit for the given year; below it, the accumulated debt on our national credit card.

It’s designed to be user-friendly and, unlike most other charts, free of the political derriere-covering and obfuscation.

All figures come directly from the U.S. Treasury and the Congressional Budget Office, so if you don’t like it, take it up with them.

The graph is brutally bipartisan.

Republicans and Democrats are to blame

Debt increased under Republican presidents and Democratic presidents. It increased under Democratic Congresses and Republican Congresses.

In war and in peace, in boom times and in busts, after tax hikes and tax cuts, the Potomac flowed ever deeper with red ink.

After George W. Bush nearly doubled the debt, Barack Obama nearly doubled it again. In his single term, Donald Trump raised it by more than a third. Joe Biden still is spending more money we don’t have.

If anything, my chart is far too optimistic.

Congress ignored warnings: About its pandemic spending

I don’t mention future projections due to exploding entitlements. Instead of mocking conservatives for hollowing out Obamacare or attacking Democrats for not funding the military, we should be yelling at all of them to cut more.

Every time I update the graph, I get the same complaints. Policy wonks demand it should be weighted for this variable or I should add lines showing that trend.

If you want to make that graph, be my guest. The more confusing you make it, the bigger the smiles from politicians.

Math doesn't care about good intentions

Partisans assure me that the debt is all the fault of their political opponents. Sorry, but the raw data don’t lie. Both parties and both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue own every missing dollar of this mess.

More economically minded critics hurl insults while insisting the national debt doesn’t matter. In previous years, it didn’t matter because lending rates were at historic lows. Anyone trying to purchase a home in the past year knows that ship has sailed and sunk.

And while our policy mavens point fingers and deny reality, the debt keeps going up. And up.

Math doesn’t care about fairness or good intentions. Spending vastly more than you have, decade after decade, is foolish when done by a Republican or a Democrat. Two plus two doesn’t equal 33.2317 after you factor in a secret “but this is an emergency” multiplier.

Kudos to Rep. Khanna for being upset about the national debt. More politicians should be. Even better, he’s one of the few people in the U.S. that can do something about it.

Complaint without action is just whining. Set down your smartphone and have a chat with Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas., Rep. Thomas Massie, R–Ky., or another of the vanishing few debt hawks left in the Beltway.

Feel free to use my graph.

Jon Gabriel, a Mesa resident, is editor-in-chief of Ricochet.com and a contributor to The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. On Twitter: @exjon.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: National debt keeps growing, and cowardly politicians won't fix it