Rep. Smucker on national debt: 'We have an existential problem that we have to address'

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker and members of the House Budget Committee on Thursday approved legislation that would form a bipartisan commission to study cutting the national debt, which reached $34 trillion this week.

The bill, co-sponsored by Smucker and Maine Democrat Jared Golden, would charge the commission with drafting a plan by May 2025 to improve the federal government’s long-term fiscal stability and “propose recommendations designed to balance the budget at the earliest reasonable date.”

“We have an existential problem that we have to address,” Smucker said to his colleagues before the committee vote. “We have to try to solve this.”

[Watch a video of Thursday's hearing.]

He said not addressing the national debt could “infringe” on the government’s ability to act efficiently and hurt the American people. Smucker, a four-term Republican whose district includes all of Lancaster County, has been a longtime supporter of creating a fiscal commission, warning that the debt threatens to undermine the value of the U.S. dollar and eat up a larger and larger share of government spending.

The bill now goes to the full House of Representatives for consideration.

Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington of Texas said some members of House GOP leadership are “100% committed to this commission.”

It remains unclear how the Senate, where Democrats hold a majority, will respond. Spokespeople for Pennsylvania Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, both Democrats, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

During a November House hearing on the proposal, Republican Bill Huizenga of Michigan and Democrat Scott Peters of California, the bill’s prime co-sponsors, said both parties are responsible for the size of the national debt and that a commission would be a first step toward taking action.

Smucker’s comments ahead of Thursday’s vote echoed the point that a bipartisan commission would act as a “vehicle” for compromise.

Protect retirement programs

Thursday’s hearing was interrupted by a man who yelled and waved papers with what he said were signatures of people who oppose the commission proposal. While being removed from the room by security, the man shouted that Republicans would leverage the commission’s finding to cut Social Security.

Later in the hearing, Democratic lawmakers, including Pennsylvania’s Brendan Boyle and Texas’ Sheila Jackson Lee, introduced amendments to require the debt commission to “propose recommendations to strengthen and secure” Social Security and Medicare.

Both amendments would have required taxpayers with incomes above $400,000 to “contribute more” to the programs. Democrats said in their remarks that the wealthiest Americans are paying a disproportionately low amount of taxes compared to members of the middle class.

In response to the Democrats’ proposals, Smucker said the commission “shouldn’t take anything off the table” on how to address the national debt and deficit spending. He said blocking it from recommending changes to the entitlement programs could “hinder and hamper” its work

Both amendments failed to pass the GOP majority committee.

Other budget legislation

The committee passed two other debt-related bills on Thursday.

One was Smucker’s bill to require the president to include the country’s ratio of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) in the budget proposal submitted to Congress each year.

“It would provide greater transparency and greater insight into the government’s debt problem,” Smucker said.

That ratio stood at 120% as of July 1, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and the White House Office of Management and Budget. In layman’s terms, that means the annual value of the entire domestic economy is smaller, by about a sixth, than the total public debt.

The other bill approved by the committee was the Fiscal State of the Nation Act, which would require the House and Senate Budget Committees to host an annual joint meeting to hear a presentation from the U.S. Comptroller General on the financial state of the federal government.

Congress and the White House have passed a series of short-term funding bills in the past year, including a new measure passed Thursday, to keep the government running. House Republicans continue to press for increased spending for border security and cuts to other programs, while the White House is pushing Congress to continue providing aid to Ukraine and fund other priorities.