WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) spoke on the Senate floor about the dangerous impact the Senate tax reform proposal would have on the national debt. Senator King’s comments came during debate on an amendment he offered to refer the bill to committee with instructions to create a deficit-neutral proposal, which the Senate voted on tonight. His amendment was defeated by a vote of 48 to 52.

“One of my concerns…that I want to focus on today, and the background of my amendment which recommits and asks that the Committee come back with a deficit-neutral bill, is the debt and the deficit,” said Senator King, who then turned to a chart of federal debt as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (linked below as Chart 1). “If you notice there’s a pattern here…the pattern is that when we get into major catastrophes – including war – that’s when we have to borrow money…this is why you preserve your borrowing power for when you actually need it…

“Look where we’re headed – we’re headed to a place where we aren’t going to be able to sustain this debt. Everybody knows that, and yet the bill that we’re voting on today expands the deficit by somewhere between half a trillion and two and a half trillion dollars, depending upon how it’s all sorted out…it’s shameful, and it’s going to come back to haunt us…

“Now I’ve been around public life and politics for a long time, and I’ve heard a lot about deficits, and people are concerned about deficits – until today! The deficit doesn’t seem to be a big deal anymore. I predict that after this bill passes, within a couple of years when the deficits start to mount up, the same people who are voting for this bill today are going to say, ‘Oh my goodness, we have these huge deficits, what are we going to do? I think we have to cut entitlements, we have to cut Social Security, we have to cut Medicare and certainly we have to cut all those domestic programs.’ Well [Mr. President], I don’t think that’s right…

“What we’re doing is simply borrowing money from our children to give ourselves tax cuts. That’s really the essence of what’s going on here. If we were cutting taxes on a revenue-neutral basis, that would make sense…but instead, all we’re doing is shifting the tax to our kids…If 5 year-olds knew what we were doing and could vote, none of us would have a job – because we are spending their money. It’s as if you’re lying on your deathbed, you call your children over to hear your last words, and your last words are ‘Here’s the credit card, we had a great vacation, your mother and I. You pay the bill.’ That’s what we’re doing, and it’s wrong. It’s unethical – we are passing the bill onto our children…

“…the idea that these tax cuts are going to pay for themselves? It’s never happened. It’s never happened, it didn’t happen to the Bush tax cuts, it hasn’t happened in Kansas, it just hasn’t happened. So we’re talking about a dramatic increase in the federal deficit on top of what’s already coming… these are the times when we should be paying back this debt, not making it worse. No rational business would be taking on debt when they’re doing well – when you’re doing well, you pay down your debt, and then you have a reserve for when you need it. We have no reserve – we’re using up our cushion. We’re using up whatever cushion we might need for disasters, for some kind of – heaven forbid – conflict, or simply for a recession. This is an incredibly destructive bill, and it doesn’t have to be that way…

“There are many other issues with the bill, but I chose today to focus in my remarks and also on my amendment, on the effects on the deficit because I think it’s one of the most long-term threats. In fact, a former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the national debt is the most serious threat to our national security in the long run. And to aggravate it unnecessarily as this bill would do, I think is irresponsible. Mr. President, we can do better – I am sure of that – if we’ll slow down, listen to one another, and do what the American people expect of us.”

Senator King, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, has consistently called for a responsible, balanced and long-term approach to addressing our national debt and deficit. In 2016, he was named a “Fiscal Hero” by the Campaign to Fix the Debt, a nonpartisan movement to put America on a better fiscal and economic path. 

Chart 1: Federal Debt Held by the Public as a Percentage of Gross Domestic Product