U.S. Congressman Chuck Edwards (NC-11) introduced the Stop Bankrupting Our Country Act to limit annual spending increases by the U.S. federal government.
The proposed legislation would require that annual spending allocations be based on the average change in inflation and the average change in national population for the prior three calendar years. These guidelines would apply to both mandatory spending, which does not require congressional approval, and discretionary spending, which requires congressional approval through the annual appropriations process.
Under the Biden-Harris administration and with a Democrat majority in the House, the U.S. had a roughly 6 percent increase in annual spending from FY22 to FY23. The average inflation growth for the three years prior to FY23 was about 3 percent, which was heightened beyond the typical amount due to COVID-19 in 2020, and the average population change was nearly 0.5 percent. To meet the growth in inflation and population, federal government spending should have increased by less than 2 percent, not nearly 6 percent.
Edwards stated, “The reckless spending by the Biden-Harris administration and the House Democrat majority leading up to the 118th Congress exceeded that of our country’s needs based on population and inflation growth, leading to more than $9 trillion added to the deficit. No matter who’s in office, this unsustainable trajectory of careless spending cannot continue. My bill, the Stop Bankrupting Our Country Act, will establish much-needed guardrails around spending increases to protect our nation’s fiscal health.”
The bill would allow for spending limit increases by a two-thirds vote of Congress. If federal spending exceeds the statutorily established limit, an amount equal to the additional expenditure provided to federal agencies would be rescinded.
