President-elect Donald Trump walks with Elon Musk before the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Boca Chica, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Pool via AP)

t the end of July, our national debt peaked at $35 trillion – a figure once considered unthinkable. However, just 118 days later, our country surpassed another sobering milestone – $36 trillion in debt. This rapid accumulation of debt threatens our economic security, weakens the value of the dollar, emboldens our adversaries like China and Iran, and jeopardizes our longstanding status as the world’s reserve currency. As a fiscal conservative, I believe that we must end reckless government spending and balance our federal budget to reduce our debt and get our fiscal house in order.

To put $36 trillion in perspective, as of October 30th, our nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – the monetary value of the total amount of final goods and services produced in our country over a certain period of time – registered at approximately $29.3 trillion. That means that our Debt-to-GDP ratio stands at 123%. In other words, our national debt is larger than our nation’s total economic output, which increases our risk of default and economic crisis. The enormity of our national debt also equates to about $108,000 for every man, woman, and child in the United States, and this fiscal year alone, our debt has increased by about $84,000 every single second. Furthermore, due to decades of reckless spending and fiscal irresponsibility, American taxpayers have shoveled out more than $1 trillion – which is larger than our annual military budget – just to finance the interest payments on our national debt. In fact, we pay $1.8 billion per day on interest obligations.

Even more alarming is that this trend shows no sign of reversing. For Fiscal Year 2024, our country registered a $1.8-trillion budget deficit. The federal government spent about $6.75 trillion but only collected roughly $4.92 trillion in revenue. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects a similar – if not larger – budget deficit for Fiscal Year 2025 if spending habits continue unchecked. Some estimates project that our Debt-to-GDP ratio could reach 200% in the near future and the CBO predicts that our national debt could eclipse $50 trillion in a decade. However, that projection is expected to only accelerate the longer that we ignore our debt crisis.

As a father of four extremely concerned about the impact of the national debt on future generations of Americans, I’ve not only called for a balanced federal budget and cuts to wasteful government spending on repeated occasions, but I’ve also introduced legislation to get our debt under control. For example, in response to President Biden’s $7.3-trillion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2025, I introduced legislation – the Balanced Budget and Accounting Act – to require the President of the United States to submit a balanced budget to Congress. It’s obvious that a $7.3-trillion budget will not balance and will instead add to our debt. I also led legislation – the Dollar-For-Dollar Deficit Reduction Act – to couple any debt ceiling increase with equal federal spending cuts.

Additionally, I’m excited about President Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to pinpoint and eliminate government waste, cut reckless government spending, and bring accountability to Congress on behalf of American taxpayers. My friend – Senator Joni Ernst – will also give Iowa a seat at the table in government efficiency by leading the Senate DOGE Caucus and trimming waste, fraud, and abuse within the federal government. Initiatives like requiring federal workers to return to in-person, in-office work and ensuring that IRS agents – including the more than 5,800 IRS employees who owe a combined $50 million in taxes – pay their taxes are clear examples of where we can make government more efficient and more accountable.

Our rapidly growing national debt is a major concern for our economic and national security. We cannot keep kicking the can down the road and allowing our adversaries to take advantage of our precarious financial position. I will continue to work with my colleagues to stop wasteful government spending, make government more efficient, and reduce our national debt. Our children and grandchildren are counting on us to deliver solutions to this worsening crisis.

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Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, represents Iowa’s Fourth District in the U.S. House.