{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://cole.house.gov/media/press-releases/cole-opinion-piece-published-wall-street-journal", "Cole Opinion Piece Published in the Wall Street Journal", "2024-12-19", "2024", "2024-12", "Republican", "House", "OK", "Tom Cole", "C001053", "cole.house.gov", "cole", "https://cole.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: | CONTACT: Olivia Porcaro 202-225-6165\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 Today, Congressman Tom Cole\u2019s (OK-04) opinion piece, in which he emphasizes that charting a responsible path forward and securing our future prosperity requires addressing the primary driver of U.S. spending, was published in the Wall Street Journal. In the piece, he calls on lawmakers, reform leaders, and \u2013 most importantly \u2013 the nation to collaborate on solutions to tackle the greatest threats to America\u2019s long-term success, security, and future generations.\n\nRead the op-ed here and below:\n\nHow to Avoid the Coming Federal Debt Avalanche\n\nby Tom Cole\n\nDecember 19, 2024\n\nThe nation will be snowed under unless we tackle the main cause of the problem, mandatory spending.\n\nRaise taxes.\n\nCut the Pentagon\u2019s budget.\n\nShut down the government.\n\nEliminate federal agencies.\n\nWe often hear these rallying cries when Congress considers the national debt. Yet our attention to the issue invariably wanes, as the nation seemingly becomes numb to it until the next spending deadline. Then, like clockwork, the battle of budget priorities begins.\n\nAs an appropriator, I have witnessed this cycle for years. Thanks to such creative thinkers as Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, however, we are poised to approach the next round of deliberations with new energy and perspective. Their proposals for government reform through the Department of Government Efficiency\u2014challenging our entrenched bureaucracy\u2014align with conservative principles of efficiency and accountability. They are forcing a new conversation, geared toward delivering for the American people, and convening Republicans and Democrats to challenge stasis in Washington.\n\nAs House Appropriations Committee Chairman, I\u2019m proud of the work we have done to get spending under control. The past two years have shown that House Republicans are willing to make difficult decisions, including the initiation of double-digit reductions to various subcommittee bills and their well-meaning programs. We\u2019ve cut spending to bloated programs, rooted out abuse, and directed resources away from diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The synergy between our committee\u2019s work and DOGE is clear: We are unified in acting to put America on a fiscally responsible path.\n\nAchieving this aim first requires us to recognize the differences in how government doles out its resources. There are two types of spending: discretionary and mandatory.\n\nDiscretionary spending is decided by lawmakers through the annual appropriations process. This concerns resources for executive agencies\u2014the expenditures affected by spending fights often seen in headlines and linked to shutdowns. Mandatory spending, by contrast, runs on autopilot. It isn\u2019t decided through the appropriations process and receives little congressional oversight. These expenditures are initiated through authorizing bills, which allow the government to cover all costs associated with such programs as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.\n\nThe difference is stark. Mandatory spending, plus interest payments on the debt, accounts for 72% of the federal budget. Discretionary priorities take up the remaining 28%. The latter\u2019s share has been declining for decades\u2014from 45% in 1981, when Rep. Hal Rogers, dean of the House, began serving\u2014and, according to the Congressional Budget Office, will fall to about 20% by 2034. This situation is similar to discovering a forgotten subscription that has quietly ballooned over time, now consuming nearly three-quarters of your budget. Meanwhile, our debt is estimated to exceed $50 trillion by 2034.\n\nThat\u2019s unsustainable, but none of the aforementioned solutions suffice. The nation recently boasted historic revenue receipts, yet our debt hasn\u2019t budged downward. We can\u2019t tax our way out of the problem. Nor can we afford to cut the Pentagon\u2019s budget. We face an increasingly dangerous world, with adversaries plotting our downfall. Lawmakers can and should reject the false choice between protecting our nation and achieving fiscal stability.\n\nShutting down the government, as some have recommended, isn\u2019t economical. These episodes are more costly than the status quo, thanks to obligations to furloughed government workers, increased costs from delayed starts\u2014which prevent new and planned projects from commencing\u2014and constrained economic growth. Eliminating federal agencies wouldn\u2019t fix the underlying problem either. We could end discretionary spending and the nation would continue to be in a hole.\n\nThe inescapable conclusion is that we can\u2019t change our fiscal trajectory without addressing mandatory spending. That doesn\u2019t mean eliminating the entitlement programs that enrich Americans\u2019 lives. On the contrary, our efforts are geared toward saving them for future generations. Without action, the combined Social Security trust funds will go insolvent by 2035 and Medicare payments will be cut as soon as 2036. The longer we wait, the harder and more austere the choices become.\n\nPresident-elect Trump recognizes that we have an opportunity to achieve responsible governance. Such initiatives as DOGE will provide the president with useful guidance on where to trim fat. At the same time, Congress will have the opportunity to use budget reconciliation to protect the crucial programs hardworking Americans have paid into their entire lives. I encourage my colleagues on the authorizing committees to take a long, hard look at the 800-pound gorilla in the room. I am more than willing to work with them on wrangling mandatory spending, the greatest threat to the success of our nation.\n\nAs we do so, we might consider consulting our most important resource: the American people. Lawmakers have advanced various proposals to address mandatory spending in recent years, but most have been deeply unpopular. Our government is supposed to be of, by and for the people. We ought to engage with our constituents and learn from their own expertise. Together, I\u2019m confident we can develop creative solutions to reduce expenditures while preserving programs that exemplify the values that define our nation.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:07:19Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://cole.house.gov/media/press-releases/cole-opinion-piece-published-wall-street-journal"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8789529092609882, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}