{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-paul-holds-senate-hearing-national-debts-impact-spending/", "Dr. Rand Paul Holds Senate Hearing on the National Debt\u2019s Impact on Spending", "2017-03-29", "2017", "2017-03", "Republican", "Senate", "KY", "Rand Paul", "P000603", "www.paul.senate.gov", "paul", "https://www.paul.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, chairman of the Federal Spending Oversight Subcommittee for the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), held a hearing entitled, \u201cThe Effect of Borrowing on Federal Spending.\u201d\n\nThe hearing looked at the extent to which debt is already affecting the federal budget, as well as how its current trajectory will impact what we can do in the future. Additionally, the hearing examined the effectiveness of the debt limit as an action-forcing mechanism for fiscal and budgetary reform, along with the consequences and strategies (such as prioritization) involved with not further raising the limit.\n\n\u201cCongress rarely makes simple, unpleasant choices, which means we end up facing difficult and unavoidable, catastrophic problems,\u201d Dr. Paul said in his opening statement. \u201cWe only act when circumstances force us to. This is why the debt limit is important. It\u2019s our internal credit limit, not that of our creditors. It\u2019s an opportunity to reassess our spending and ask, \u2018How did we get here, and how do we get out of this mess?'\u201d\n\nDavid Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States, noted in his testimony that, \u201cExcessive levels of debt as a percentage of the economy can serve to reduce economic growth and job opportunities. It can also cause a \u2018crisis of confidence\u2019 in the U.S. dollar and much higher interest rates if the market ever decides that the federal government has lost control of its finances and is not willing to regain control over them.\u201d\n\nYou can watch the full hearing HERE.\n\nYou can click HERE or below to watch Dr. Paul\u2019s opening statement.\n\nCLICK HERE TO WATCH DR. PAUL\u2019S OPENING STATEMENT\n\nWITNESSES:\n\nDavid Walker\n\nSenior Strategic Advisor with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Former Comptroller General of the United States, featured in the movie I.O.U.S.A.\n\nVeronique de Rugy\n\nSenior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and nationally syndicated columnist\n\nMark Zandi\n\nChief Economist for Moody\u2019s Analytics\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T21:30:05Z"]], "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://www.paul.senate.gov/news-dr-rand-paul-holds-senate-hearing-national-debts-impact-spending/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8460655808448792, "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"}