Rep. Mark Walker Sounds Alarm on Federal Debt Crisis | Eastern NC Now

    Publisher's note: This post, by Ray Nothstine, was originally published in Civitas's online edition.

    No issue better epitomizes our broken federal government than the debt. And like Democrats, Republicans have failed miserably to control federal spending.

    U.S. Rep. Mark Walker of Greensboro co-authored an op-ed in the Washington Times with Texas Congressman John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) on the spending crisis. Note, they correctly diagnose the problem as one of spending and not revenue. It seems foolish for Washington to demand more money when they have been such poor stewards of our tax dollars for so long.

    It's frustrating that we have allowed the debt to reach almost $21 trillion since experts and lawmakers have been sounding the alarm about the debt, at least regularly, since the 1980s.

    Walker and Ratcliffe call for a Balanced Budget Amendment in their piece. "As a collective goal for this legislative year, we want to ensure that an effective and enforceable Balanced Budget Amendment passes the House of Representatives," they write.

    Rep. Walker will be attending CLC in April and it's another great opportunity to press him and his party to deliver on an essential issue for all of us.

    It would be greater still if the entire North Carolina Congressional delegation would stand together in true bipartisan fashion and demand real controls on spending. Unfortunately, nothing will change unless the citizenry demands more than just talking about spending restraint from their federal representatives. Lawmakers continually prove they don't have the collective courage on their own to address this crisis.