Fiscal Responsibility

By Brian P. Bilbray

Fiscal Responsibility - When I left Congress six years ago, we had a balanced budget.

This alarming lack of fiscal discipline is one reason why I'm ready to return to Washington. When I went to Congress in 1995 with people like Joe Scarborough and John Kasich, we fought for a balanced budget, to hold in spending and protect taxpayers.

Over time, we created a $155 billion surplus and pushed hard to pass a real balanced budget. Since I left Congress, the Department of Treasury estimates that the National debt has grown to over $8 Trillion dollars + and the current budget deficit is over $500 billion. The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $2.82 billion per day since September 30th of this year.

Discretionary spending has gone up 48.5 percent according to an analysis by the Cato Institute + adjusted for inflation, spending increased by 5.6 percent annually, compared with 1.5 percent while I served in Congress. Each citizen's share of this debt is $27,213.70.

This only hurts our ability to fund national defense, transportation, Social Security and health care. The spending binge in Washington needs to stop!