Stronger Rules Will Rein In the National Debt
But current debt and deficits are much scarier than those of the 1980s and 1990s, and current projections of future debt are the most alarming we’ve seen. Even when the economy recovers from this deep recession and war spending winds down, debt is expected to keep rising to dangerous levels.
We have not faced such a frightening fiscal future since the Great Depression. It demands extraordinary political commitment to fiscal responsibility and stronger budget rules than we’ve ever had.
We have learned at least four lessons from our long budget experience.
First, successful budget action must be bipartisan and must involve the president. Consider, for example, the 1990 agreement between President George H.W. Bush and a Democrat-led Congress, which resulted from marathon negotiating sessions at Andrews Air Force Base. Or the 1997 agreement between President Bill Clinton and a Republican-led Congress.
The 1993 deficit reduction package — which involved only Democrats and contributed to the late 1990s surpluses — is less an exception than an illustration of why we need bipartisan action. Many Democrats who voted for those tax increases lost their seats, as Republicans regained control of the House in 1994.