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Dear ,
I hope you and your family are doing well! Below, please find a few updates on my work last week for the residents of Arizona’s First Congressional District.
We're Adding Another $1 Trillion to Our National Debt Every 115 Days
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| Click here to view my full remarks from last week's speech. |
It's official — we have reached $100,000 per second of borrowing for just the third time. The worst part of our outrageous level of spending is the massive cost that it incurs at the taxpayer's expense. Real GDP growth for Q1 of 2024 came in at 2.9% while tax receipts are up 7% so far in Fiscal Year 2024. Medicare spending is up 10% and borrowing costs are projected to surpass $3,000,000,000,000 this fiscal year at the current borrowing rate.
In February, the Congressional Budget Office projected the FY24 deficit would total $1,600,000,000,000. That number has functionally doubled. We now live in a country where we've allowed the bond market to take charge because Congress has ceded its fiscal responsibility to tell the truth about the math. Of course, actually doing the math is exhausting, but I've shown time and again that tax hikes don't account for closing the gap — the solution lies within expanding the economy.
USTR Tai Discusses the Biden Administration’s Trade “Agenda” at Ways & Means Hearing
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| Click here to view my remarks. |
Last week, the House Committee on Ways & Means had the opportunity to question the United States Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai, and dig deeper into the ways USTR, the agency responsible for promoting and developing trade policy, is working to advance America's interests throughout the globe. What we learned, at the expense of U.S. businesses, workers, and families, was an agency full of lofty promises and ideals but a lack of details, follow-through, and missed opportunities.
I spoke about the critical role free trade agreements play in opening new markets for small businesses and asked how we can "future-proof" these agreements to keep up with an evolving economy in a post-COVID world, especially regarding e-commerce. Ambassador Tai's rather vague and lackluster answers, coupled with no new agreements effectuated since the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the ceding of American leadership in the digital trade space to China, did not inspire confidence. The hearing proved to be another example of an administration with empty promises to put workers and jobs at the center of American trade policy while strengthening critical supply chains and reduce dependence on China.
Upcoming Mobile Office Hours With My District Office
My district casework team is here to assist residents of Arizona’s First Congressional District with applications and claims pertaining to federal benefits. Staff from my district office may be in your neighborhood to offer one-on-one casework assistance. Stop by the Granite Reef Senior Center tomorrow, Tuesday April 23, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. or call the District Office at (480) 946-2411 for immediate assistance with the IRS, Passports, Medicare, Social Security, VA and other federal benefits.
Welcoming the Saguaro High School Choir to Our Nation's Capital
Last week, I had the absolute pleasure of welcoming students from my alma mater, Saguaro High School, to our nation's Capital. The Saguaro High School choir was gracious enough to display their talents on the U.S. Capitol steps, serenading my staff and me with ballads like "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "America the Beautiful". It's heartwarming to recognize the flourishing arts in Arizona's First Congressional District, and I was pleased to be able to witness some of their talent here in Washington, D.C. Thank you to GayLin Tutnick, Saguaro High School's vocal music & music history instructor, for presenting such a meaningful ensemble with such a gifted group.
Serious Schweikert Solutions: The AUDIT Act
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| More on my 'AUDIT' Act above. |
I'm starting a new segment in my weekly newsletters that gives you all a deeper look toward innovative solutions that I'm working on for you. A couple weeks ago, you might remember when I introduced the Algorithms Utilized to Detect Institutional Transactions (AUDIT) Act, legislation ensuring the audit of the Department of Defense’s financial statements is conducted using artificial intelligence to help streamline the internal review process and usher in a new era of audit.
The Pentagon, with its 2.9 million employees and over half a million assets worth $3.8 trillion, faces significant challenges during audits. In 2019, the cost of the Department of Defense’s audit was $428 million, and correcting errors post-audit added another $472 million to the total cost. Despite six consecutive years of self-auditing since 2018, the Defense Department has yet to achieve a clean financial audit. The 2023 audit, which required 1,600 auditors and 700 site visits, cost $187 billion and received a “disclaimer of opinion” rating due to insufficient financial information provided to auditors.
My serious solution emphasizes the importance of implementing innovative auditing tools, reducing costs, and enhancing government accountability.
What I’m Reading & Why It Matters
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) just recently criticized Congress for our inability to create policy with a positive fiscal outlook in mind. It seems to me as if this is something we've heard once or twice before...
In an article I'm reading published by Bloomberg, the IMF mentions how although the United States has proven impressive in terms of economic growth, we cannot skate over the fact that our overspending is going to prove unsustainable in the long term. I've repeatedly pointed out the figures presented by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that outline how debt held by the public will exceed $45,000,000,000,000 by 2033. We still have top Biden Administration officials trying to downplay the severity of our rapidly growing debt and making vulnerable claims that net interest is expected to stay under 2% of GDP by 2033. You can clearly see displayed in the graph above that the CBO projection for net interest payments a decade from now will reach 3.8%.
With all of Washington's overspending, you would think we would start to think creatively in order to be more frugal. According to an article put forth by the Wall Street Journal, Americans willingly throw away over $68 million dollars' worth of spare change each year. A waste management facility located in Pennsylvania started this operation seven years ago and has accumulated around $10 million just in coins since the start. |