In the News

Bleak. That is how Congressman Jodey Arrington (TX-19) describes America’s financial future if we do not rein in our spending.

“I would say that Republicans and Democrats both have contributed to this mess,” Arrington said.

The congressman is now Chairman of the House Budget Committee for the 118th Congress.

“The debt and our terrible and unsustainable debt trajectory and this spending our country into bankruptcy is not a partisan issue, it is a fact of math,” Arrington said.

The United States has now surpassed its $34.1 trillion debt limit.

In a letter to Congress, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen wrote that she would have to employ extraordinary steps in order to pay the government’s bills if the statutory debt limit is not increased.

Yellen believed she could only use these measures until early June and urged Congress to act.

Arrington said the United States will not default on its debt, but he wants to raise the debt ceiling responsibly.

“We are not going to give a new credit card to this president or any politician that is going to use it to continue this, down this slope of bankrupting our country. That is the direction we are heading,” Arrington said.

Arrington believes his colleagues will be able to put their differences aside to avoid a gridlock but said he is only interested in solutions that come with fiscal reforms.

“Our balance sheet looks like 30% discretionary spending which is what we do through the appropriations and budget process and then 70% is on auto spend,” Arrington said.

“We have to work together to rein in the spending, whether that is spending caps or some other measure. People have talked about debt to GDP with targets with the glideslope down, I am for that,” Arrington said. 

Arrington said it is time to take inventory of our nation’s debt and the risks it presents to our country’s fiscal health.

“This is the challenge of the 21st century and we are going to work together, not as Republicans and Democrats, but as Americans - first to do the things that are necessary,” Arrington said.