The rapid growth of the national debt alarmed some politicians and created press
ID: 2505422 • Letter: T
Question
The rapid growth of the national debt alarmed some politicians and created pressure for restricting Congress's unlimited ability to spend. After reviewing Chapter 10, Section 10.2: Efforts to Reduce the Deficit, discuss the actions taken by Congress since 1985 to reduce the budget deficits.
Use scholarly sources to support the current debate between the White House and Congress regarding what measures are necessary to address spending and revenues (e.g., news reports, official statements, press conferences, as well as numerous government websites).
Write a two- to three-page paper (not including title and reference pages), using at least three scholarly sources, not including the textbook, and must be formatted according to APA style as outlined in your approved style guide.
Suggested references:
Ashford University Online Library (follow the Library link within the tool bar on the left).
Congressional Budget Office: www.cbo.gov.
Internal Revenue Service: www.irs.gov.
The Executive Office of the President: www.whitehouse.gov.
The Paper:
Explanation / Answer
The rising level of U.S. debt has been alarming the U.S. political group and economy since last 25 years. It is a consumption based economy which relies on heavy imports. This is the main reason why debt is rising in the nation. The landmark and the first step taken in this regard was seen in the form of The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act which was passed in the year 1985 (Ellwood, 1988). The objective of the same was to cut spending and meet the balance federal budget target by the year 1991.
The clause was that if this ambitious targets are not met by the Government then a series of planned expenditure cuts will be triggered by itself. It was signed by President Reagen into a law in the year 1985. This initiated a process of measures which was amended year on year and the ceiling kept on rising. The current U.S. debt stands somewhere around 14 trillion and hence even Obama administration have been pondering it. The end of year 2012 was marked by discussion on fiscal cliff and globally the issue was very important for markets. The ceiling was raised on certain conditions and as per the current statistics it would expire on 17th-October-2013. Currently fresh round of exercising and discussion is on between Congress and Democrats so that they can raise the ceiling. We can see that United States now needs to seriously look into the issue and implement them before it is too late.