The national debt should be the number one issue in this year’s election

I cannot understand why the national debt is not the number one issue being debated today by federal politicians when campaigning during the time before the midterm Congressional elections.

We hear much discussion about the Iran War, gas prices, inflation in general, Hassan Piker’s influence on Democrats, immigration policy and health care. But our nation is a great risk of an economic meltdown that will sideline these issues if the federal government does not get its debt under control. Our national debt is a national security issue that must be addressed before it is too late.

Our federal spending has soared over the years and outpaced revenue. According to the Department of Treasury , spending for fiscal 2025 (which ended last Sept. 30) will exceed $7 trillion. Compare that number to the pre-COVID level spending in fiscal 2019 that was $5.6 trillion. As a percentage of Gross Domestic Product, the percentage of federal spending has risen by 2 points to 23 percent. So almost one quarter of the spending in this economy comes from a government that borrows to make ends meet.

One problem that has emerged over the years is that the federal government never stopped the excessive spending during the COVID years. In fiscal 2020, federal spending hit $8.2 trillion followed by fiscal 2021 where spending stayed at $8.1 trillion. It did come down a bit in the year following 2022, but has never lowered to the levels before COVID with regard to the top line number and percentage of GDP.

Some politicians have noticed. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) posted on X last year, “Pre-COVID, the government spent $4.4 trillion. Six years later, we are spending $7 TRILLION. For this republic to continue standing, this level of spending from our government must decrease.”

My former boss, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) posted on X recently, “6 years later, we still haven’t returned to pre-COVID spending levels. How does that even make sense?” It makes no sense, because the American people have yet to rise up and elect politicians who make it a priority to cut federal spending.

Cutting spending may seem difficult, yet getting back to pre-COVID level spending makes sense to most.

Lack of taxation is not the problem. On the revenue side, again using government statistics, the federal government took in $4.9 trillion in 2025 versus $4.4 trillion in 2019. There is a big gulf between what the government takes in in taxes an spends. Taking more money from the American people will not solve the problem of increased government spending — it will merely give more money to bureaucrats to spend as they wish without consequences.

The federal budget is a mess. When one looks at the budget for fiscal 2026, the second ranked spending program is interest on the debt. At 15 percent of the whole, that is less than outlays for Social Security, but it is larger than outlays for Medicare, health programs and national defense. For this year, it is estimated that the federal government will rack up $1 trillion in just interest on the national debt that just exceeded $40 trillion collectively for the first time in U.S. history.

For those worried about government mandatory spending programs continuing, they will not continue if the federal government becomes insolvent.

There are solutions, such as Paul’s Six Penny Plan. As the Mises Institute explains it, “Each year for the next five years, Congress would reduce the federal budget by six percent from the previous year’s budget. In five years, the annual budget would be in balance, and the total federal debt will be on a path to being paid off.” The cuts are across the board, with each agency deciding where to make the cuts.

The federal government’s spending plans should mirror the average American family’s plan. Families spent far more and lost revenues during COVID, yet they still had to balance their family budgets. We should ask the same for the federal government.

Left-leaning politicians will yell, “Tax The Rich!” as a solution. That will not not balance the budget, but it would serve to transform the U.S. into the very sort of socialist country innovators flee. It wll mean the next AI, iPhone or personal computer will be created in Singapore or some other nation that respects private property and the free market.

During this debate to elect Members of Congress in the House and Senate, not much will be said of federal spending. Nobody will propose a plan to cut back on the size and scope of the federal government. We need more Rand Pauls and Chip Roys in the federal government who recognize that spending is a problem and are willing to do something about it.

Brian Darling is former counsel to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).