WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) today spoke on the Senate floor to reintroduce the Debt Buy-Down Act; legislation that empowers individual taxpayers to designate up to 10 percent of their federal income taxes to pay down the nation’s nearly $20 trillion dollar national debt. Flake first introduced the bill in 2010, when the national debt was $13 trillion.

The bill would also mandate Congress enact spending reductions equal to the amount designated by taxpayers for debt reduction, in order to protect those reductions for the following year.

Should Congress fail to enact the necessary spending cuts, the bill would trigger across-the-board reductions to achieve the requisite cuts. However, certain areas of federal spending would be made exempt from these cuts, including Social Security benefits, benefits for uniformed services, and payments for net interest.

“With the national debt hurtling toward an unprecedented $20 trillion, it’s time taxpayers had real power to rein in Washington’s big spenders,” said Flake. “At any rate, I hope this commonsense solution makes like the national debt and grows a lot of interest.”

View video of Flake’s speech here.
A transcript of Flake’s prepared speech can be viewed below.

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I rise today to speak about a critical subject that is too often overlooked by Congress, the federal debt and deficit.

It is no secret that our national debt will soon surpass $20 trillion.

To provide some context for that figure – twenty trillion dollars represents the largest amount of debt ever owed by any nation in history. This fact, coupled with the fast approaching end of the fiscal year will leave Congress facing an unavoidable debt debate. Our looming debt and deficit is one of our country’s most urgent challenges, but the legislative branch does not treat it like the crisis that it truly is. 

Since January alone, Congress has added $284 billion to the debt over the next ten years. The Congressional Budget Office recently projected that if Congress continues on this current path, deficits will increase dramatically over the next decade. Specifically, by 2027, the deficit would grow from 3.6 percent of the nation’s GDP to 5.2 percent of the nation’s GDP, totaling $1.4 trillion. Yet as the national debt clock continues to click toward $20 trillion, the federal government continues to spend money it does not have.

If Congress continues to legislate in this current state of denial, one day soon, we may well wake up to discover the financial markets have declared the United States is no longer a good bet.  We must also remember, Congress’s failure to address this fiscal train wreck today will force our children and grandchildren to deal with its consequences tomorrow.

So, unless Congress can get this fundamental issue under control, nothing else we do here will matter very much. That is why there ought to be an option that allows taxpayers to take matters into their own hands. And that is why today, I’m reintroducing the Debt Buy-Down Act.

The Debt Buy-Down Act is a commonsense bill that allows taxpayers to rein in the national debt with the simple check of a box. If passed, this bill would require the IRS to include an option on an individual’s tax form allowing them to voluntarily designate up to ten percent of their tax liability to go specifically toward reducing the national debt. The bill would then require Congress to reduce federal spending by an equivalent amount designated by taxpayers.

If Congress fails make these necessary spending reductions designated by taxpayers, then across-the-board spending cuts would be imposed. However, the Debt Buy-Down Act would protect Social Security benefits, benefits for the uniformed services, and payments for net interest from being included in any of these across-the-board cuts. Simply put, in the absence of responsible federal budget solutions, this bill allows taxpayers to take matters into their own hands.

In 2014, Americans paid over $1.37 trillion in individual income taxes. If every one of those individuals contributed 10 percent of their tax liability, Congress would be required to cut $137 billion in spending. While $137 billion does not solve the $20 trillion debt problem, it is certainly a good place to start.

Congress has become so desensitized to the growing national debt that the word ‘trillion’ doesn’t even sound alarm bells. In fact, after I first introduced the Debt Buy-Down Act in 2010, I began sending a weekly pun-laden press release to help put the then-$13 trillion dollar national debt into perspective. It was called, So Just How Broke Are We? Maybe it’s time I brought it back.

So, seven years and seven trillion dollars in added debt later, just how broke are we?

We’re so broke that with our $20 trillion national debt we could book 570,000 trips to the moon with SpaceX.

We’re so broke that with our $20 trillion national debt we could buy every seat at Chase Field for the next 22 million Arizona Diamondbacks games. Of course, that’s just a ballpark figure.

Last one, I promise.

We’re so broke that with our $20 trillion national debt we could buy twenty billion tickets to see Hamilton.

My love of bad puns aside, instead of thinking about how $20 trillion could be spent, we ought to be thinking about how $20 trillion could be saved. That is why I am calling on my colleagues to support the Debt Buy-Down Act and empower taxpayers to reduce the national debt. Just think, a simple check of a box could help save billions of dollars, preserve the strength of our national economy, and save future generations from the consequences of our crippling national debt.

At any rate, I hope this bill makes like the debt and grows a lot of interest.

Thank you.

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