WASHINGTON – U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) today illustrated the size and scope of the growing national debt. So just how broke are we?

It’s officially Fall which means it’s time for everyone to stock up on all of their favorite pumpkin spice products. From coffee and candles to popcorn and pretzels, Forbes estimates Americans spend around $500 million a year on pumpkin spice food, drinks, and novelties. 

The United States is so broke that it would take 40,400 Fall seasons for the pumpkin spice economy to pay off our $20.2 trillion national debt.

“Not leafing our kids with autumn of debt is one of a latte gourd reasons to Fall-o-through on the Debt Buy-Down Act,” said Flake.

Flake’s Debt Buy-Down Act would empower every taxpayer to mandate up to 10 percent of the hard-earned dollars they send to Washington be spent exclusively on paying down the national debt. Had the Debt Buy-Down Act been law in 2016, taxpayers could have directed as much as $137 billion toward reducing the national debt. Flake first introduced the Debt Buy-Down Act in 2010, when the national debt was $13 trillion. For more information on the bill click here.  

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