Sharon Jensen MT Testimony: Federal Fiscal Restraint Amendment

Attachment: 4650/Sharon_Jensen_MT_Testimony_-Federal_Fiscal_Restraint_Amendment.docx

Federal Fiscal Restraint Amendment

Mr. Chairman and Committee Members

My name is Sharon Jensen, COS volunteer from HD53.

Our Federal Government has now accumulated over $36 Trillion dollars of national debt and we are adding approximately $1 Trillion of new debt every 3 months. At the current rate, total debt will be over $50 Trillion in five short years. By the end of the decade, interest on the debt will be the largest line item in our budget – larger than Social Security, Medicare, and certainly defense.

Our last full Fiscal Year of financial data is 2023. Revenue collected in FY 2023 was $4.4 trillion – total expenditures were $6.1 trillion a deficit of $1.7 trillion. Mandatory spending accounts for $3.8 trillion of the total expenditures which includes Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement programs. If you add interest payment to mandatory the combined outlay was 100% of Revenue.

All funding of the deficit or discretionary spending of $1.7 trillion was done with borrowed money. This FY, it is estimated that the interest payment on the national debt will eclipse $1 trillion. The picture becomes even more direr when you consider the above numbers do not include the unfunded liabilities of the Federal Government. Social Security unfunded liability alone is estimated at approximately $73 trillion.

It doesn’t take a mathematician to understand that accumulation of debt of this magnitude is not sustainable and will lead to economic collapse. The Fiscal Restraint Amendment is broader than just a balanced budget but is inclusive. A balanced budget alone will not necessarily restrain spending as Congress can easily raise taxes to balance the budget.

You have the power to step in and stop this madness. Or you can continue to watch a run-away federal government implode our fiscal house.

Members of this body can participate by supporting the Convention of States Resolution HJ 5 calling for a convention that is strictly limited to proposing restraints on federal spending, term limits and overreach. This is your chance to do something on an issue of dire consequence. We ask your support by voting yes on HJ 5.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify before this committee.

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Created:	2025-03-11 17:59 GMT
Updated:	2025-03-11 17:59 GMT
Published:	2025-03-11 17:59 GMT
Converted:	2025-11-11 12:35 GMT
Change Author:	Daniella Landivar
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