As an 80-year-old, I remember when Congress was required to have a balanced budget for the fiscal year (October to September). The budget listed all the costs to pay for the operation of the government. This included salaries, spending on government programs, and whatever else Congress wanted money for, and if there was not enough income from taxes, the requests were to be denied. The Vietnam War changed all this. Instead of submitting a balanced budget, Congress began using a continuing resolution, meaning using the previous year’s spending and tack on the new request for funds without worrying about the cost or if it would be covered by tax revenue. This method requires that the debt ceiling must be raised every fiscal year to cover the expenditures. If a balanced budget were submitted as required by law, then we would not have this problem of a larger debit and wild spending on unnecessary programs. The time has come to enforce a balanced budget and cut back spending.
Philip Nuzzo
California
