The real monster this Halloween: Our national debt and a dysfunctional Congress

Happy Halloween! Congress has created a fiscal monster.

As Halloween looms, a more daunting deadline is coming up: Dec. 20, when Congress must fund the government for fiscal 2025 or face a partial shutdown just days before Christmas. The ominous prospect of a massive, deficit-laden “omnibus” spending bill hangs over us this spooky season.

It’s time for Congress to confront the monster we've created — our reckless reliance on continuing resolutions and bloated omnibus bills.

The federal budget process begins each year with the president’s budget, typically released in February. This sets the stage for Congress to negotiate spending priorities. Unfortunately, President Biden has been consistently late with his budget proposals, complicating an already fraught process.

Once Congress receives the president’s budget, we negotiate a top-line spending number. The Appropriations Committee then works to draft the 12 individual spending bills. Despite the chaos, Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) deserves credit for steering all 12 bills out of committee this year.

We’ve made progress. So far, the full House has passed five of the 12 appropriations bills — a significant improvement over last year. We’ve funded defense, homeland security and more. However, the Senate has passed zero bills.

To avoid a shutdown on Oct. 1, we passed a continuing resolution to extend funding until Dec. 20. But if history is any indicator, an omnibus bill — the Frankenstein’s monster of budget negotiations — will likely emerge again, adding to our national debt.

Congress has failed to pass all 12 appropriations bills on time every single year since 1994. The remaining seven appropriations bills face various challenges, including disputes over agricultural subsidies, Department of Justice funding, and contentious social issues like abortion and contraception.

The reality is that, with a slim majority in Congress, ideological divisions make passing these bills very difficult. This internal strife not only stalls essential funding but also prevents us from addressing other issues that matter to working Americans.

Lurking behind our budget dysfunction is an even scarier monster: our national debt, now at $35.7 trillion. Every six months, we add a trillion dollars to this debt.

In 2023, we spent $820 billion on defense, but our interest payments alone are more than that — over $1 trillion. This debt burden siphons resources away from critical services and threatens our national security.

Mandatory spending programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid consume 60 percent of the federal budget. These programs grow automatically each year, leaving little room for Congress to adjust spending on discretionary programs like national defense and infrastructure. Without reform, our budget will remain unsustainable.

The solution — our silver bullet:

1. Address mandatory spending: Implement measures to strengthen Social Security’s long-term solvency without denying benefits, and bolster Medicare by reducing waste and fraud.

2. Cap federal spending growth: Enact a cap tied to GDP growth or inflation that forces Congress to prioritize essential spending and to cut waste.

3. Balanced budget amendment: Require Congress to balance spending with revenues, enforcing long-term fiscal discipline.

4. Reduce wasteful spending: Carry out a full audit of federal programs to eliminate redundancy, saving billions.

5. Encourage economic growth: Enact pro-growth policies, like reducing regulations and reforming taxes, to increase revenue without raising rates.

Congress’s addiction to reckless spending has reached a breaking point. Our debt is spiraling out of control, and interest payments are devouring more of the budget.

We must end our reliance on continuing resolutions and omnibus bills and return to a functioning appropriations process.

This Halloween, the American people deserve better. No more tricks — it’s time to give America the fiscal treat it deserves.

Mark Alford represents Missouri's 4th Congressional District.