During tomorrow’s presidential debate, Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will be asked about a range of important issues. Viewers will likely have the opportunity to learn more about the positions of each candidate on Ukraine, abortion, inflation, and immigration. However, there is one important question that needs to be posed to both nominees: “If elected, what specific steps will you take to reduce the budget deficit?”
The federal debt currently stands a whopping $35 trillion. During the past two presidential administrations, the debt has increased by over $12 trillion. Some of this increase was due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ukraine, and other events outside the control of either president. However, it is fair to say neither the Trump administration nor the Biden administration ever prioritized either deficit reduction or balancing the budget.
Overall, the United States faces a worse deficit situation today than at any point since World War II. Unfortunately, in recent years elected officials and political candidates consistently place a lower priority on deficit reduction than did their predecessors did 30 years ago.
Indeed, during the 1990s, both parties prioritized deficit reduction. President Clinton signed tax increases and defense-spending cuts with the intention of reducing the deficit. After taking control of Congress after the 1994 election, Republicans enacted spending cuts, supported a balanced-budget amendment, and proposed Medicare reforms. In 1997, President Clinton and the Republican Congress agreed to a budget deal that would balance the budget by 2002. The booming economy resulted in a budget surplus by 1998.
Why is deficit reduction a lower priority today than it was in the 1980s and ’90s? One key reason is that journalists are devoting less attention to this important issue. Indeed, the presidential debates in 1984, 1988, and 1992 all featured questions about the budget deficit. However, in 2020 not a single question was asked about the deficit during either the two presidential debates or the one vice-presidential debate.
During the June 27, 2024, debate between President Biden and Donald Trump, a question was asked about whether the Trump tax cuts should be extended in light of the worsening debt situation. Trump argued that the tax cuts were economically beneficial. Biden suggested that a tax increase on billionaires would “wipe out his debt” and leave enough revenue to fund child care, health care, and elder care.
The moderators deserve credit for asking the question. However. neither candidate articulated a plan for balancing the budget. The budget will not be balanced through either stronger economic growth or by raising taxes on the super-wealthy. Furthermore, neither candidate mentioned entitlement reform. Americans are living longer and having fewer children. Over time, this means that fewer workers will be supporting more retirees. That will make programs like Social Security and Medicare more expensive to maintain.
Tomorrow’s debate is an excellent opportunity to revisit the issue of balancing the budget. Both candidates should be asked about specific spending cuts and entitlement reforms. Such a question would doubtless pose a challenging test to both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. However, given America’s worsening fiscal situation, the debate moderators owe to the American people a start a frank discussion about the steps necessary to bring the federal budget into balance.