The Wall Street Journal
Sen. Rick Scott
December 5, 2022

I’ve been in the Senate for almost four years, and one thing I’ve learned is that in Washington compromise means everyone gets everything so that nobody has to make a tough choice. The result is gross fiscal mismanagement and unsustainable debt. Democrats are again pushing a massive omnibus spending bill that keeps this inflation-bomb deficit spending going (“Democrats Want a Lame-Duck Blowout,” Review & Outlook, Dec. 1). It’s time for Republicans to be a brick wall to stop the madness.

While I’ve fought to rein in insane spending, Congress has been fiscally irresponsible for so long that people think it’s normal. It isn’t. If you had siblings that acted the way Congress does with its money, you would step in and try to help them. You might even stage an intervention.

I ran for Republican Senate leader because if we’re silent and never challenge the status quo, we sentence America to more of the same: More bureaucracy, more reckless spending, more multithousand-page bills dropped at the last minute that no one can actually read, more debt and more inflation.

I reject that, and so do American families who are sick of being stuck with the consequences of Washington’s wasteful spending. Congress should go through the budget process and pass a balanced budget. Anyone supporting a bloated omnibus that spends taxpayer dollars on radical waste, like 87,000 IRS employees, has surrendered to massive debt and raging inflation, which are affecting every American family.

How much debt is too much? Is it $45 trillion? More? Few in Washington will say. Caving to more debt isn’t an option. We must fight for our country while we still have something to save.