The Washington Post
Sen. Rick Scott
March 17, 2023

The March 10 editorial “The U.S. has a $2 trillion problem. Mr. Biden’s budget won’t solve it.” told the truth about President Biden’s budget proposal.

Since Mr. Biden took office, the federal debt has ballooned to $31 trillion, growing by almost $4 trillion under his administration. As the editorial rightly pointed out, the United States’ enormous debt is a problem that both parties are complicit in, and Mr. Biden’s latest proposal does nothing to fix it.

But the editorial was wrong to dismiss the idea of balancing the budget. It is not unrealistic; it’s necessary. Those who say it can’t be done have conceded to the failed thinking in Washington that Congress is incapable of doing hard things. I reject that. If the Editorial Board or anyone reading this doubts my optimism, take a look at what Florida did when I was governor. We balanced the budget, paid down almost one-third of state debt and increased investments in transportation, the environment and education all while cutting taxes nearly 100 times.

How? We focused on growing Florida’s economy. We got people back to work. The same must be done in Washington, and it’s possible if everyone stops caving. Republicans need to stop caving to Democrats and Democrats need to stop caving to the reckless tax-and-spend wishes of their radical base.

I look forward to reading the series on spending reforms and implore future editorials to encourage the structural change needed to return fiscal sanity to Washington.