In testimony before Congress in 2010, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said the greatest threat to our sovereignty is not Iran; not al-Qaeda; not radical Islam—it’s our national debt. Most people don’t think of spending in terms of a threat to our sovereignty; and those who do, are rarely so blunt. But Admiral Mullen was right. We simply cannot continue to operate at this pace.

While many in Washington talk about the need to rein in spending, little action has occurred. In fact, changes in spending have gone the wrong direction. 

Our national debt is on pace to double under President Obama's watch. It has already eclipsed $19 trillion. Each American’s share of that debt is now nearly $60,000.

Almost half of the nation’s publically-held debt is owed to countries that do not share our best interests, such as China and Saudi Arabia. This puts our nation’s future in a very precarious position. It is why Admiral Mullen sounded the alarm when he came to Capitol Hill.

We need to get our fiscal house in order. Sequestration, while far from an ideal response to out-of-control spending, resulted in a significant decrease in spending. We dramatically moved the trillion-dollar deficits down to $400 billion deficits by adhering to the budget caps established in the Budget Control Act of 2011.

But last year, the President signed into law a budget agreement that raises the debt ceiling and eliminates those spending caps for the next two fiscal years. I voted against that deal because removal of the caps will result in excessive across the board spending.

The only real way to rein in spending in a responsible manner to make long-term reforms to the process. 

Here is how we can accomplish that: 

• We must institute a mechanism, like a Balanced Budget Amendment, that will stop the government from spending beyond its means. This is the reason why one of the first pieces of legislation I cosponsored as a U.S. Senator was a Balanced Budget Amendment. If Arkansas can be required to balance our state’s budget, there is no reason that we shouldn’t be able to require Washington to do the same. Learn more...
  
  
• We need to put an end to governing by continuing resolutions and omnibus spending bills, practices that have become all too common in Washington. We must return to following regular order and pass all twelve of the individual spending bills. Determining how taxpayer dollars are spent is a basic responsibility of Congress. Unfortunately, this has been turned over to the executive branch far too often in recent years. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, I’m committed to funding the programs that are an efficient use of taxpayer dollars, eliminating duplicative and ineffective programs and working to restore spending to lower levels. We need to reestablish regular order and begin the new standard of appropriating and passing funding bills that are necessary to keep the government open. Learn more…
  
  
• We need to get serious about entitlement reform. The sooner we make reforms to mandatory spending programs, the easier it will be to make sure that programs like Medicare and Social Security continue to operate over the coming years. As we discuss possible reforms to mandatory spending, we must start with the agreement that it is unfair to change the rules of the game in the fourth quarter. And nothing can be done until there is an agreement the President, Congress and the American people can all support. We need a committed partner in the White House to make entitlement reform a reality.

Arkansans have been forced to make difficult decisions in this tough economy. Many of them haven’t seen a raise in years, but their taxes and cost-of-living have skyrocketed. To tell them that Washington cannot tighten its belt a little as well would be disingenuous and completely out-of-touch.

We owe it to the generations of Americans who’ve made sacrifices in order for our country to prosper, and that means working together to solve our problems. I am committed to working with my colleagues to correct this course our nation is on by reining in the reckless spending in Washington and putting our nation back on a fiscally responsible, sustainable path.