U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) on Jan. 8 urged action on bipartisan legislation he supports to save and strengthen critical social contract programs of the federal government that, in turn, could help reduce the nation’s debt, which as of this month exceeded $23 trillion.
“Congress must check the growth of mandatory payments, which make up around 70 percent of all federal spending and include important trust funds, if we are ever to begin reducing our debt,” Sen. Rounds said. “The debt crisis is preventable and these trust funds are savable – but we must begin to act now.”
Sen. Rounds in November 2019 signed on as a cosponsor of the Time to Rescue United States Trusts (TRUST) Act, S. 2733. The bill would require the U.S. Treasury Department to report to Congress on the government’s endangered federal trust funds and would authorize congressional leaders to appoint members to serve on Rescue Committees — one per trust fund — to draft legislation that restores solvency and improves each trust fund program, according to a bill summary provided by the senator’s office.
S. 2733, introduced in October 2019 by U.S. Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Joe Manchin (D-WV), remains under consideration in the U.S. Senate.
“I’ve said countless times that we must take bold action to get our debt under control,” said Sen. Rounds. “Our legislation takes an important step toward putting our federal trust programs on a sustainable path and addresses our debt crisis, allowing Congress to actively manage federal trust funds.”
The TRUST Act also this week received endorsements from former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson (R-WY) and former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, both leaders in national debt-reduction efforts and former co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, a bipartisan presidential commission on deficit reduction.