U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts is sounding the alarm on federal spending, saying it needs to be brought under control in much the same fashion as happened in Nebraska when he was governor.
Ricketts is on a tour of the state, explaining how a lack of discipline in spending, including funding of some very questionable items, is driving inflation and placing a strain on the economy.
During a stop at the Legacy of the Plains Museum Wednesday, the junior Nebraska Senator said while the appropriations system has been less than ideal for decades, much of the economic damage now really took off during the Biden/Harris administration.
“Between 2019 and 2023, federal government spending is up 40%. Now, our revenues across that time period were actually pretty strong, those were up 28%, but our federal spending far outstripped it. At the same time, our population only grew 2.5%,” Ricketts said, noting that while there was the pandemic in that period, it was mostly limited to one year and was primarily over by the time funding for ARPA and the Inflation Reduction Act were passed with zero support from Republicans.
Ricketts said all classes of federal spending have risen rapidly the last few years, but the most damaging is interest on the public debt, which is $892 billion for fiscal 2024, up 137.9 percent since 2019 and currently second only to spending on Social Security.
He asked those in attendance to help spread the word and get more people informed to help put pressure on Congress to return to the regular order of the appropriations process, which allows better oversight, and get annual spending growth limited to three percent or less.
