Schweikert Slams 'Theatrics' of Government Spending

Arizona Rep. David Schweikert (R) gave an impassioned plea on the House floor last week, calling out the "theatrics" of government spending. Equipped with charts outlining the government's spending habits, Rep. Schweikert urged the U.S. government to be more mindful of the money it's both borrowing and spending.

Rep. Schweikert took to the House floor last week to give his final speech before the 2024 presidential election. In his speech, which largely discussed government spending, he pointed to previous speeches wherein he suggested that the government should adopt a more fiscally conservative approach.

The Arizona Republican noted that every tax proposal for the wealthy only brings in 1.5% of GDP. If Congress were to make cuts in discretionary spending by $300 billion, it would account for $860 billion. If the government combined every Republican and Democrat tax proposal, that would amount to 2.5% of GDP. Despite all this money being available, the U.S. would still borrow almost 7% GDP.

Thus, the U.S. government should change its approach to spending, and Rep. Schweikert highlighted that interest is the second biggest expenditure of U.S. government spending.

In his remarks, he called on members go Congress to "stop living in this fantasy" if they intend on making a change to the debt.

"We'll just tax rich people, and that takes care of everything!" he said, dismissing the argument.

"If you look at some of the proposals, they've already spent the money three or four times," he explained. "I keep trying to present over and over; when you start to realize the amount of our spending - and by the end of the decade... 10 years from now - if you add in the debt we will owe to the trust funds, what's left of them, we're at $56 trillion."

"What happens if interest rates move against us?" he questioned. "Remember, interest today is the second biggest expenditure in this government," Rep. Schweikert explained.

"[Number one is] social security. Behind that is interest. Then Medicare, then defense."