The post-deficit pres­i­den­tial cam­paign

The post-deficit presidential campaign

The first 2024 pres­i­den­tial debate gen­er­at­ed days of head­lines about Pres­i­dent Joe Biden‘s health and for­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump‘s loose way with words.
But the debate came just days after a gov­ern­ment agency announced that $1.9 tril­lion would be added to the nation­al debt this year alone — and that the ratio of debt to gross domes­tic prod­uct would soon eclipse a record set dur­ing World War II, sug­gest­ing there were more impor­tant mat­ters to dis­cuss than which can­di­date had a low­er golf hand­i­cap.

(Illus­tra­tion by Julia Terbrock/Washington Exam­in­er; Get­ty Images; Asso­ci­at­ed Press)

“With debt grow­ing out of con­trol, we need lead­er­ship now more than ever. This should be domes­tic issue No. 1 in the pres­i­den­tial cam­paign,” said Maya MacGuineas, pres­i­dent of the Com­mit­tee for a Respon­si­ble Fed­er­al Bud­get. “It’s time for Pres­i­dents Biden and Trump to put for­ward plans to fix our debt. And it’s long past time for Con­gress to act.”
The Con­gres­sio …