U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo says the growing debt is a “threat to our national security” and must be addressed.
The Mississippi Republican told Columbia Rotarians this week that mandatory spending categories make up 70 percent of the federal budget and are “what’s bankrupting our nation” as the debt hits $22 trillion and continues to grow.
“When our interest payments on our debt exceed our DOD (Department of Defense) budget, we’re going to be in trouble,” he said.
The Gulfport CPA said Congress has to tackle what’s inside mandatory spending, which includes programs he said are really important to Americans like Social Security.
“I didn’t say we’re going to take away Social Security. Everybody wakes up when we talk about that, but that’s mandatory spending,” he said. “People say, ‘Why is that mandatory? It’s not an entitlement; I paid into the system. Let’s not go down that argument train, but let’s just understand that the trust fund for Social Security is not stable right now. We can fix it, preserve what’s currently in the system for those near retirement, but there’s no reason we can’t start changing the rules for people who haven’t even gotten into the workforce yet because it’s going to be unsustainable.”
The 49-year-old has represented Mississippi’s 4th Congressional District, which includes Marion County, since 2011. He said “I want to be your security guy” and discussed several areas, including national defense, the economy, the border, food and energy, as they relate to security.
Palazzo said his No. 1 constitutional responsibility is the common defense and that Congress is working to rebuild the military after “devastating cuts” made during the Obama administration.
On the economy, he said there is record unemployment, job creation and wage increases nationally. He attributed that to sound conservative policies promoting less taxes and regulation.
“You can feel the economic enthusiasm. Everywhere I travel in the 4th Congressional District, obviously everybody wants more infrastructure, but it seems like things are at least moving where in the past things were kind of just dying on the vine,” he said.
Palazzo said there’s a crisis at the southern border with Mexico with tens of thousands “swarming” across declaring “credible fear asylum” even though once investigated he said less than 10 percent of those are even credible claims.
He said the courts are so backlogged that they don’t have judges to hear their cases, so the people are released pending their hearings, which he said few show up for.
That humanitarian crisis has created a security crisis because it pulls border patrol agents, who were stretched thin already, off the border for hearings or taking illegal immigrants to the hospital.
“You’re pulling away the resources, taking them out of the field, and those drug cartels they’re just by the truckload bringing in hard narcotics, bringing in guns. They’re trafficking in young children,” Palazzo said.
He said it could be shut down immediately if there was the political will in Congress to do it.
Regarding the regional economy, Palazzo also said there’s an effort to open up aquaculture markets in federal waters on the Gulf Coast, saying 90 percent of American seafood today is imported and there’s a large, untapped market here if only there were less regulations.
He also said Mississippi’s congressional delegation, although only having six members, is strong because of tenure, relationships with colleagues and committee roles. Palazzo serves on the House Appropriations committee, which allocates federal tax dollars.
