Jason Smith laments 'fiscal insanity' as Biden prepares SOTU speech

Southeast Missourian GOP congressman Jason Smith, new chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, has a four-word message on the current debt ceiling crisis for President Joe Biden, as the latter is set to deliver his State of the Union speech Tuesday, Feb. 7.

"Republicans will not default," said Smith in an interview last week with Fox Business.

"Surely Joe Biden will want to get this fiscal insanity under control. Of his $10 trillion increase in new spending over the last two years where Democrats controlled the House and Senate, it has led to record inflation — the highest inflation in 40 years."

Smith, 42, who has represented Missouri's 8th District — comprised of 28 southern and southeastern Show Me State counties since 2013 — grounded his comments to the cable network on pocketbook issues.

"Every American has to pay more to get food on the table, clothes on their backs and gasoline in their cars," he said. "That's why [Republicans] want reckless spending to stop, and I hope President Biden also wants it to stop."

Definition

According to the U.S. Treasury, the debt limit is the total amount of money the U.S. government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations — including Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds and other payments.

"Failing to increase the debt limit would have catastrophic economic consequences," warns home.treasury.gov.

"It would cause the government to default on its legal obligations — an unprecedented event in American history. That would precipitate another financial crisis and threaten the jobs and savings of everyday Americans — putting the United States right back in a deep economic hole, just as the country is recovering from the recent recession."