(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) A poll of likely American voters said they would choose to shut down the government before having Congress spend another dime.
Responses to the poll, done by Rasmussen Reports, showed that 56% of respondents preferred a partial government shutdown until Congress limits its spending, as opposed to 34% who said they would prefer the government spend more in order to avoid a shutdown.
According to Breitbart, almost three-quarters of Republicans and more than half of independents are inclined toward a shutting down the government until Congress can cut spending or keep it at steady levels. Only 41% of Democrats thought this would be productive.
On the flip side, 50% of Democrats expressed concern about shutting down the government and encouraged increased expenditures.
The poll found that the majority of all voters, regardless of party, believe Congress does have a spending problem, with 66% hypothesizing that politicians were “unwilling to reduce government spending.”
A minority of 21% believed taxpayers were the reason for the country’s massive debt, which sits at more than $31 trillion after President Joe Biden added nearly $4 trillion in debt during his first two years in office.
Biden’s spending puts him nearly on pace to match his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, although some $3.7 trillion of Trump’s $7.8 trillion in expenditures can be attributed directly to COVID-19 relief during his final year in office.
Since 2013, the first year of former President Barack Obama’s second term, the U.S. debt-to-gross-domestic-product ratio has exceeded 100%, meaning the country spent more than it brought in.
Nonetheless, Congress is on the brink of a negotiation to increase the debt ceiling.
On one side of the aisle, Republicans are pushing for massive cuts to offset government spending.
“The debate over our debt ceiling is the perfect example of Washington elites refusing to prioritize your best interests,” said U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. “We can’t keep rubber-stamping reckless spending. I’m fighting every day to stop it.”
Democrats are less enthusiastic about that possibility, which may result in a governmental default on its loans if no agreement can be brokered, as well as triggering a shutdown of nonessential federal services.
The Congressional Budget Office recently released budget figures showing that the federal government borrowed $4 billion per day in 2022, which is more than $10,000 per household and an overall deficit of about $1.4 trillion. Pre-pandemic deficits were less than $1 trillion.
The U.S. came very close to the current $31.4 trillion limit last week, causing the Treasury Department to take “extraordinary measures” to give Congress time to come to an understanding.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., indicated his willingness to meet with Biden to negotiate a compromise between raising the debt ceiling and making cuts to expenditures where necessary.
However, despite Biden’s having initiated the meeting, the White House made it clear that the president was not planning to budge on the matter of spending cuts.
