President Donald J. Trump recognized on the campaign trail that spending beyond our means is a problem and he appears to be coming around to the idea that we will never rein in our national debt unless we address non-discretionary spending like social security and Medicare.

The Washington Times has the commentary:

Despite campaign rhetoric indicating his opposition to such efforts, recent signs indicate a growing recognition on his part that such spending reforms would be not only good, but also necessary. If he can find a way to use his legendary deal-making skills to bring polarized political elites together to fashion a long-term reform of our major entitlement programs, he could go down as one of the greats.

Trump promised on the campaign trail to balance the federal budget, and spoke glowingly of a version of the Penny Plan – a simple plan to balance the budget in five years by reducing spending by just one penny out of every federal dollar spent. In Trump’s version, discretionary spending on defense, and entitlement spending, would be left alone; the cuts would come from domestic discretionary programs.

Meanwhile, he simultaneously promised not to touch Social Security and Medicare. Given that the three major entitlement programs – Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid – now account for more than 60 percent of federal spending, balancing the budget without reforming entitlement spending is a difficult, if not impossible, task.

Our national debt stands at more than $19.9 trillion. With bills that high, America can’t afford NOT to address entitlement programs that leave us more and more beholden to creditors who hold wildly different values than we do as a nation. Click here to help Tea Party Patriots encourage members of Congress to adopt commonsense spending policy that would balance our budget within five years!