Good morning. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrats' nominee for the Senate in Michigan, campaigned on Medicare for All.
President Trump is pushing for a $1.5 trillion military budget.
James Talarico, the Democrats' Senate candidate in Texas, wants to hire more teachers and expand access to early childhood education.
It's campaign season, America, and the checkbooks are out.
What's not popular (members of both parties have found), is campaigning on cutting stuff. Yes, Democrats often want to raise taxes (or cut military spending) to offset the costs of their new proposals, but that rarely happens.
And yes, Republicans often want to cut spending they don't like to offset new military spending, but that rarely happens too.
The gravitational forces in Washington pull toward tax cuts and spending increases. Anything in the other direction must defy the odds.
What's remarkable about this election is how spending cuts initially were such a centerpiece of Trump's agenda (see, RIP DOGE) and now...crickets.
Total government debt is barreling toward $40 trillion. The deficit -- or gap between revenue and spending -- is projected to be $1.887 trillion this year, and then breach $2 trillion next year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Borrowing this much money costs a tremendous amount of money. The government is poised to pay $1.1 trillion in interest on its debt this year.