If there’s one bit of policy coming from Congress that Americans are all too familiar with, it’s the yearly showdown to pass a budget for the upcoming fiscal year. With children starting school and the holidays around the corner, many families are taking a look at their own budgets right now. And despite what the President claims, it’s getting harder and harder for those families to balance their budgets in this current Bidenomics season. But even in these hard times, Americans have an incredible knack to work hard and do what needs to be done for their families. Can Washington do the same? 

Every year, September 30, is when the fiscal year ends. Congress and the president must pass a budget by then for the next fiscal year, which begins October 1. So what does that budget look like? And where do we stand right now? Well, in reality, it’s always been much easier for Democrats when we have budget discussions, because their solution has been to just fund everything, increase everywhere, spending everywhere, for anything you want, anything you think you may need, anything that you think is your pet peeve. 

Democrats don’t have much disagreement when it comes to spending American’s tax dollars. It’s the Republicans who seek the harder answers. It’s the Republicans that even mentioned eliminating wasteful spending to deal with our national debt, which has spiraled out of control. It’s actually Republicans that push for a balanced budget. And our current debt is a serious threat to the financial stability of future generations. 

It is often said that the government should tighten its belt, just as American families do when times are tough. However, on the horizon of September 30, it doesn’t seem as though there will be much tightening — at least not yet. The only consensus seems to be that there is little consensus in Washington when it comes to the next budget of our federal government. And as a result, a short term solution will be used to kick the can down the road yet again, or at least for a few more months. 

A continuing resolution, it’s called the CR. And it keeps the federal spending at the current level heading into the next fiscal year. You hear about it all the time, that’s all they want to do CR, CR, CR. This is no doubt to be one of the top issues that you’re going to see in the headlines for the next few weeks. Most likely right up until the deadline, because the media loves this discussion, because most of the major mainstream media is on the side of the Democrats that want to just keep spending spending spending. 

So it’s just a few people that are saying, wait a minute, our country needs serious reforms, and very few in leadership have the courage to be honest about our spending habits. It’s why the Freedom Caucus has drawn a line in the sand — and you’re going to hear a lot about that over the next two weeks. Because we need reforms to our social safety net programs. We need to promote economic growth. We need policies that empower self sufficiency among individuals. 

A welfare state that laughs at the efforts of hard working Americans and punishes future generations cannot remain the answer. Through the next few weeks, and what sounds like the next few months, politicians are going to need to be honest about the hard answers, even if it means a temporary government shutdown. Pushing for the true answers. The tough answers that are needed are what’s driving the Freedom Caucus right now. And although hard and painful, serious reforms will need to be put in place so that we can end up much better, more responsible. It’s a much serious, more serious path for us to be free as a country. 

Real reforms are the answer that will empower individuals to take charge of their own lives instead of having the government do it for us. The government’s in too many places in our lives, and our history of greatness was written by those of courage and conviction, the ones who made the tough calls. Who will write our future? The national debt currently sits at $32.9 trillion.

This debt is unacceptable. So let’s hear the voice of the Freedom Caucus and let’s heed their action call