The national debt of the United States is the total national debt owed by the federal government of the United States to Treasury security holders. The national debt at any point in time is the face value of the then-outstanding Treasury securities that have been issued by the Treasury and other federal agencies. The terms “national deficit” and “national surplus” usually refer to the federal government budget balance from year to year, not the cumulative amount of debt. In a deficit year the national debt increases as the government needs to borrow funds to finance the deficit, while in a surplus year the debt decreases as more money is received than spent, enabling the government to reduce the debt by buying back some Treasury securities.

• In the ‘About’ section of this post is an overview of the issues or challenges, potential solutions, and web links. Other sections have information on relevant legislation, committees, agencies, programs in addition to information on the judiciary, nonpartisan & partisan organizations, and a wikipedia entry.
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The Deficit & Debt  category has related posts on government agencies and departments and  committees and their Chairs.

The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury of the federal government of the United States where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and the U.S. Mint; these two agencies are responsible for printing all paper currency and coins, while the treasury executes its circulation in the domestic fiscal system.

The USDT collects all federal taxes through the Internal Revenue Service; manages U.S. government debt instruments; licenses and supervises banks and thrift institutions; and advises the legislative and executive branches on matters of fiscal policy. The department is administered by the secretary of the treasury, who is a member of the Cabinet.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is a powerful entity within the US government, situated within the Executive Office of the President. Here’s a breakdown of its key functions:

• Budget Management: The OMB plays a critical role in crafting the Federal budget. This includes assisting the President in formulating budget proposals, overseeing the budget’s execution, and making recommendations regarding legislative actions impacting the budget
• Agency Oversight: The OMB keeps a watchful eye on the performance of various federal agencies, ensuring they adhere to the President’s priorities.
• Regulatory Review: Functioning as a central hub, the OMB reviews and coordinates significant regulations issued by federal agencies. This ensures these regulations align with federal policies and don’t create unnecessary burdens.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is a nonpartisan agency within the legislative branch of the U.S. government. In simpler terms, it’s Congress’s own independent source of information on budgets and economic matters.

Here’s a breakdown of what the CBO does:

• Provides objective analysis of the federal budget and economic forecasts
• Estimates the costs of proposed legislation
• Offers insights on potential budgetary and economic impacts of policy decisions

Mission:  The Senate Appropriations Committee has jurisdiction over all discretionary spending legislation in the Senate. Its role is defined by the U.S. Constitution,  which requires “appropriations made by law” prior to the expenditure of any money from the Treasury.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is the largest committee in the U.S. Senate, with 30 members in the 117th Congress.

House Counterpart:  Appropriations Committee

Democratic Members:
Patty Murray, Washington, Vice Chair
Dick Durbin, Illinois
Jack Reed, Rhode Island
Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire
Jeff Merkley, Oregon
Chris Coons, Delaware
Brian Schatz, Hawaii
Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin
Chris Murphy, Connecticut
Chris Van Hollen, Maryland
Martin Heinrich, New Mexico
Gary Peters, Michigan
Jon Ossoff, Georgia
Kirsten Gillibrand, New York

Republican Members:
Susan Collins, Maine, Chair
Mitch McConnell, Kentucky
Lisa Murkowski, Alaska
Lindsey Graham, South Carolina
Jerry Moran, Kansas
John Hoeven, North Dakota
John Boozman, Arkansas
Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia
John Kennedy, Louisiana
Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi
Mike Rounds, South Dakota
Marco Rubio, Florida
Bill Hagerty, Tennessee
Deb Fischer, Nebraska
Markwayne Mullin, Oklahoma

Featured Video:
Senate Appropriations Committee holds hearing on domestic extremism

Current: US Senator since 1993
Affiliation: Democrat
Leadership: Senate President Pro Tempore and Chair of U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
Next Election: 

History:  Murray graduated from Washington State University with a degree in physical education. She worked as a pre-school teacher and, later, as a parenting teacher at Shoreline Community College. A long-time advocate for environmental and education issues, Murray was elected to serve on her local school board in King County.

Murray served in the Washington State Senate from 1989 to 1993. She was Washington’s first female U.S. senator and is the first woman in American history to hold the position of president pro tempore.

Quotes:  So many people who are working 40 hours a week are still living in poverty because our federal minimum wage is too low—and tipped workers, youth workers, and workers with disabilities are being paid even less. That’s unacceptable, and it’s why we need to #RaiseTheWage.

Featured Video:  Washington Sen. Patty Murray on US Capitol siege, Trump impeachment

Current Position: US Senator since 1997
Affiliation: Republican
Other Positions:  Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies

Collins worked as a legislative assistant to U.S. Representative and later U.S. Senator William Cohen from 1975 to 1987.[ She was also staff director of the Oversight of Government Management Subcommittee on the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs from 1981 to 1987. In December 1994, Collins became the founding executive director of the Richard E. Dyke Center for Family Business at Husson College.

Quotes: 
Cyber attacks & intrusions give our adversaries the opportunity to gather intelligence, steal intellectual property, & harm critical infrastructure. I joined @MarkWarner & @SenRubioPress in introducing a bill to help reduce cyber threats.

Republican Sen. Collins on why she voted to convict | Second Trump impeachment trial

Mission: The United States Senate Committee on the Budget was established by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. It is responsible for drafting Congress’s annual budget plan and monitoring action on the budget for the Federal Government. The committee has jurisdiction over the Congressional Budget Office.

House counterpart: Budget Committee (House)

Democratic Members (Minority):
Jeff Merkley, Oregon, Ranking Member
Bernie Sanders, Vermont
Patty Murray, Washington
Ron Wyden, Oregon
Debbie Stabenow, Michigan
Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island
Mark Warner, Virginia

Tim Kaine, Virginia
Chris Van Hollen, Maryland
Ben Ray Luján, New Mexico
Alex Padilla, California

Republican Members (Majority):
Lindsey Graham, South Carolina, Chair
Chuck Grassley, Iowa
Mike Crapo, Idaho
Ron Johnson, Wisconsin
Roger Marshall, Kansas
John Cornyn, Texas
Mike Lee, Utah
John Kennedy, Lousiana
Bernie Moreno, Ohio
Rick Scott, Florida
John Kennedy, Louisiana
Pete Ricketts, Nebraska

Featured Video:
Senate Budget Committee Hearing On The President’s Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Proposal

Current Position: US Senator since 2007
Affiliation: Democrat
Former Position: Attorney General from 1999 – 2003
Other Positions:   Chair, United States Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control

A political progressive and climate hawk, Whitehouse became chair of the United States Senate Committee on the Budget in 2023. He has given hundreds of Senate floor speeches about climate change and has made his assertion that politically conservative “dark money” groups are conducting a campaign to seize control of the American government, specifically the Supreme Court of the United States, a hallmark of his Senate tenure.

Whitehouse worked as Rhode Island Governor Bruce Sundlun’s executive counsel beginning in 1991, and was later tapped to serve as director of policy.

Featured Quote: 
Gives the lie to their nominal support for a carbon pollution fee, too. What’s the diff between pricing CO2 emissions and pricing methane leakage? Why one and not the other? Truth is, they want none of it, just to pollute for free.

Sheldon Whitehouse Delivers Third Speech About Dark Money And Its Effect On Controlling Judiciary

Current Position: US Senator since 1981
Affiliation: Republican
Former Positions: State Senator from 1975 – 1981; State Delegate
Other Positions:   Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary
Vice Chairman, Joint Committee on Taxation
Vice Chairman, United States Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control

Chuck Grassley is the longest-serving Republican in U.S. Senate history, having overtaken Orrin Hatch’s record in January 2023, and the sixth-longest-serving U.S. senator in history. During the 1950s, Grassley farmed and worked in factories in Iowa, first as a sheet metal shearer and then as an assembly line worker. From 1967 to 1968, he taught at Charles City College.

Featured Quote: 
Does Biden want an Iranian agreement so bad that he can’t condemn Iran when they attempt to kidnap a US citizen Ms Alinejad who is fighting human rights in Iran. We must standup for the human rights we espouse

Chuck Grassley Mocks ‘Washington Elites’ For Their Response To Inflation

Mission:  The committee focuses on matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generally, and those relating to the insular possessions; bonded debt of the United States; customs, collection districts, and ports of entry and delivery; deposit of public moneys; general revenue sharing; health programs under the Social Security Act (notably Medicare and Medicaid) and health programs financed by a specific tax or trust fund; national social security; reciprocal trade agreements; tariff and import quotas, and related matters thereto; and the transportation of dutiable goods.

House counterpart: Ways and Means Committee

Democratic Members (Minority):
Ron Wyden, Oregon, Ranking Member
Maria Cantwell, Washington
Michael Bennet, Colorado
Mark Warner, Virginia
Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island
Maggie Hassan, New Hampshire
Catherine Cortez Masto, Nevada
Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts
Bernie Sanders, Vermont
Ben Luján, New Mexico
Raphael Warnock, Georgia
Peter Welch, Vermont

Republican Members (Majority):
Mike Crapo, Idaho, Chair
Chuck Grassley, Iowa
John Cornyn, Texas
John Thune, South Dakota
Tim Scott, South Carolina
Bill Cassidy, Louisiana
James Lankford, Oklahoma
Steve Daines, Montana
Todd Young, Indiana
John Barrasso, Wyoming
Ron Johnson, Wisconsin
Thom Tillis, North Carolina
Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee
Roger Marshall, Kansas

Featured Video: 
Senate Finance Committee holds hearing on tax fraud

Current Position: US Senator since 1997
Affiliation: Democrat
Other Positions: Chair, Committee on Finance;
Chair, Subcommittee on Water and Power – Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
Former Position: US Representative from 1981 – 1996

He received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Oregon School of Law in 1974, but has never been a member of the Oregon State Bar.

While teaching gerontology at several Oregon universities, Wyden founded the Oregon chapter of the Gray Panthers, which he led from 1974 to 1980. He was also the director of the Oregon Legal Services Center for Elderly, a nonprofit law service. From 1977 to 1979 he served on the Oregon State Board of Examiners of Nursing Home Administrators.

Quotes: 
This is wonky, but it’s a big deal: in Republicans’ 2017 tax law they included something called a pass-through deduction. Over 61% of benefits from this provision go to the top 1%. I introduced a bill to end this giveaway to the ultra-wealthy and help true small businesses.

Sen. Ron Wyden talks on Senate Floor after mob infiltrates capitol

Current Position: US Senator since 1999
Affiliation: Republican
Former Position: US Representative for ID-02 from 1993 – 1999
Other Positions:  
Ranking Member, Committee on Finance

He practiced law in his home city throughout the 1980s, while also maintaining an active role in local Republican politics. His brother Terry Crapo was majority leader in the Idaho House of Representatives from 1968 to 1972 and an influential political figure until his death from leukemia in 1982.

Quotes:
A new analysis by the non-partisan @jctgov shows how few taxpayers will meaningfully benefit from the bill recently approved by the House Ways and Means Committee, and that taxpayers across all income levels will face a tax increase under the bill. Sept. 24, 2021

Senator Mike Crapo speaks with Lou Dobbs on Fox Business News

The House Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies is a standing subcommittee within the House Appropriations Committee. The United States House Committee on Appropriations and the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations have joint jurisdiction over all appropriations bills in the United States Congress. Each committee has 12 matching subcommittees, each of which is tasked with working on one of the twelve annual regular appropriations bills

Senate counterparts: Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittees:

• Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
• Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
• Defense
• Energy and Water Development
• Financial Services and General Government
• Homeland Security
• Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
• Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
• Legislative Branch
• Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
• State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
• Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies

Chair: Kay Granger, Texas (R)
Ranking Member: Rosa DeLauro, Connecticut (D)

Majority Staff Director: N/A
Minority Staff Director:  Christopher Bigelow
Meeting Location: 2362A Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-2771

Featured Video:  Markup of FY22 Transportation, Housing & Urban Development & Energy & Water Dev. – 7/16/21
Web Links

Current Position: US Representative of House District 3 since 1991
Affiliation: Democrat
Former Position: Executive Director, Emily’s List; Chair, Committee on Appropriations
Chair, Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
District: Principal cities include: Middletown, New Haven, and Stratford.
Upcoming Election:

Featured Quote: 
This morning @CCCYMCA, I joined @ChrisMurphyCT, @SenBlumenthal, CT child advocates, and families to celebrate the first #ChildTaxCredit payments. We will continue to spread the word until every qualified family is receiving this monthly check and this policy is made permanent.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro speaks at Heller on child poverty, labor rights & more

The United States House Committee on the Budget, commonly known as the House Budget Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. Its responsibilities include legislative oversight of the federal budget process, reviewing all bills and resolutions on the budget, and monitoring agencies and programs funded outside of the budgetary process. The committee briefly operated as a select committee in 1919 and 1921, during the 66th and 67th United States Congresses, before being made a standing committee in 1974.

Senate counterpart: Budget Committee (Senate)

Chair: Jodey Arrington, Texas
Ranking Member: Brendan Boyle, Pennsylvania

Majority Staff Director: Gary Andres
Minority Staff Director: Gregory Waring
Meeting Location: 204 Cannon House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515;  (202) 226-7270

Featured Video: Markup of: American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 – 2/22/21
Web Links

Current Position: US Representative of PA District 2 since 2015
Affiliation: Democrat
Former Position: State Delegate from 2009 – 2015
District:   includes all of Northeast Philadelphia and parts of North Philadelphia east of Broad Street, as well as portions of Philadelphia’s River Wards. 
Upcoming Election:

After working for several years as a consultant with the United States Department of Defense, including Naval Sea Systems Command, he attended graduate school at Harvard Kennedy School, where he earned a Master of Public Policy.

Featured Quote: 
Dad immigrated to America when he was 19. Spent the next 50 years working in a warehouse and as a custodian. This week he attended the swearing-in ceremonies of both of his sons. Both @RepKevinBoyle
and I know we wouldn’t be where we are without his hard work & sacrifice.

Democratic Weekly Address — Congressman Brendan Boyle

Current:US Representative of TX District 19 since 2017
Affiliation: Republican
Leadership: Chair, Committee on the Budget
District: upper midwestern portion of the state of Texas. The district includes portions of the State from Lubbock to Abilene. 
Next Election: 

History: Arrington was a member of George W. Bush’s gubernatorial and presidential administrations. He was named appointments manager for Governor Bush in 1996. In 2000, he was appointed Special Assistant to the President and Associate Director of Presidential Personnel. In December 2001, Donald E. Powell, the 18th chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, hired Arrington as the agency’s chief of staff.

Arrington returned to his alma mater, Texas Tech University, as its system chief of staff and later as vice chancellor for research and commercialization. Until his election to Congress, Arrington was the president of Scott Laboratories in Lubbock.

Featured Quote: 
Biden’s open-border policies have created a surge in COVID-positive illegal immigrants pouring into our country. Now, he’s trying to impose more restrictions on Americans in the name of “public health.” This defies logic. Enforce Title 42 and secure our border.

Featured Video: Rep. Jodey Arrington | Democrats Want To Control Your Life – July 28, 2021

The Committee on Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives. The Committee has jurisdiction over all taxation, tariffs, and other revenue-raising measures, as well as a number of other programs including Social Security, unemployment benefits, Medicare, the enforcement of child support laws, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and foster care and adoption programs.

Subcommittees:

• Health
• Oversight
• Select Revenue Measures
• Social Security
• Trade
• Worker and Family Support

Chair: Jason T. Smith, Missouri
Ranking Member: Richard Neal, Massachusetts

Majority Staff Director: Patrick Dumas
Minority Staff Director: Brandon Casey
Meeting Location: 1139 Longworth HOB, Washington D.C. 20515; (202) 225-3625

Featured Video: Oversight Subcommittee Hearing on Expanding Housing Access to All Americans – July 14, 2021
Web Links

Current Position:  US Representative of MO District 8 since 2013
Affiliation: Republican
Positions:  Chair, Joint Committee on Taxation; Chair, Ways and Means Committee
District: 30 counties, covering just under 20,000 square miles of southeastern and southern Missouri.
Upcoming Election:

Jason Smith served four full terms and one partial term in the Missouri House of Representatives, serving as the Majority Whip during the 96th Missouri General Assembly and as Speaker Pro Tem during the 97th Missouri General Assembly.

After passing the Missouri Bar in 2004, Smith practiced law at a local law firm in Cuba, Missouri. He also took over his family’s farm, just outside Salem, which has been in Smith’s family for four generations. At this time, he was a co-owner of a dog breeding business which his mother operated.

Current Position: US Representative of MA House District 1 since 1989
Affiliation: Democrat
Former Position: Mayor Springfield from 1983 – 1989
Other Positions:  Committee on Ways and Means; Joint Committee on Taxation
District:  western and central part of Massachusetts,  includes the cities of Springfield, West Springfield, Pittsfield, Holyoke, Agawam, Chicopee and Westfield.   
Upcoming Election:

Neal chaired the House Ways and Means Committee from 2019 to 2023 and chaired the Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures. He has also dedicated much of his career to U.S.–Ireland relations and maintaining American involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process,. Early in his career Neal taught history at Cathedral High School.

Featured Quote: 
In the first #200Days, @HouseDemocrats have taken decisive action to crush the coronavirus and defeat the economic crisis – including by passing the life-saving #AmericanRescuePlan, which put shots in arms, workers back in jobs, money in pockets and children back in school!

Congressman Richard Neal chats about his new position as House Ways and Means Committee chairman