(CNS News) -- When asked to predict when the federal government will pay off the federal debt for this fiscal year alone, which currently is $3.78 trillion, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said, “I don’t know the answer, which is why I don’t think we ought to be adding trillions more to the debt.”
At the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, CNS News asked Sen. Hawley, “So far in fiscal 2020, the federal debt has increased $3.78 trillion. When do you predict the government will pay off the debt it added this year?’
Senator Hawley replied, “I don’t know the answer to that question, which is why I don’t think we ought to be adding trillions more to the debt, to no particular purpose, which is what I am worried about with this current round of talks.”
“From my point of view the best thing that we can do for workers who are out of work, and also for our long-term fiscal health, is to get people back to work, to get our economy reopened, and to begin to grow again,” he said.
“That, to me, ought to be the focus,” said the senator, “and I don’t really hear that as the focus right now.”
The fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30. On Sept. 30, 2019, the total federal debt was $22,719,402,000,000. On Aug. 4, 2020, it was $26,503,236,000,000.
The increase totals $3,783,834,000,000.
Recently, both Democrats and Republicans have debated a new spending bill on COVID-19 relief. The Democrats plan, proposed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), is called the HEROES act and totals $3.4 trillion. It was passed by the House of Representatives on May 15, 2020.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) introduced the HEALS act, which totals $1 trillion.