Congressman David Schweikert (R-AZ1) delivered his weekly speech before the U.S. House of Representatives last Tuesday and stated that the looming fiscal crisis of the United States is not an ideological matter but is instead a matter of inevitability.

Schweikert, widely known as a budget hawk conservative on the federal deficit and the trajectory of the national debt, warned that the political culture on both sides of the aisle “remains entrapped in a cycle of partisan folklore.”

In a press release, he stated that “the nation’s debt trajectory—already consuming 40 percent of global sovereign borrowing—is poised to spiral out of control, with interest payments alone eclipsing essential expenditures.”

Schweikert suggested in his remarks that with the Social Security trust fund projected to collapse by 2033, “the nation is blindly entering into an era where senior poverty will double overnight.” But he provided a blueprint for a potential solution that leverages data science and AI-driven efficiencies to close this gap, noting that Congress’ failure to do so has further exacerbated the oncoming fiscal collapse.

He told the House, “If I came to you today and said, ‘Let’s strip any partisanship; we need to find waste, fraud, abuse, modeling issues where we’re doing things the wrong way, where we have models that are decades out of date…’ would you hire an army of auditors? An army of lawyers? Or would you hire data scientists?”

He answered, “Turns out, several years ago, Congress started requiring agencies that send out payments that cover health care costs and that send out checks to start sending error reports. In 2023, the reports came back at $236 billion of improper payments. That’s a stunning amount of money, but that doesn’t mean that there’s $236 billion of improper payments that have been stolen. There’s a bunch that has been, but it’s more complex. An army of auditors would take years to grind through this. That’s why there’s the miracle of technology right now—hire some data scientists.“

Schweikert also suggested a policy of aggressive transparency and candor with the American people saying ,“In 2033, the Social Security trust fund is empty. Our brothers and sisters on Social Security will take a 17 percent to 20 percent cut; we DOUBLE senior poverty in America. And when someone says, ‘Just raise the cap,’ our model shows that in 2034, raising the cap only covers about 38 percent of the shortfall. You’ve wiped out the cash needed to save Medicare, which actually runs out like three years later.”

He continued, citing the COVID shutdown and stimulus as being a serious contributor to the problem, “One of the reasons for this chart is [it’s] trying to demonstrate something very simple, that back before TCJA– the 2017 tax reform– the actual projection of what tax receipts would be– so, before the tax changes– we’re right on track. You see the weird blip there? That was a remarkable amount of spending that happened during the pandemic. We actually just went back to nominal. So, what happens here? What happens when there’s this intense, intense hunger to play this weird blame game instead of being willing to tell our voters the truth?“

Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com. Click here to read the full article.