The United States national debt has reached unbelievable levels. It currently totals over $34 trillion and is increasing faster than ever before. More importantly than the total itself, however, is the fact that the total debt is now valued at 120% of the United States Gross Domestic Product. A figure this high is unprecedented in American history.

Members of Congress know these facts better than anyone. Many of them campaigned on  promises of balancing the budget or reigning in the national debt. Based on their actions, however, actually making any real progress on the issue seems to be anything but a priority.

This is not a partisan issue. Both Republicans and Democrats have contributed by increasing spending on the issues important to them without responsibly raising taxes to create the proper revenue. The most frustrating aspect, however, is our representatives’ inability to acknowledge the threat that this debt poses and work towards any meaningful solutions.

Their generation is unlikely to feel the effects of this enormous debt. But ours will. Ms. Kelly Guffey is a government and economics teacher at Brophy. She discussed the effects the national debt in the future, notably that the interest payments will get larger and larger, and said, “If those [interest] payments get larger, it just means the share of the current government spending today, more of that’s going to go to interest…It will start taking up a bigger portion of our spending, giving us less money to actually produce things that the government needs to.”

Effectively, our generation will have to grapple with less resources available for essential societal programs, such as Social Security, Medicare and the military because of the current negligence. Additionally, the government’s ability to respond to national crises will be severely constrained because the majority of government revenue will go to paying off the interest. And finally, interest rates will rise, making the financial lives of everyday Americans much tougher.

The topic of national debt seems incredibly abstract, but it does have very real consequences for future American generations. The process to limit its growth is extremely complicated and difficult, but some tangible actions need to be taken. I urge you to put pressure on our representatives to stop kicking the can down the road without confronting what that will mean for future Americans.