Concord Action

08/22/2026

The national debt just hit $40 trillion, up a full trillion in only five months.

Our Executive Director, Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, calls it "intergenerational theft," pointing out that young Americans didn't create this debt, didn't benefit from the tax cuts, and didn't support the wars or spending that built it.

They're the ones who will live with the consequences: higher borrowing costs, more inflation pressure, and fewer resources for education, housing, and infrastructure.

"Every day that goes by makes the problem worse and more difficult to solve," she warned.

"Both parties helped bring us here, and both parties now have a responsibility to change course."

Read the full story from The Center Square:

(The Center Square) – The United States government passed a sobering milestone Wednesday as the national debt topped $40 trillion, up from $39 trillion only five months ago.

08/21/2026

Thank you C-SPAN for the opportunity to discuss the $40 trillion national debt and the serious consequences it has for all Americans.

Concerned citizens: click this link and urge your members of Congress to support the Fiscal Commission Act NOW: https://tinyurl.com/fiscalcommissionact

08/21/2026

Social Security's shortfall has grown from 19% to 30% of future benefit claims in just the last decade, and the longer Washington waits, the harder it gets to fix.

On The Concord Coalition's Facing the Future, Charles Blahous, a former public trustee of Social Security, tells host Bob Bixby that if lawmakers wait until the early 2030s, the program goes insolvent even under the most extreme fix imaginable.

The date that really matters isn't 2032, it's the point where the problem becomes too far gone to cure, and he says we're already heading into that territory.

Every year Congress waits is a year the fixes get harder and the choices get worse.

Watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/anqElCiJyG0

08/21/2026

Tune in NOW! Our Executive Director, Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, is scheduled to appear live on C-SPAN's Washington Journal from 8:00-8:45 a.m. EDT. this morning!

Watch live at c-span.org or on your cable TV.

Want to join the conversation? Call in using the numbers below, or send a text:

📞 Republicans: 202-748-8001
📞 Democrats: 202-748-8000
📞 Independents: 202-748-8002
💬 Text: 202-748-8003

08/20/2026

This morning our Executive Director, Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, was featured on NPR's Up First, discussing the national debt topping $40 trillion and what it means for everyday Americans.

The segment breaks down how the government now spends more on interest than on defense, driving up costs on everything from mortgages to small business loans.

Click below and tune in. ⬇️

The U.S. debt has surpassed $40 trillion. And, a new census report on noncitizen voting that President Trump is touting has ties to a think tank aligned with him, raising concerns among experts.

08/19/2026

The U.S. national debt has officially surpassed $40 trillion, a milestone equal to nearly $117,000 for every person in America.

Neither Congress nor the President has a credible plan to stop it from growing, and every day that passes makes the problem harder to solve.

Our Executive Director Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux: "Both parties helped bring us here, and both parties now have a responsibility to change course. Congress cannot pay lip service to this milestone today and then simply return to business as usual tomorrow."

Read our full statement: https://www.concordaction.org/news/press-releases/u-s-national-debt-hits-40-trillion-the-warning-washington-cannot-ignore/

08/19/2026

The national debt is set to cross $40 trillion any day now - months earlier than forecasters expected. Six months ago, the Congressional Budget Office projected total borrowing would top out at $39.4 trillion this fiscal year.

As of Monday, it stood at $39.9 trillion, driven in part by billions in lost revenue after the Supreme Court struck down the administration's tariffs.

That faster pace means the next debt-limit fight will arrive earlier too. Congress set the current limit at $41.1 trillion just last year, and budget analysts now expect we could hit it as soon as early next year.

As the Bipartisan Policy Center's president Margaret Spellings put it, our fiscal trajectory is unsustainable even in the best-case scenario.

We'll keep tracking this milestone and pushing Washington to confront it before it becomes a crisis.

Read more from The Washington Post:

Faster borrowing — driven in part by lost revenue from invalidated tariffs — means the next debt-limit fight is also likely to arrive ahead of schedule.

08/18/2026

The national debt is projected to cross $40 trillion any day now, and our Executive Director Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux joined PBS NewsHour to explain why that number should worry every American.

As she put it, without action, the country risks a serious economic crisis, one that could bring hyperinflation, higher interest rates, and problems that are extremely difficult to reverse.
Neither Congress nor the White House is confronting the core of the problem.

Watch the full segment to understand how we got here and what it will take to change course.

08/16/2026

$40 trillion. It's a number we hear so often it barely registers anymore.

So we broke it down.

Swipe through to see just how big $40 trillion really is. 👉

08/15/2026

This week marks the 91st anniversary of Social Security. The news isn't good: barring congressional action, the program's trust fund will be depleted by 2032, triggering an automatic 22% cut to everyone's benefits.

Two bipartisan proposals in Congress aim to head that off. The Bipartisan Social Security Commission Act (H.R. 9187) would create a 13-member commission tasked with delivering a 75-year solvency plan within a year, with an expedited up-or-down vote in Congress. The PROMISE Act would task the existing Social Security Advisory Board with the same goal on a 50-year horizon, building in public input and a recurring 10-year review.

Both share the same premise: a bipartisan, expert-driven path to a real plan, with a fast track through Congress once it's ready.

Read our full breakdown of how the two proposals compare: https://www.concordaction.org/news/blogs/social-security-at-91-two-bipartisan-blueprints-for-solvency/