NEW YORK — Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, issued the following statement in advance of tonight’s State of the Union address:
“No review of the state of our union is complete without acknowledging our nation’s high and rising debt. The President may put forward a range of proposals tonight, but America won’t be able to address its critical challenges unless we get our fiscal house in order. We must put our nation on a more sustainable fiscal path to build the future we want.
“By any measure, our current fiscal outlook is dangerous and unsustainable. Trillion-dollar deficits will soon return, and continue indefinitely into the future as the growth in our debt outpaces the economy. Interest costs are now the fastest growing part of the budget, and in a few years we’ll actually be spending more on interest than on national defense. It’s hard to believe.
“The good news is that this challenge is within our own control, and many reform solutions are right in front of us. The President and Congress should focus on building a sustainable fiscal path that will enable a bright economic future for all Americans.”
According to the baseline projections in the Budget and Economic Outlook released last week by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO):