State leaders sound the alarm on national debt

Ninety state officials, including some that are contributors to American Habits, are urging President Trump and Congress to confront the skyrocketing national debt, warning that “a painful age of reckoning” is approaching without decisive action.

The November 20 letter includes signatures from American Habits contributors Indiana Comptroller Elise Nieshalla, Arkansas Sen. Matt McKee, and Tennessee Rep. William Slater.

The document calls for a plan by July 4, 2026 to put the federal government on a path to a balanced budget and warns about the dangers to drastic cuts to entitlements.

In our interview with Comptroller Nieshella, published in October, she noted:

As hard as Indiana has worked and the states work to balance their budget and to be financially solvent, we are all realizing that we are vulnerable to the rapidly dissolving financial position of our country. We have a duty to speak out on behalf of our states and their well-being on this.

Comptroller Nieshella has been a significant force in organizing the states’ response to the federal overspending crisis. Indiana’s Gov. Mike Braun and Treasurer Daniel Elliott are also signers.


— The Federalism Beat

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