It was standing room only at Minnetonka High School as Dean Phillips, the U.S. representative for Minnesota’s Third Congressional District, hosted a community conversation focused on federal fiscal responsibility.
“We’re here tonight because we have a $23 trillion dollar national debt. … I am so glad that you are all here tonight, but we have got to inject this issue into the national discourse and do something about it,” Phillips said at the top of his presentation Dec. 16 in the school’s forum room.
Phillips first provided a breakdown of where the federal government spent most of its money for 2019.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, 47% ($2.09 billion) of the budget was spent on mandatory items such as Social Security benefits, Medicare and Medicaid. Around 30% of the budget was for discretionary spending, with around half ($654 billion) going toward defense. Close to 10% ($423 billion) of the budget went toward interest on the debt.