Thune, Kaine team up on debt bill

Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) will introduce legislation on Wednesday that would require the investigative and budget score keeping arms of Congress to produce annual reports on the long-term economic impact of government debt levels. They say the bill — dubbed The Intergenerational Financial Obligations Reform Act — would help Americans understand the long-term costs of government debt. It requires the Congressional Budget Office and the Government Accountability Office to provide annual analysis of the long-term impact of the national debt. The bill is co-sponsored by Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Chris Coons (D-Del.). “As we look to make tough budget decisions, more information is critical to making prudent fiscal choices,” Kaine said in a statement. “A better understanding of the long-term impacts of changes in the economy, or new spending and tax policies, will help us evaluate these programs with the important perspective of how those decisions will affect future generations, not just our own.” Thune added: “For too long, politicians have kicked the can down the road by relying on deficit spending to pay for growth in government, and today’s young people face a mounting burden of debt that will have to be repaid,” Representatives from The Can Kicks Back — a millennial advocacy group that pushes for deficit reduction — were some of the first to tout the legislation earlier this year. TCKB group first grabbed headlines in December after it made a YouTube video of former Sen. Alan Simpson dancing to “Gangnam Style” go viral. “Now we’ve got something even more tangible,” TCKB field director Nick Troiano told POLITICO. Added TCKB executive director Ryan Schoenike: “That little video allowed us to get some meetings on the Hill.”

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