$36 trillion national debt inspires new ‘fiscal responsibility’ group led by Democrat

FIRST ON FOX: The advocacy group Concord Coalition has tapped former Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux, D-Ga., to lead its new “fiscal responsibility” group aimed at lowering the country’s $36 trillion in national debt. 

Concord Action said they will lead a grassroots effort to achieve a “sustainable” national budget. In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital ahead of the launch, Bourdeaux, the group’s president and executive director, previewed Concord Action’s plan to pressure Congress to balance the budget. 

“We are getting ready to launch Concord Action, which will complement the Concord Coalition and is intended to build on all the grassroots energy out there around the debt and deficit, to try to start moving the needle in Congress to bring fiscal responsibility and fiscal discipline to Washington,” Bourdeaux said. 

Bourdeaux, who represented Georgia’s 7th Congressional District for one term beginning in 2021, worked on bipartisan legislation to tackle the national budget crisis during her tenure. She was a member of the Blue Dog Task Force on Fiscal Responsibility and Government Reform, a national group that says it’s committed to reducing the federal deficit through bipartisan policy development.

TRUMP BUDGET BILL EXTENDING FIRST-TERM TAX CUTS SURVIVES HOUSE VOTE

TRUMP’S ‘GOLD CARD’ VISA PLAN A BOON FOR AMERICAN ECONOMY, EXPERT SAYS: ‘MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL’

Georgia had a Republican-led legislature while Bourdeaux led Georgia’s Senate Budget and Evaluation Office from 2007 to 2010. Bourdeaux played an advisory role to the Georgia State Senate in balancing the budget during the 2008 economic downturn.

“I was director of Georgia’s Senate Budget and Evaluation Office during the Great Recession,” Bourdeaux said. “I helped Georgia balance its budget during the worst fiscal crisis in modern memory. One message coming out of that is it can be done. I was working largely with the Republican leadership to balance the budget. But when we did that, those budgets passed by broad and bipartisan majorities. So this can be done through our regular democratic processes. I want to bring that sensibility to what we’re working on here in Concord.”

Bourdeaux said to expect a digital campaign with a newsletter to get the public involved in Concord Action’s grassroots efforts. There will also be a town hall element to build energy on the ground. 

A 2024 Fox News Voter Analysis found the economy was the top issue for Americans, with 4 in 10 voters saying inflation was the most important factor in their vote. Voters had a negative view of the economy, with almost two-thirds rating the economy as not good, 40%, or downright poor, 24%. 

As the country approaches another government shutdown deadline and Congress begins budget negotiations for fiscal 2026, Bourdeaux said it’s a necessary time to launch Concord Action. 

“I think the issue of the debt and deficit is particularly salient to everyone,” Bourdeaux said. “We’ve obviously just been through inflation. We’ve seen interest rates rise. So it really is top of mind for lots of Americans right now.”

Concord Action said they will pressure Congress to stop adding to the federal debt and create a “sustainable budget” through “fiscal responsibility.”

“We just experienced some pretty serious inflation, and it was driven in part by the deficit in the growing debt,” Bourdeaux said. 

“We are $36 trillion in debt right now just based on our current trajectory. The Congressional Budget Office thinks we will add another $25 trillion to that,” she said. “We are spending more on just the interest on debt than we spend on national defense, more than we even spend on Medicare. It’s really starting to put a lot of pressure on a lot of big priorities that we have for this country. It is extremely important that we address this now.”