Former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker is joining the call for President Trump, Congress – and essentially all Americans – to reign in the national debt that is now nearing $40 trillion, saying its creating an inevitable collapse of the U.S. economy that will ultimately lead to a global depression.  

"One of the things that we clearly have to have is we need a constitutional amendment, because only a constitutional amendment can bind the Congress to return to fiscal sanity and sustainability," Walker said last week on the Just the News, No Noise TV show.

Such efforts to control the debt are being led in part by a group named "50 Million People," for which Walker is the campaign chairman. 

Walker advice to Trump is that he "first ... ought to make it very clear that he supports the need for a constitutional amendment to limit debt as a percentage of the economy, and secondly, that he has no problems if the states decide to sue the Congress, not the executive branch, only the Congress, for failing to discharge their express and enumerated nondiscretionary constitutional responsibility."

He also said on the show that it’s not a matter of if the debt collapses, causing a global depression — it’s a matter of when.

Walker also argues there is no political party of fiscal responsibility today, and that Bill Clinton, a Democrat,  was the last fiscally responsible president. Clinton worked on a bipartisan basis to reform welfare, reduce defense spending and more.

The U.S. saw a financial golden era in 2001, as the country was in a surplus and paying down debt.

“We went from deficits to surpluses. We paid down debts for two years,” Walker said. However, in 2003, things spun out of control, as the national debt and deficit grew substantially. The federal government recorded a record budget deficit of $374 billion for the fiscal year.

Main Street Economics founder Les Rubin said that eventually, the U.S. will reach a point where other people won't buy its debt. And when that happens, the country is rendered incapable of paying its bills.

Amending the Constitution

The amendment would need to consist of a credit card limit based on a percentage of debt as a percentage of the economy, Walker said, and a lower target would be set because “we’re already too high.”

His illustrative amendment would also restrict one’s ability to violate the debt to GDP limit, which would require super majority votes in Congress.

“We have to do something to limit debt to GDP,” and doing so would also save Social Security, Walker said. If Social Security isn’t reformed, there’s a 22 to 28 percent across-the-board cut in late 2032 that is “unacceptable,” he continued. “Yet, Congress is doing nothing.”

Calling Congress to action

Under the Constitution, Congress is regulated to pass all appropriations bills — legislation that authorizes the government to withdraw funds from the public treasury to spend on specific programs and departments — every year. The last time Congress did so was 1996.

“They’ve only done it four times in my lifetime,” Walker said. “That is an F minus.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has long suggested restricting members of Congress from running for reelection if they don’t balance the budget in a certain year, and Walker agrees.

“If there is a willful violation of this constitutional amendment,” he said, “You can't stand for reelection.”

The late-Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, a staunch Republican, said in his 2012 book "The Debt Bomb: A Bold Plan to Stop Washington from Bankrupting America" that the nation will ultimately fall if it doesn’t change its fiscal course, and that the issue cannot be traced back to either Republicans or Democrats: to him, both are "equally guilty"

Coburn thought what was really at play was the human sin of greed on account of both parties. He said in his book that members of Congress take an oath to serve the common good of the entire nation, not their constituents.

“When they act or vote in a way that does not serve the common good, merely serves their own reelection, they have violated their oath and are, by definition, corrupt,” Unity Above Self in America founder Brian Walter said, noting that he thinks the states should sue Congress for “failing to discharge their constitutional duty under Article Five,” which details specific procedures required to alter the Constitution.

Trump's next three steps

Walker outlined three actions he thinks the president must take to get plans in motion.

• Make clear that he supports the need for a constitutional amendment to limit debt as a percentage of the economy.

• Communicate that he doesn't have a problem with states deciding to sue Congress for “failing to discharge their express and enumerated nondiscretionary constitutional responsibility,” Walker said.

• Support the Fiscal Commission Act, a bill introduced March 5 that would establish a commission on fiscal responsibility and reform, Walker continued.

Public support and education

Rubin emphasized the importance of educating the public to support fiscal responsibility so that Congress can do its job, as the legislative branch can’t fix anything without public support. 

A public education program, therefore, is the first step towards the end goal of a constitutional amendment.

Walker also mentioned that citizen education and engagement is critical to improving America’s financial health, citing former President Abraham Lincoln: “As Lincoln said, with public support you can do anything, without it you can do nothing. And by the way, Congress is very good at doing nothing.”

Katherine Pugh is a reporter for Just the News. Follow her on X for more coverage.