On Thursday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) discussed the national debt and said that both parties have added to the debt and Democrats have done so, “especially during difficult times. During COVID…services were extended that also added to the national debt. No doubt about that. But we just don’t seem to have the willpower to do those necessary cuts.”

Lynch began by saying, “Well, not only don’t we tackle it, we actually exacerbate the problem, Kate. So, when — back in 2008, if you look at our national debt, we had a spike then, we bailed out the financial services industry, we bailed out the banks. That was a big spike. President Trump’s first term, we added $1.7 trillion to the national debt because of his tax cut. I voted against that as well. And then, recently, his one big, beautiful bill also spikes the — adds at least another trillion dollars to the national debt. So, — and it’s not just Republicans. Democrats have done it too, at times. But we haven’t had –.”

Co-host Kate Bolduan then cut in to say, “Yeah, I was going to say, to be intellectually honest, we do need to add that Democrats — Democratic presidents have — and congresses have added to the national debt, just to — as well.”

Lynch responded, “Absolutely, especially during difficult times. During COVID, we had — services were extended that also added to the national debt. No doubt about that. But we just don’t seem to have the willpower to do those necessary cuts. And then we make choices, like this war in Iran. That’s ramping up the national debt each and every day. Some would declare that it’s unnecessary, that it was a war of choice. So, that decision, which did not involve Congress, is costing us a barrel of money as well.”

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