Reducing America’s National Debt: Rooting Out Federal Waste, Fraud, and Overregulation

This was a roundtable discussion held by the GOP Oversight subcommittee on economic growth, energy policy, and regulatory affairs on May 15, 2026, focused on America's national debt and federal fiscal challenges. The meeting featured expert testimony addressing the unsustainable growth of the national debt, driven primarily by mandatory spending programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, as well as rising interest payments on the debt. Panelists discussed the impact of recent legislation, including the "One Big Beautiful Bill," which was criticized for increasing the deficit through tax cuts favoring the wealthy and cuts to social programs. The experts emphasized the need for bipartisan efforts to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending, reform mandatory programs, and improve tax policy to address revenue shortfalls. They also highlighted the economic consequences of high debt, including higher interest rates affecting mortgages and consumer borrowing, slower economic growth, and risks to national security. Policy recommendations included regulatory reform, improved oversight of Medicaid, and making the cost of federal borrowing more transparent to the public. The discussion underscored the political challenges of balancing the budget and the urgency of addressing the looming Social Security trust fund shortfall by 2032.