Delwyn Groninger, Minot

The purpose of my letter is to point out the need for North Dakotans to tell our N.D. Congress folks – Senators Hoeven and Cramer as well as Representative Fedorchak – that they need to stop voting on bills that spend more than what is taken in. We’ve been told that our nation’s rising debt is being put on our children’s back to repay. I’m a grandpa and I believe the U.S. is looming on a heavy financial crisis that is going to happen in my lifetime, not our children’s.

It has become apparent that we now need representatives with backbone to right our national debt. Here is info from National Public Radio (NPR) and a site called USAfacts.

When Obama became president in January 2009, our national debt was $10.6 trillion. When Trump became president in January 2017, our national debt was $19.9 trillion (under Obama it increased by 91%). When Biden became president in January 2021, our debt was $27.8 trillion (under Trump it increased 40%). When Trump became president for his second term in January 2025, our debt was $36.2 trillion (under Biden it increased 30%).

When DOGE started to defund wasteful spending I thought, “Yes, finally!” I was so disappointed that our representatives in Congress voted for the latest “One Big Beautiful Bill that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicts will increase our national debt by another estimated $3.3 trillion. By the way, this year, we will pay $962 billion in interest alone on our country’s debt. Compare that to our U.S. military budget of $820 billion or Medicare budget of $848 billion.

During my lifetime I’ve been an Independent voter. If our representatives continue to hurt us with their voting I look forward to future candidates that truly understand you can’t spend more than you take in. If you believe like I do, please send a simple message to Hoeven, Cramer and Fedorchak to tell them.