国会议员们存在严重的开支失控问题。这一点众所周知，尽管大多数民选代表都不愿承认。他们对挥霍纳税人的钱上瘾了，这已然成为一种两党共有的“顽疾”——共和党和民主党都难辞其咎。不过在特朗普执政时期，共和党人以往那种对无节制开支感到愧疚的态度已有所淡化。倘若中期选举后共和党继续掌控众议院与参议院，他们恐怕还会变本加厉地大肆开支。
Members of Congress have a spending problem. Everyone knows it, even though most of our elected representatives are reluctant to admit it. They are addicted to spending taxpayer money. It is a bipartisan illness. Republicans are as guilty as Democrats. But Republicans used to claim they felt bad about rampant overspending. That has declined in the Trump era. If, after the midterm election, Republicans keep control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, they may even double down on their spending addiction.
特朗普总统承诺向全国每位成年人发放5000美元的补助；他还宣布向2080万医疗保险参保者一次性发放90美元。此外，他已开始向95万名通过联邦医保市场购买非补贴型《平价医疗法案》（即“奥巴马医改”）保险的人发放500美元的“退款”。虽然少数共和党人曾反对特朗普的5000美元补助计划，但尚不清楚若他们继续掌控国会，是否还会反对这种大规模开支行为。
President Trump is promising a $5,000 handout for every adult in the country. He has announced one-time payments of $90 to 20.8 million Medicare enrollees. And he’s already started handing out $500 “refund” checks to 950,000 people who bought unsubsidized Affordable Care Act (also known as "ObamaCare") policies through the federal marketplace. While a handful of Republicans have pushed back against Trump’s $5,000 handout, it is not clear they will oppose his spending spree if they retain control of Congress.
特朗普或许是最严重的“开支狂”，但过去两年里国会中的共和党人始终在纵容他的行为。尽管民主党人曾大声谴责共和党的各项开支举措，但在前总统乔·拜登执政期间，当他们掌控国会时表现也毫不逊色。在拜登任期的最后两年，联邦财政赤字在2023年达1.70万亿美元，2024年更是升至1.83万亿美元（当时众议院由共和党掌控）。
The president may be the worst spendaholic, but congressional Republicans have been his enablers for the last two years. Even though Democrats have loudly denounced most Republican spending, they were just as bad when they controlled Congress under former President Joe Biden. In his last two years in office, the federal deficit was $1.70 trillion in 2023 and $1.83 trillion in 2024 (with a Republican House).
而在特朗普执政的2025年，赤字额达1.78万亿美元，预计2026年还将突破2万亿美元大关。倘若特朗普与共和党人明年落实5000美元补助计划，2027年的财政赤字极有可能超过3万亿美元。此外，在包含疫情相关开支扩张在内的拜登四年任期内，联邦债务总额增加了8万亿美元；而特朗普重新执政的头两年，财政赤字便已接近4万亿美元。
But it was $1.78 trillion in 2025 under Trump and will likely exceed $2 trillion for 2026. If Trump and Republicans were to pass his $5,000 handout next year, his 2027 deficit would likely surpass $3 trillion. In addition, total federal debt rose by $8 trillion in Biden’s four years, which included expanded pandemic spending. But the deficit was nearly $4 trillion in Trump’s first two years back in office.
最新消息称，国会议员们希望在下一年度预算中争取460亿美元的联邦资金，用于落实约1.5万个专项拨款项目。
Now reports claim that members of Congress want $46 billion in federal funding for some 15,000 earmarks in the next budget.
“据‘公开账本’组织披露，这些预算申请包括：数十万美元用于为囚犯开设烹饪课程；数百万美元用于建设游戏设施；还有近1300万美元专门用于与马术相关的项目。”当然，如果民主党人在11月掌控国会，共和党人或许会宣称自己重新重视财政责任。但只有在对方政党掌权时才试图遏制无节制的开支行为，根本无法真正解决问题。
“The requests include hundreds of thousands of dollars for cooking classes for prisoners, millions for a gaming facility and nearly $13 million for horse-related projects, according to Open the Books.”Of course, Republicans may claim to rediscover their commitment to fiscal responsibility if Democrats take control of Congress in November. But suppressing a spending addiction only when the other party is in power isn’t dealing with the problem.
国会议员们亟需外界干预。为此，我们参考戒酒互助会沿用近百年之久的12步康复计划，制定了一套针对国会“挥霍成瘾者”的12步矫正方案，旨在帮助这些民选官员认清自身的开支成瘾问题、为自己的行为负责并决心改过自新。快阻止我们吧，别让我们再次大肆挥霍了！与许多成瘾行为类似，国会中的“挥霍成瘾者”恐怕难以自行改过。
Members of Congress need an intervention. In that regard, here is a 12-step program for congressional spendaholics — adapted from Alcoholic Anonymous’s nearly 100-year-old 12-step program — to help our elected officials recognize their spending addiction, take responsibility for their actions, and vow to change their ways. Stop us, before we overspend again! As with many types of addiction, congressional spendaholics likely won’t reform on their own.
像即将举行的中期选举这样的政治契机，恰恰能提供必要的干预手段。最终要为这些挥霍行为买单的纳税人们也必须挺身而出，坚决要求变革。只要施加足够的政治压力，选民们就能促使国会戒除这一恶习。这绝非易事，对公众和议员们而言都会痛苦不堪，但这或许是让深陷开支成瘾泥潭的国会实现改革的唯一途径。梅里尔·马修斯是“我们的共和党遗产”组织在得克萨斯州的负责人。
Elections, like the upcoming midterm election, can provide that much-needed intervention. Taxpayers, who ultimately have to pay for congressional spendaholics’ addiction, have to step in and demand change. With enough political pressure, voters can get Congress to abandon its spending addiction. It won’t be easy, and it will be as painful for the public as it will for the members. But it may be the only way to reform our spending-addicted Congress. Merrill Matthews is the Texas state chair of Our Republican Legacy.