FORT WAYNE, IND. (WOWO) Indiana State Comptroller Elise Nieshalla joined Kayla Blakeslee on Fort Wayne’s Morning News to outline Indiana’s leadership role in what she calls a growing national movement to address America’s $38 trillion national debt.

“Indiana, of all the states, Indiana is taking the lead right now in a growing national push to rein in America’s $38 trillion worth of debt,” Blakeslee said in introducing the segment. “And today our state leaders are making that case loud and clear.”

Nieshalla, who serves as Indiana’s chief financial officer, said the issue is both professional and deeply personal.

“As a mom of four, this issue has been a burden on my mind for quite some time,” she explained. “When I had the opportunity to serve in a leading financial officer role for the state of Indiana, I just knew I had to figure out what could be done in this new opportunity.”

Launching a National Debt Crisis Task Force

Nieshalla said she reached out to the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers to propose forming a National Debt Crisis Task Force.

“I pitched them on starting a National Debt Crisis Task Force because I felt like state financial officers from across the country were perfectly positioned to have a very poignant voice on this issue,” she said.

She contrasted Indiana’s fiscal discipline with the federal government’s financial trajectory.

“We are constitutionally bound to have a balanced budget,” Nieshalla noted. “We have turned ourselves around financially from having a great amount of debt to now being the fourth lowest debt per capita state in the nation. We have done the very difficult work to be in a solid fiscal position, but we are vulnerable to the rapidly dissolving financial position of our country under the massive burden of $38 trillion worth of debt.”

According to Nieshalla, the stakes are personal for every American. “Each one of us and every child born today carries over $112,000 of national debt burden on our shoulders.”

A “National Security Threat”

Blakeslee pointed out that Nieshalla has described the debt not just as a budget issue, but as a national security threat — strong language that the comptroller defended.

“Yes, it is strong language,” Nieshalla acknowledged. “And the reason is because war is expensive — like the most expensive thing.”

She warned that the nation’s debt-to-GDP ratio, hovering around 120 percent, is at levels not seen since the aftermath of World War II.

“The only time it’s been this high was right after World War II, and we had the defeat of tyranny to show for it,” she said. “Right now, all we have to show for this monstrous amount of debt is a pandemic that’s far in the rear view mirror. And beyond that, we’re just continuing to spend a couple trillion dollars more than what we take in.”

That path, she cautioned, is “a crash course for a financial crisis that we must avoid for the sake of our country and for the sake of our posterity.”

Calling on Washington

Nieshalla said Indiana leaders, including Governor Eric Holcomb, are urging both Congress and the president to adopt a meaningful debt-reduction strategy.

“What we are asking President Trump and Congress to do is incredibly difficult,” she said. “We’re asking them to get us back to a balanced budget. We’re asking them to use this time of growth, of rolling back regulations, of becoming not only energy independent, but energy dominant, to come up with a meaningful plan of debt reduction.”

Referencing remarks by Donald Trump in a prior address to Congress, she added, “America is at its best when it does the impossible.”

Nieshalla framed today’s fiscal challenge within the broader arc of American history, pointing to the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and World War II as moments when Americans came together to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges.

“Now we find ourselves about 80 years after [World War II], and we are facing a public enemy in the national debt that is a national security threat,” she said. “We’ve got to be in a strong financial position to be able to perpetuate our freedom.”

What Success Would Look Like

When asked how Hoosiers would know whether this state-led movement is succeeding, Nieshalla was direct.

“We immediately see that debt drop,” she said. “It is a plan — how do we get back to a balanced budget to stop the bleeding? That is absolutely essential.”

She also emphasized the need to address major federal entitlement programs — Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security — which she noted are projected to face insolvency in the 2030s.

“They are set to become insolvent in the 2030s, which is going to be a major point of pain,” she said. “We’ve got to lean in to do the hard work so that for the long term, they can be viable for the most vulnerable.”

Nieshalla closed with a call for unity and urgency.

“We need to come together as Hoosiers and as Americans for the sake of our children and perpetuating our freedom for the next 250 years,” she said. “Let’s do the hard work now before we face an incredibly painful crisis to re-secure our financial independence.”

The comptroller and state leaders were scheduled to hold a press conference later in the day to further outline their push for national debt reform.