GOP congressman wants national debt clocks installed in congressional rooms

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) introduced legislation Tuesday that would install real-time national debt clocks in the House Budget Committee and House Appropriations Committee meeting rooms.

"The fruits of our nation's fiscal irresponsibility was on full display this month as we topped $23 trillion in debt," said Roy in a press release. "In response to such a sad achievement, I introduced a simple piece of legislation titled the "Know Debt Resolution."

"It is quite clear to me that if Congress ever intends to eliminate the national debt, we need to at least know what the national debt is," Roy argued.

The Know Debt Resolution, which is just 18 lines, instructs the House Clerk to install debt clocks in the two meeting rooms to serve as a constant reminder of the result of the country's exorbitant and wasteful spending.

As we all know — the first step in correcting behavior is realizing there is, in fact, a problem," Roy reasons. "The purpose of putting a debt clock in both committee rooms is to force members of Congress to recognize that we have a problem."

The problem is bipartisan in nature, Roy adds, noting that one thing both Democrats and Republicans in Congress regularly agree on is to "increase spending across the board."

The bill already has three co-sponsors in Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC), and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-WY).

Roy took to Twitter to thank them:

In the text of the bill, Roy asserts that the national debt — which surpassed $23 trillion this month and continues to climb $100 million every hour — "is the greatest threat to the national security of the United States."

Roy, a member of the House Freedom caucus, has been a voice for fiscal responsibility since entering Congress. And he is not demanding Congress do something he would not do himself, as evidently he has installed a debt clock in his own office.

The bill has been referred to the House Committee on House Administration and awaits further action.