Why the federal budget should matter to my generation

In a few weeks, I’ll start my first full-time job after graduation. It’s an exciting milestone, but like many of my peers, I’m faced with tough questions. How will I afford housing or pay off my student loans? What will it take to save for retirement or raise a family in an economy that shifts by the minute? These are deeply personal concerns, but many in my generation do not realize how closely these concerns are tied to something much bigger and often overlooked: the federal budget.

The national debt currently sits at over $36 trillion — and is growing rapidly. Congress recently advanced a budget framework that paves the way to add an additional $5.8 trillion to our debt. The American people, particularly my generation, can’t afford this. The federal government’s interest payments alone now surpass our national defense spending. This is not just a line item on a spreadsheet. It’s a direct threat to the long-term stability of programs Americans rely on, from student aid to health care and infrastructure. Make no mistake: Young people will bear the brunt of today’s fiscal choices for decades to come.

Washington’s latest budget will add even more to the nation’s credit card — costs Gen Z will ultimately pay. We deserve more than an inheritance of obligations — we deserve opportunity. That starts with us becoming more than just observers; we must become advocates and start asking hard questions of our elected officials. We must press for honest accounting, long-term thinking, and bipartisan cooperation. We must hold our leaders accountable not just for what they promise today, but for the future they are shaping with every budget passed and every deficit ignored. Decisions about taxes, spending, and the national debt must include voices of young Americans at the table.

As a student at the University of Iowa’s School of Planning and Public Affairs and Tippie College of Business, I participated in a Principles & Priorities budget exercise hosted by the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan organization focused on fiscal responsibility. In the exercise, students act as lawmakers and try to craft a responsible federal budget. It was a crash course in how complex — and consequential — budget decisions are. More importantly, it showed that fiscal policy is not just about numbers. It’s about values, priorities, and the future we want to build.

This week, I helped bring that experience back to campus. The Concord Coalition came to Iowa City to lead the same interactive workshop, speaking to nearly 1,000 students across several classes, and hosting a community session. It was one of the largest fiscal engagement events in the country this year — and hopefully the start of a broader movement among young people to take ownership of their economic future.

My generation must remind Congress that fiscal responsibility isn’t a distant ideal — it’s a necessity. Without it, programs like Social Security and Medicare won’t be sustainable, interest payments will crowd out public investments, and future crises will push us deeper into debt. Young people are the largest generation in the workforce, the fastest-growing voting bloc, and the future stewards of this nation. We cannot afford to stay on the sidelines while lawmakers spend recklessly. It’s time to get educated, get engaged, and demand a say in the decisions that will define our lives for decades to come.

This isn’t just policy — it’s personal.

Joshua Squires is a second-year Master of Public Affairs student at the University of Iowa School of Planning and Public Affairs.