The Harris campaign is proposing assistance — up to $10,000 for first-time homebuyers and up to $25,000 for first-generation homebuyers — with down payments to purchase a house.

There are at least two reasons every American should be deeply skeptical about the feasibility of this proposal.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who reads our editorials that we have significant concerns about what this level of spending will do to the national annual deficit and to the $34 trillion debt to which that deficit continually adds.

We understand we may seem excessively repetitive about this issue: But we need to. We sincerely believe the national debt and spending deficits should evoke more fear for our nation’s future — more alarm — than any other issue confronting our country.

Our levels of spending are simply unsustainable. And this proposal makes a terrible problem worse.

Second, there are valid concerns that once all this spending on assisting people with buying homes is said and done, it will have either a negligible effect — or worse, a detrimental effect — on the affordability of housing.

If people and companies in the process of selling homes know that the government will contribute $10,000 to $25,000 to a potential buyer, there is a very real risk that sellers will simply increase prices by as much as $10,000 to $25,000.

The potential downside here is that homes for families that don’t qualify for the assistance — but, of course, still need a place to live — will become even more expensive.

There is a credible argument that college tuition has followed a similar course over the past several decades: As the federal government began spending more and more on student loans and student grants, it enabled the cost of tuition to climb at a steeply higher rate than other goods and services.

We acknowledge that the Harris campaign’s proposal includes some promising ideas as well — though we find the more promising parts to be short on detail. Reducing red tape and bureaucratic hurdles to the construction of new housing would go much further in improving the affordability of the market.

We hope in the coming weeks, campaigns — by both parties, and for all offices from the presidency down to state legislatures — can focus on these more practical ideas and give up on the ridiculous notion that government at any level can simply spend its way out of any problem.