AMonger
Veteran Expediter
The catch: he opposed it in 2006, when someone from the other side of the aisle was president...
From www.votesmart.org/speech_detail.php?sc_id=64094
Title: Increasing the
Statutory Limit on the
Public Debt
Date: 03/16 /2006
Location: Washington, DC
Speech
INCREASING THE STATUTORY
LIMIT ON THE PUBLIC DEBT --
(Senate - March 16, 2006)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I
rise today to talk about
America's debt problem.
The fact that we are here
today to debate raising
America's debt limit is a sign
of leadership failure. It is a
sign that the U.S. Government
can't pay its own bills. It is a
sign that we now depend on
ongoing financial assistance
from foreign countries to
finance our Government's
reckless fiscal policies.
Over the past 5 years, our
federal debt has increased by
$3 .5 trillion to $8 .6 trillion.
That is ``trillion '' with a ``T.''
That is money that we have
borrowed from the Social
Security trust fund, borrowed
from China and Japan,
borrowed from American
taxpayers. And over the next
5 years, between now and
2011, the President's budget
will increase the debt by
almost another $3 .5 trillion.
Numbers that large are
sometimes hard to
understand. Some people
may wonder why they matter.
Here is why: This year, the
Federal Government will
spend $220 billion on
interest. That is more money
to pay interest on our national
debt than we'll spend on
Medicaid and the State
Children's Health Insurance
Program. That is more money
to pay interest on our debt
this year than we will spend
on education, homeland
security, transportation, and
veterans benefits combined. It
is more money in one year
than we are likely to spend to
rebuild the devastated gulf
coast in a way that honors the
best of America.
And the cost of our debt is
one of the fastest growing
expenses in the Federal
budget. This rising debt is a
hidden domestic enemy,
robbing our cities and States
of critical investments in
infrastructure like bridges,
ports, and levees; robbing our
families and our children of
critical investments in
education and health care
reform; robbing our seniors
of the retirement and health
security they have counted
on.
Every dollar we pay in interest
is a dollar that is not going to
investment in America's
priorities. Instead, interest
payments are a significant tax
on all Americans--a debt tax
that Washington doesn't want
to talk about. If Washington
were serious about honest tax
relief in this country, we
would see an effort to reduce
our national debt by returning
to responsible fiscal policies.
But we are not doing that.
Despite repeated efforts by
Senators CONRAD and
FEINGOLD, the Senate
continues to reject a return to
the commonsense Pay-go
rules that used to apply.
Previously, Pay-go rules
applied both to increases in
mandatory spending and to
tax cuts. The Senate had to
abide by the commonsense
budgeting principle of
balancing expenses and
revenues. Unfortunately, the
principle was abandoned, and
now the demands of budget
discipline apply only to
spending.
As a result, tax breaks have
not been paid for by
reductions in Federal
spending, and thus the only
way to pay for them has been
to increase our deficit to
historically high levels and
borrow more and more
money. Now we have to pay
for those tax breaks plus the
cost of borrowing for them.
Instead of reducing the
deficit, as some people
claimed, the fiscal policies of
this administration and its
allies in Congress will add
more than $600 million in
debt for each of the next 5
years. That is why I will once
again cosponsor the Pay-go
amendment and continue to
hope that my colleagues will
return to a smart rule that
has worked in the past and
can work again.
Our debt also matters
internationally. My friend, the
ranking member of the
Senate Budget Committee,
likes to remind us that it took
42 Presidents 224 years to
run up only $1 trillion of
foreign-held debt. This
administration did more than
that in just 5 years. Now,
there is nothing wrong with
borrowing from foreign
countries. But we must
remember that the more we
depend on foreign nations to
lend us money, the more our
economic security is tied to
the whims of foreign leaders
whose interests might not be
aligned with ours.
Increasing America's debt
weakens us domestically and
internationally. Leadership
means that ``the buck stops
here.'' Instead, Washington is
shifting the burden of bad
choices today onto the backs
of our children and
grandchildren. America has a
debt problem and a failure of
leadership. Americans deserve
better.
I therefore intend to oppose
the effort to increase
America's debt limit.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
http://thomas .loc.gov
From www.votesmart.org/speech_detail.php?sc_id=64094
Title: Increasing the
Statutory Limit on the
Public Debt
Date: 03/16 /2006
Location: Washington, DC
Speech
INCREASING THE STATUTORY
LIMIT ON THE PUBLIC DEBT --
(Senate - March 16, 2006)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I
rise today to talk about
America's debt problem.
The fact that we are here
today to debate raising
America's debt limit is a sign
of leadership failure. It is a
sign that the U.S. Government
can't pay its own bills. It is a
sign that we now depend on
ongoing financial assistance
from foreign countries to
finance our Government's
reckless fiscal policies.
Over the past 5 years, our
federal debt has increased by
$3 .5 trillion to $8 .6 trillion.
That is ``trillion '' with a ``T.''
That is money that we have
borrowed from the Social
Security trust fund, borrowed
from China and Japan,
borrowed from American
taxpayers. And over the next
5 years, between now and
2011, the President's budget
will increase the debt by
almost another $3 .5 trillion.
Numbers that large are
sometimes hard to
understand. Some people
may wonder why they matter.
Here is why: This year, the
Federal Government will
spend $220 billion on
interest. That is more money
to pay interest on our national
debt than we'll spend on
Medicaid and the State
Children's Health Insurance
Program. That is more money
to pay interest on our debt
this year than we will spend
on education, homeland
security, transportation, and
veterans benefits combined. It
is more money in one year
than we are likely to spend to
rebuild the devastated gulf
coast in a way that honors the
best of America.
And the cost of our debt is
one of the fastest growing
expenses in the Federal
budget. This rising debt is a
hidden domestic enemy,
robbing our cities and States
of critical investments in
infrastructure like bridges,
ports, and levees; robbing our
families and our children of
critical investments in
education and health care
reform; robbing our seniors
of the retirement and health
security they have counted
on.
Every dollar we pay in interest
is a dollar that is not going to
investment in America's
priorities. Instead, interest
payments are a significant tax
on all Americans--a debt tax
that Washington doesn't want
to talk about. If Washington
were serious about honest tax
relief in this country, we
would see an effort to reduce
our national debt by returning
to responsible fiscal policies.
But we are not doing that.
Despite repeated efforts by
Senators CONRAD and
FEINGOLD, the Senate
continues to reject a return to
the commonsense Pay-go
rules that used to apply.
Previously, Pay-go rules
applied both to increases in
mandatory spending and to
tax cuts. The Senate had to
abide by the commonsense
budgeting principle of
balancing expenses and
revenues. Unfortunately, the
principle was abandoned, and
now the demands of budget
discipline apply only to
spending.
As a result, tax breaks have
not been paid for by
reductions in Federal
spending, and thus the only
way to pay for them has been
to increase our deficit to
historically high levels and
borrow more and more
money. Now we have to pay
for those tax breaks plus the
cost of borrowing for them.
Instead of reducing the
deficit, as some people
claimed, the fiscal policies of
this administration and its
allies in Congress will add
more than $600 million in
debt for each of the next 5
years. That is why I will once
again cosponsor the Pay-go
amendment and continue to
hope that my colleagues will
return to a smart rule that
has worked in the past and
can work again.
Our debt also matters
internationally. My friend, the
ranking member of the
Senate Budget Committee,
likes to remind us that it took
42 Presidents 224 years to
run up only $1 trillion of
foreign-held debt. This
administration did more than
that in just 5 years. Now,
there is nothing wrong with
borrowing from foreign
countries. But we must
remember that the more we
depend on foreign nations to
lend us money, the more our
economic security is tied to
the whims of foreign leaders
whose interests might not be
aligned with ours.
Increasing America's debt
weakens us domestically and
internationally. Leadership
means that ``the buck stops
here.'' Instead, Washington is
shifting the burden of bad
choices today onto the backs
of our children and
grandchildren. America has a
debt problem and a failure of
leadership. Americans deserve
better.
I therefore intend to oppose
the effort to increase
America's debt limit.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
http://thomas .loc.gov
