On the recordMarch 8, 2011
I rise today to speak for a few minutes about our current fiscal situation. Over the next few weeks, we are undoubtedly going to have a very robust debate on our country's future and the tremendous issues we face. We are going to have a debate about the need for fiscal responsibility. One thing all of my colleagues should be able to agree on is that our current level of spending and borrowing and debt is just simply not sustainable. When you are bringing in $2.2 trillion but you are spending $3.8 trillion annually, something is seriously wrong. Adding $1.65 trillion to the national debt each and every year is not the answer. We simply cannot afford to continue in this direction. For too long, the answer of Washington was: We will be all things to all people--promising everything with really no plan to pay for it. The result now is that we face a financial crisis unlike anything our Nation has ever seen. While Americans are making very tough, painful decisions in their daily lives, their government still refuses to make the same difficult choices. I come from a State where its citizens really do believe that less government is better government. But even if my colleagues disagree that less government is better, we would be hard-pressed to find anyone who can argue with the numbers. Numbers do not lie, and they cannot be spun. Let's take a look at the numbers, grim by any economist's viewpoint. We are currently borrowing 42 cents on every dollar.
