James Hill: “the country's current budget situation is like the proverbial elephant in the living room. He is there and he is larger…”

“the country's current budget situation is like the proverbial elephant in the living room. He is there and he is larger than life, but very few if any of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle will acknowledge him. Several of my colleagues and I have been over the last several months trying to alert everyone to the elephant's presence. Rest assured that we are going to continue to come down to this House floor and point him out until everybody acknowledges him. This elephant, unfortunately, comes with his own set of numbers. In one year, the projected 10-year surplus decreased $4 trillion. That is the truth. That is a fact. The Federal Government will run a deficit, both this year and next. That is the truth. That is a fact. Because of these deficits, the Federal Government will have to borrow money to pay its bills. That is the truth. That is the fact. To pay for these bills, the Federal Government will borrow almost $2 trillion more this decade than was expected when CBO published its numbers in January, 2001. That is the truth. That is the fact. All told, by the time the interest payments are added in, the national debt will be almost $3 trillion larger than earlier projected when the 10-year budget window closes. That is the truth. That is the fact. And to top it all off, Social Security surplus dollars will be used to help balance the budget through the end of this decade. That is the truth. That is the fact. This is our problem.…”