Dianne Feinstein: “I rise to address this year's Federal budget deficit, which is now expected to exceed $450 billion. This will be the…”

“I rise to address this year's Federal budget deficit, which is now expected to exceed $450 billion. This will be the largest Federal deficit on record. This is a staggering $680 billion increase from the $236 billion budget surplus the Federal Government ran 3 years ago. And who knows how much the true deficit may in fact be if, a few months from now, the projection increases again due to the ongoing costs of rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan. Reconstruction costs are now running $4.8 billion per month, or $58 billion annually, which is well above what we have budgeted. According to the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan group that advocates for balanced budgets, 'The first six months of the 108th Congress were the most fiscally irresponsible in recent memory.' The members of this Chamber and the American public should know the simple truth: putting our economy back on track is even more difficult in the face of deficits of this magnitude. And next year, the on-budget deficit will likely top $600 billion. In my 10-year career in the Senate, there has never been a greater need for fiscal discipline than there is now. The then-record $290 billion deficit we faced in 1992 required some very tough choices to be made but the choices that lie ahead will be even harder. It is incumbent on the President and the House and Senate leadership to prepare the country for those choices.”