Lateefah Simon: “I would be pleased to respond, because George Washington operated this country very frugally. Then, in his Farewell…”

“I would be pleased to respond, because George Washington operated this country very frugally. Then, in his Farewell Address, George Washington warned do not get the country into debt. We followed that advice, really followed it up until not too many years ago. Then we lost that sense of responsibility. But it is very interesting in Thomas Jefferson's first term he reduced the small Federal debt we had in this country by 50 percent. Mr. BYRD. It was also interesting that Jefferson took advantage of the opportunity--I am glad he did--to buy the Louisiana Territory, 1,827,000 square miles for $15 million; less than 2 rac{1}{2} cents per acre, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border, from the Mississippi to the Rockies. I am glad he did. He went into debt for it. Where did he get the money? He borrowed it from the banks. That debt, $15 million in that day, was 1.9 times the total budget for that year. If that were to happen in this year, when we have a budget of $1.6 trillion, and if we bought the Louisiana Territory and it cost us 1.9 times the amount of the Federal budget, you could figure that for yourselves. That has to be something like, about $3.1 trillion. I am glad he did. I am glad he went into debt. When going into debt, he benefited all of the ensuing generations from then until kingdom come.”