Bill Nelson: “there is a reason for this, and it is our Nation's budget is on a path toward crisis. We have to do something…”

“there is a reason for this, and it is our Nation's budget is on a path toward crisis. We have to do something extraordinary, just as we did back in 1983. Over the last decade, we have spent billions to wage two wars, but we still proceeded with a tax cut for the wealthy and a prescription drug benefit that gave too much to the pharmaceutical industry as well as the health insurance industry, and what happened was the debt doubled. The Obama administration had to stem the bleeding, putting a tourniquet on the pending nationwide economic collapse, so it pumped money into the economy. That was primarily for infrastructure spending, teachers' salaries, targeted tax relief for small business, and targeted tax relief for the middle class. That same economic collapse did what one expects recessions, near depressions to do: It lowered the tax receipts, and thus put us in an even tighter spot. So now we have to face the realities of this fiscal situation. Due to the economic downturn, tax revenue, as a share of the economy, is at its lowest point in 50 years. It is less than 15 percent of GDP, whereas spending is now above. It is at 26 percent of GDP. You know when you take in less revenues but you spend more, that difference, which we call the annual deficit, means you are headed for trouble. The analysts are telling us that by 2019, the debt could be 114 percent of the GDP.”