Debbie Wasserman Schultz: “Just like our poster here, the colossal debt that we are caving in under that Mr. Meek just described. Sometimes it is…”

“Just like our poster here, the colossal debt that we are caving in under that Mr. Meek just described. Sometimes it is hard to get your arms around, or mind around, what 1 billion is. One billion is a very big number. So we took the time to analyze or break down for folks the things that are analogous to 1 billion, and let me just walk people through that, Mr. Speaker, and this might be helpful for you, Mr. Speaker, as well. The question is, how much is $1 billion really. Well, for example, 1 billion hours ago, humans were making their first tools in the Stone Age. One billion seconds ago, it was 1975 and the last American troops had pulled out of Vietnam. Gee, I guess we sort of wish we were 20 years in the future and we could be saying that about the troops in Iraq, but I digress. One billion minutes ago, it was 104 A.D. and the Chinese had first invented paper, and $1 billion ago in Republican terms, Mr. Speaker, that was only 3 hours and 32 minutes at the rate that our government spends money. So when you talk about people who live paycheck to paycheck, people who are struggling to make ends meet, people who are desperately trying to not live off of their credit cards, it does not appear to matter to the Republican leadership here, Mr. Speaker. {time} 2030 My colleagues, it really is astonishing to me. I have only been here 14 months.…”