Sen. Bob Graham: “The influence of the Jeffersonian philosophy is illustrated in the fact that, on the day that my father was born--which…”

“The influence of the Jeffersonian philosophy is illustrated in the fact that, on the day that my father was born--which was in February of 1885, in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War-- the total debt that the country had accumulated over the first almost century since the adoption of the Constitution, was $1.6 billion, most of which had been accumulated during the Civil War. That $1.6 billion is about what we have added to the national debt since we convened here 2 days ago. It took 100 years to do what we are now doing in approximately every 48 hours. So I would say that is the best testimony to the fact that the words of Jefferson had a long, pervasive, and positive impact on the attitude of the American people as to generational economic responsibility. We showed some of that generational economic responsibility in August when the Congress passed President Clinton's budget. It signaled a dramatic ebb to a 12-year wave of spending.”