On the recordJune 8, 2010
Madam Speaker, the national debt now exceeds $13 trillion. It took 206 years to get the first trillion dollars of national debt; the last trillion it took 6 months. If you took 13 trillion dollars and stacked them next to each other, you could go to Jupiter and back. We talk about Greece and their challenges. We are the next Greece if we don't balance the budget and get serious about our national debt and our deficits. Last year, $1.4 trillion in deficit; this year, we are expected to exceed $1.5 trillion. We need to balance the budget now. My first year, 3\1/2\ years ago, I introduced a balanced budget amendment that just says we don't spend more than we take in. We need to do that or we are going to be the next Greece. ____________________
