Austin Scott: “I rise to talk to the House about this deficit and about our failure and the consequences facing this Nation if we do…”

“I rise to talk to the House about this deficit and about our failure and the consequences facing this Nation if we do not respond and put some brakes on our spending. This deficit is our greatest problem and the greatest threat to the financial security of the United States, which means the financial security of the free world. Just think of it, when this administration, when President Bush took office 4 years ago, we had over $2 trillion surplus. Now, 4 years later, we have over a $4 trillion deficit, running up nearly $400 billion as we speak here this afternoon. This is dangerous. It is not in the best interest of this country. Just think of this one fact: just on paying the deficit, paying the interest on what we are borrowing, 90 percent of which we are borrowing from foreign countries, China, Japan, India, 90 percent of our debt is being held by foreign interests. How insecure is that? And just the amount that we are paying, the interest is more than what we are paying for our own national security. America, we need to wake up. We need to understand what is at stake; our future is what is at stake. And who is going to pay this debt? Not me. Not anyone in this room. Our children, our grandchildren. I have children; I have two young grandchildren. Is it right to saddle them with this deficit? Just recently on the issue of Social Security, the President's answer for Social Security is to do what? Borrow more money to set up private accounts.…”