JOHN LINDER: “on the chart that I showed, the never-ending debt that the last Democrat budget that was passed for fiscal year 1995 and…”

“on the chart that I showed, the never-ending debt that the last Democrat budget that was passed for fiscal year 1995 and 10 years there out created $3.1 trillion in new debt compared to our creating $4.5 trillion in surpluses. A huge turn around. Those deficits that they were incurring included spending all of the Social Security surpluses. Well, the last couple of years, we have changed the language of that debate. I do not think future administrations or Congresses would dare to dip into the Social Security fund. Now, I think it is important that we start changing the nature of the debate over surpluses that are not on Social Security. Paying down debt should be the rallying cry of this whole country. Because if future Congresses come along, or God forbid another liberal administration with new spending programs, to spend all this money, we will have lost this opportunity. I envision an opportunity where my grandsons will be totally out of publicly held debt for their responsibility before they leave high school. I believe the time is coming. But it is important that we begin to let everyone know that, if 90 percent of that surplus goes to paying down debt, future Congresses are going to be reluctant to say, let us get out of that habit, let us just spend it.”