Jim Nussle: “I talked to a financial planner one time about how he counsels people that find themselves in debt, and the first thing…”

“I talked to a financial planner one time about how he counsels people that find themselves in debt, and the first thing he says when he counsels people is, when you find yourselves in a hole, stop digging. That is rule number one. It makes sense. And that is what we did a few years ago. We found ourselves in deficits, we were adding to the national debt, we wanted to end that 40-year practice, and we said stop digging, balance the budget, and that is what we did. But then the second rule that the financial planner from Manchester, Iowa, taught me is he said start filling in the hole. Start filling in the hole that you dug. And you do not do that at the end of the year after you have bought all of the Girl Scout cookies; you do not do that at the end of the year after all of the things you want you have purchased and you have made decisions about. You put debt as a priority. That is the difference with this bill.”