On the recordFebruary 17, 2011
we are spending money that we do not have. The administration's budget proposes taxing the American people to the tune of $2.6 trillion, spending $3.7 trillion, and borrowing $1.1 trillion. Under the budget, interest payments on the debt are set to quadruple from $200 billion this year to $900 billion in 10 years. The great Harvard economic historian, Naill Ferguson, has stated that the decline of a country can be measured when it pays its money lenders more than its Army. We will hit that level in the next few fiscal years. Now, in response today, I am announcing our first Silver Fleece Award. It is not a Golden Fleece Award because in this time of austerity, we can no longer afford that. We pay homage to Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin that put forward the Golden Fleece Award in the late 1970s and 1980s. Working with Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, we feature what is in his 'Wastebook' on a new site called 'Wastebook on Facebook.' There, the Silver Fleece Award is being proposed in three parts for a vote by people who wish to participate. This month we had three nominees for the Silver Fleece Award. The second runner up was a pair of National Science Foundation grants worth $456,000. These grants went to studies on why political candidates make vague statements and how Americans use online dating. The first runner up was for $615,000 in a grant to create a library archive about the Grateful Dead, a well-known rock-and-roll band.
