Baron P. Hill: “I am a new Member of Congress but I am a veteran observer of Congress. For 20 years, I have watched this Congress spend…”

“I am a new Member of Congress but I am a veteran observer of Congress. For 20 years, I have watched this Congress spend more money than it took in. Year after year, I watched our government run deficits every year and charge their irresponsibility to a credit card paid for by the American taxpayers. The result of all of these years of overspending is a massive national debt. In 1980, the government had $700 million in debt. Today our debt is $3.6 trillion. Our debt has become so big that 14 percent of all the money the government spends is just to cover interest payments on this debt. Mr. Speaker, despite what people in Washington believe, we do not have a large budget surplus. Our surplus is based upon uncertain 10-year projections. To pass this today is like spending an inheritance we have not yet received. Committing money that one may or may not have 10 years from now is just bad business. Any businessman, of which I am one, and businesswoman looking at government's finances would recommend that before we do anything else we should reduce our debt burden and pay back what this Congress has already spent. Mr. Speaker, there are many good tax relief and spending proposals I would like to support this year. One of them is a marriage penalty tax reduction. There are millions of married couples in this country who pay higher taxes than single people, and I believe this is wrong.”