Dan Coats: “article II, section 3 of the U.S. Constitution says that the President of the United States ``shall from time to time…”

“article II, section 3 of the U.S. Constitution says that the President of the United States ``shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union and recommend to their Consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.'' Every President, dating all the way back from George Washington to our current President, has provided this to Congress on a yearly basis. So the State of the Union Address, which will be presented tomorrow by the President, is the continuation of a great tradition in our American government. But the State of the Union is more than just about the current state of our Union. It is about the future. It is about presenting to the American people a vision of what our country should look like and how we can get there. So before the President makes his case and sets out his priorities for the Nation, let's recognize where we are today. What is the state of our great Nation today? Today, America is nearly $16.5 trillion in debt--an increase of $6 trillion since the President took office in 2009. Today, we are borrowing $40,000 per second. Just in the time I took to say that, we borrowed about $40,000. And every 10 seconds that goes by is another $400,000 that is being borrowed and, therefore, has to be repaid with interest. Today, more than 12 million American people are looking for work, and that does not include the countless number of people who have given up looking.…”