Dan Coats: “this is the first week of February, and a new month brings a new ``Waste of the Week'' speech from the Senator from…”

“this is the first week of February, and a new month brings a new ``Waste of the Week'' speech from the Senator from Indiana. In preparing for this, we learned another disturbing fact about our economy, and that is that the United States has hit yet another new mark. Our national debt now exceeds $19 trillion. It wasn't that long ago that I was standing on this floor and talking about the fact that we are approaching $11 trillion of debt, and in just a few years that has accelerated in a most dramatic way. Now it has reached $19 trillion. Obviously, it is having and it is going to have a significant impact on the future of this country and our economic growth. In fact, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said that our Nation's gross domestic product--the measure of our Nation's economic activity--grew a very anemic 0.7 percent in the last quarter of 2015. We simply cannot sustain our economy and grow and provide economic opportunity for Americans and jobs for Americans at a growth rate of 0.7 percent. In fact, the growth rate on the average is now about 2 percent. We can't even keep our heads above water in terms of providing employment opportunities for people if we don't grow at a much faster pace, particularly following one of deepest and most damaging recessions we have ever had. Clearly there are issues that need to be addressed, issues that need to be talked about, and actions that need to be taken that put us on a better path to growth.…”