Jerry Moran: “I thank the Senator from Illinois for accommodating my ability to speak on the Senate floor this afternoon on what I…”

“I thank the Senator from Illinois for accommodating my ability to speak on the Senate floor this afternoon on what I consider to be a very significant and important topic. Our country is facing significant financial difficulties. In the coming weeks, the United States will reach its $14.29 trillion limit for borrowing. Unfortunately, this is the 11th time in the past decade that Congress will vote on whether to allow the country to take on even more debt. These financial challenges we face, if left unchecked, will have a disastrous impact upon our country today and upon citizens in the future. For way too long members of both political parties have ignored this growing fiscal crisis and have allowed our country to live well beyond its means. Delaying difficult decisions and simply increasing the debt ceiling once again should not be an option. The time to correct our failures is now. Officials from the Obama administration warn that the failure of Congress to raise the legal debt limit would risk default. But the bigger economic threat that confronts our country is the consequences of allowing our country's pattern of spending and borrowing to continue without a serious plan to reduce that debt. Our out-of-control debt is slowing our economic growth and threatening the prosperity of future generations who will have to pay for our irresponsibility. In the next three decades our debt very well could grow to more than three times the size of our entire economy.…”