John Kerry: “since December 2002, the Treasury Department has made three requests to Congress for an unspecified increase in the debt…”

“since December 2002, the Treasury Department has made three requests to Congress for an unspecified increase in the debt limit. Last year, the administration asked for a $700 billion increase, but Congress wisely trimmed it to $450 billion. The $984 billion increase we will pass today will be the largest increase in the debt limit ever, and it is twice as high as the average for the last five increases. This level of increase represents about $3,400 for every man, woman and child in the United States--or more than 17 times what the median American family will receive in tax cuts under the conference agreement passed earlier today by one vote. We need to be clear about a few things here in the Senate. The economy is growing very slowly, and every American has experienced the current slowdown in very personal ways: 2.5 million jobs have been lost, long-term unemployment has skyrocketed; lifetime savings have been wiped out by greed, bad judgment, and criminal activity; personal debt has increased and bankruptcies are up; and the stock market has plunged more than 30 percent. Record budget surpluses have turned into deficits as far as the eye can see--nearly $500 billion this fiscal year alone when Social Security is excluded, the largest deficit in history. We have seen the weakest level of economic growth and business investment in 50 years.”