Steny Hoyer: “Ladies and gentlemen, I was motivated by the previous speaker. We had a $945 billion debt in America in 1980. We changed…”

“Ladies and gentlemen, I was motivated by the previous speaker. We had a $945 billion debt in America in 1980. We changed the checkbook and one person could have stopped spending in its tracks from 1981 to 1989, one person, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States. We never overrode a veto of the President of the United States from 1981 to 1992 dealing with spending in America. Every nickel that was spent in America from 1981 to 1992 was because either Ronald Reagan or George Bush signed the bill allowing that expenditure to go forth. I have voted for the balanced budget amendment the last two times. I am going to vote for it again. But spending got out of control in this country in 1981. We sustained more debt in the last 12 years than in all the years prior to that time.”