John Chandler: “I am happy to be here this afternoon to join the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Ross) to talk a little bit about what is…”

“I am happy to be here this afternoon to join the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Ross) to talk a little bit about what is obviously a very, very important subject to the American people, the subject of accountability. Now, Mr. Ross talked a little bit about the national debt. He had a sign up which, as he said, Blue Dog offices all over the Capitol have up, showing what the national debt of this country is, and the fact that each and every American citizen owes over $29,000 just to pay off the national debt. Now, I don't usually, or very often, come down here to join Mr. Ross in what I do think is a worthy goal, and that is educating the American people on our financial situation in this country. But I could not resist today. Being a former State auditor in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, I am a little bit familiar with the issue of accountability. And you talk about this debt, the fact that it is as large as it is, the fact that our people owe, each and every one of them, over $29,000 to pay it off, well, your next question is well, what are we going to do about it? What are we going to do about this debt? Well, one of the very first things that we can do about this debt is demand accountability in the spending. And one of the glaring examples that we have got is the lack of oversight, the lack of accountability in the spending on the war in Iraq. The numbers are huge; almost $280 million a day is what we are spending in Iraq.”