Political Quotes

“following up on the previous speaker, I would just like to suggest that since this administration took office, the public debt has increased $1.5 trillion, but that is not just the President; that is Congress and the President who control borrowing and spending. We have decided to keep on borrowing and spending. So every year we have increased the public debt of our federal government. To suggest that tax increases result in a stronger economy would be contrary to what almost every economist says. The previous speaker is correct--the 1993 largest tax increase in history was passed by Congress and the President without a single Republican vote. I am going to send a copy of our debt history out as a ``dear colleague'' so that everybody is fully aware of what is happening to our public debt. We now owe roughly $5.6 trillion. Ten years ago, it was half that amount. It seems important to me that we understand that we have three parts of our public debt. One is what I call Wall Street debt, about $3.6 trillion. One is Social Security debt, approaching $1 trillion, and then the other 122 trust funds and intergovernment transfers, which is another $1.2 trillion. We cannot pretend to pay down one part of the debt without considering what we are doing to the total debt of this country. It is all debt. It all has to be paid back, if not by us, by our kids and grandchildren.”