David Minge: “we are embarked on a very important exercise this week, the adoption of the House budget resolution. I think that it is…”

“we are embarked on a very important exercise this week, the adoption of the House budget resolution. I think that it is well that we keep in mind the state of our Nation's economy and the state of the Nation's debt as we proceed. First, with respect to the debt, the United States currently has a debt of about $5.7 trillion, about $21,000 for every man, woman, and child in this country. And we can see, Mr. Chairman, how this debt has mushroomed since 1980. It has increased over five-fold, 570 percent, in fact, in a period of 20 years. Now, Mr. Chairman, the previous person to address the House reminded us that we have seen good economic times. I would point out that during these good economic times we built the economy or strengthened it, if you will, on the backs of our children and our grandchildren. Now that we finally have an era when a balanced budget is possible, I think it is very important not to forget that even with a balanced budget, we still have $5.7 trillion of debt. Balancing the budget in the year 2000 in no way wipes out the enormous size of this debt. Our first obligation, I submit, as we move ahead is to make sure that we responsibly use this surplus to pay down on this debt.”