Max Baucus: “this amendment is simple. This amendment would reduce the amount by which we are raising the debt limit to $350 billion.…”

“this amendment is simple. This amendment would reduce the amount by which we are raising the debt limit to $350 billion. That is $634 billion less than the underlying bill. The legislation the House sent to us would raise the debt limit by $984 billion. That would be the largest debt limit increase in history. The previous record was $915 billion in 1990, under President George Herbert Walker Bush. The average of the five debt ceiling increases since 1990 has been $450 billion. Plainly, the debt limit increase in the bill before us is out of proportion with recent precedent. We should not raise the debt limit by so much. We should increase it by an amount significantly smaller than $984 billion. It is very easy to explain why we have a smaller increase. It is because we are living in uncertain times, unpredictable times. I have sort of a pet theory that increases in technology, particularly communications technology, which makes our society much more complex and uncertain--not only for the U.S. but for the world--and we are experiencing the effects of actions in the world, from terrorism and SARS--make it difficult for the U.S. to rely on the best of projections. The best of projections indicate that the fiscal condition of the country is unhealthy for both the current year and future years. This is especially troubling because the baby boom generation will begin to retire in a few short years.”