Wayne Allard: “I want to just briefly explain what my amendment does. Right now, the total debt that we are facing in this country is…”

“I want to just briefly explain what my amendment does. Right now, the total debt that we are facing in this country is $5.6 trillion. The interest that we pay on that total debt is more than the entire defense budget, and I believe we need a plan to pay down that total debt. My amendment proposes such a plan. It takes the surplus that is reflected in the budget proposal that is before us here on the floor of the Senate today, and takes those first 5 years and allocates them towards that debt pay-down plan. It says that after the 5 years that are reflected in the budget plan, then we dedicate $11.7 billion a year towards paying down the debt. If we will do that, we can pay down the debt in 30 years and save more than $3.7 trillion in interest. The $11.7 billion which we set aside after the 5 years which is reflected in this budget, that is less than 1 percent of the total budget. I am here to ask the Senate to join me in putting in place a plan to pay down the total debt.”