Deborah Koff Ross: “I rise this evening to visit with the Members of this body about the national debt. I am one of 37 members of the…”

“I rise this evening to visit with the Members of this body about the national debt. I am one of 37 members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, 37 Members of Congress from all over these United States who share a common concern, and that is the amount of our national debt and the amount of our national deficit as it continues to rise each day. As visitors walk the Halls of the House office buildings, they will occasionally spot one of these posters, which clearly marks that it is a Blue Dog member. What we are trying to do with the American people, as members of the Blue Dog Coalition, is point out that the U.S. national debt today is $8.053 trillion and some change. If we were to divide the national debt today by the 292 million people that live in America, including the children born today, everyone in America would have to write a check for $27,000 to pay off this national debt. This is a tragedy. And it is time we restore some common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. There are some within the Republican leadership that are trying to make us think that that is what they are trying to do, and what I mean by that is this week, we are going to be voting on what they call a budget reconciliation package. The Republican leadership is going to talk about how it is $53.9 billion in reduced spending. That sounds good. What they do not tell us is what programs are going to be cut.…”