Deborah Koff Ross: “on behalf of the 37-member strong fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 37 fiscally conservative…”

“on behalf of the 37-member strong fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 37 fiscally conservative Democrats that have a common goal, and that is to restore some common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government, and on behalf of the Blue Dog Coalition, I rise this evening as I do every Tuesday evening to discuss the debt, the deficit, the budget and accountability within our government because I believe, as Members of Congress, Members of this body, we were sent here by the American people to be good stewards of our tax dollars. I grew up at Midway United Methodist Church just outside of Prescott, in Hope, Arkansas. Heard a lot of sermons growing up about what it meant to be a good steward. And what I learned growing up at Midway Methodist Church about stewardship I believe also applies to being good stewards of our tax dollars. And, Madam Speaker, I rise this evening because today the U.S. national debt is $8,270,385,415,129 and some change. Again, that is a lot of numbers, and sometimes I get them a little confused. $8,270,385,415,129. For every man and woman and child in America, including those being born right now, each individual in America's share, every man, woman and child's share of the national deb, comes to some $27,000 and some change. It is hard to believe now, but from 1998 through 2001, we had a balanced budget in this Nation.…”