Deborah Koff Ross: “This year we have paid $239 billion in interest on the national debt. That is close to $1 billion a day, without a…”

“This year we have paid $239 billion in interest on the national debt. That is close to $1 billion a day, without a calculator. But with a calculator, and to put it in perspective, the same amount we would pay for any of the following, stocking every family in America's refrigerator for 7 months, filling every U.S. gas tank, and that is not easy to do this these days, for 10 months, filling every American's gas tank for 10 months at today's gas prices, providing 4 years of in-state public tuition for 10.2 million students. I have a daughter in college now. I can appreciate that one. Paying 1 year of salary for 8 million new teachers. We could do any one of those things, Madam Speaker, with the amount of interest we have paid on the national debt this year. The whole point here, Madam Speaker, is we will continue, this demonstrates it right here, the reds, the amounts we are spending on interest, the light blue, or the turquoise as we would say back home, is the amount we are spending on education. The dark green is how much we are spending on veterans. And the purple is how much we are spending on homeland security. America's priorities, Madam Speaker, are out of whack.”