Deborah Koff Ross: “tonight I rise on behalf of the 43 Member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. We are a group of…”

“tonight I rise on behalf of the 43 Member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. We are a group of fiscally conservative Democrats that are committed to restoring common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. As you walk the Halls of Congress, Mr. Speaker, it is easy to know when you are walking by the office of a fellow Blue Dog Member because you will see this poster that says ``The Blue Dog Coalition.'' It says, ``Today, the U.S. national debt is, 8,887,793,986,597.86.'' And for every man, woman and child in America, their share of the national debt is $29,465. It is what we refer to as the ``debt tax.'' And that is one tax that cannot be cut, that cannot go away until this Nation gets its fiscal house in order. The Federal deficit continues to climb. Mr. Speaker, it is hard now to think back and realize, but from 1998 through 2001, this country had a balanced budget; and yet under the Republican leadership for the previous 6 years, we have seen them rubber-stamp the President's budget year after year after year, giving us the largest deficit after the largest deficit after the largest deficit, record deficits. And as a result of that, we have seen the national debt grow to where it is today, approaching $9 trillion. Why does this matter? It matters because the total national debt from 1789 to 2000 was $5.67 trillion, but by 2010, the total national debt will have increased to $10.88 trillion.”