On the recordJanuary 16, 2007
I guess a good way of putting that was the total national debt, not just 6 years ago, but the total national debt from 1789 to 2000 was $5.67 trillion. Today, it is approaching $9 trillion; and by 2010, it is estimated to total more than 10 and approaching $11 trillion. Put it another way, it is doubling, a doubling of the 211-year debt in the past 6 years. The reason the debt should matter, Mr. Speaker, is because interest payments on this debt are one of the fastest growing parts of the Federal budget, which means less money for education, less money for veterans benefits, less money for health care, less money for roads, and on and on and on. So deficits do matter. Deficits reduce economic growth. They burden our children and grandchildren with liabilities. They increase our reliance on foreign lenders who now own a sobering 40 percent of our debt.
Source
govinfo.gov
