Byron Dorgan: “Clearly, the amount of Federal debt that we have is excessive. The deficits that we have experienced in recent years, in…”

“Clearly, the amount of Federal debt that we have is excessive. The deficits that we have experienced in recent years, in the last couple of decades, especially, saddle our children with interest payments that we do not want to have to have them meet. Clearly, we need to make progress in balancing the budget and finally achieve fiscal stability and have a budget that is balanced. That is clear. We have a debt problem. That is clear as a bell. I say to people who come to the floor and talk about this issue, however, it is not just the Federal debt. We have corporate debt that is rising just exactly like the Federal debt is. We have credit card debt that is rising faster. We have consumer debt that is rising just as fast. We have $21 trillion in debt out there in this country. In fact, you walk down the street, you walk past a picture window of a business someplace, and you almost hear the invisible tapping on the windowpane behind the bright red letter sign that says to you 'Say, consumer, come over here a second. It does not matter you cannot afford this. It does not matter that you do not have money for it. Come and buy this product.'”