Kent Conrad: “Let me indicate this is the circumstance we inherit: The last balanced budget was in 2001. Since then, this…”

“Let me indicate this is the circumstance we inherit: The last balanced budget was in 2001. Since then, this administration has run up record deficits and record debt. Mr. President, 2004 was the largest dollar deficit in history. In fact, we have now had the five largest deficits in our history under this administration. That dug a very deep hole as we began to write this budget resolution. This is what has happened to the debt: At the end of the first year of the administration--we do not hold them responsible for the first year because they inherited a budget from the previous administration-- the debt of the United States stood at $5.8 trillion. It will be, at the end of 2009, over $10.4 trillion. This administration will nearly have doubled the debt of our country. In terms of who is financing that debt, increasingly we are dependent on the kindness of strangers because increasingly this money is being borrowed from abroad.”