Frank Lautenberg: “I rise to talk about the legislation we are scheduled to deal with this week, the debt limit extension bill and the tax…”

“I rise to talk about the legislation we are scheduled to deal with this week, the debt limit extension bill and the tax cut. The debate over the debt ceiling may seem esoteric to the folks back home, but it is actually a fairly simple issue. The President has decided to borrow more money on our Nation's credit card and now he is asking his credit be enlarged. The President's credit card is very clearly over the limit. He is asking the bankers in this room to approve his credit expansion. So we are going to talk about it because we want to be sure he can afford to take on this much debt based on the fiscal management he is directing. By the end of this month, the President's card will be revoked because his balance will far exceed the credit card limit. What is that limit? The limit the President cannot comply with is $6.4 trillion. That is the amount of indebtedness we are currently permitted to have. Now he is asking us, the bankers in this case, the 100 Senators, to extend his limit by another $984 billion. But the President does not have to pay that back. That debt is going to be deferred to future generations, about $3,400 for every man, woman, and child in America. Right after he gets the extension of the debt limit, the President wants to charge at least another $350 billion on the credit card for a tax cut that goes primarily to the wealthy among us. The best part for the President is that he doesn't have to worry about paying the balance.”