On the recordJune 5, 1996
I think a balanced budget has a great deal of impact on our lives. We have gone for a very long time with an unbalanced budget and we did not think much about it. There were no great discussions about it until fairly recently. Why? Because the debt has gotten so large that very likely next year the largest line item in the budget will be for interest of $260-some billion, which will not be available to spend in other areas. People have made the good point that if we did not have the interest payment, the budget would be balanced. But we do. I have heard others say, ``Let's get rid of the debt. It is just Government debt.'' That is not true. You and I own Treasury notes. It belongs to people. It is a real debt. We have to pay that interest. That is part of it.
Source
govinfo.gov
