George Voinovich: “A fiscal crisis looms on the horizon. As the Nation's demographic tide begins to shift, a fiscal tidal wave threatens to…”

“A fiscal crisis looms on the horizon. As the Nation's demographic tide begins to shift, a fiscal tidal wave threatens to overwhelm our economy if we do not act now. Our irresponsible fiscal policies have created a grave situation that more and more people--Republicans and Democrats--are coming to recognize. We can no longer sit back and hope things will work themselves out. A potential national disaster threatens to devastate our way of life, and we have a moral responsibility to do something about it. In the simplest of terms, the Federal Government continues to spend more than it brings in. But, running the credit card for today's needs and leaving the bill for future generations should not be the policy of this Congress. An historical perspective helps to highlight the gravity of our current situation. The Fiscal Year 2006 budget deficit was $248 billion--the seventh largest deficit in our Nation's history. However, if we don't include the money we're borrowing from the Social Security Trust Fund, the Fiscal Year 2006 budget deficit was $434 billion. I arrived in Washington in 1999, and in the 8 short years since, our national debt has increased by over 50 percent from $5.6 trillion to a staggering $8.6 trillion. It represents 67 percent of the GDP--the worst number in 50 years. This means that each man, woman, and child in the United States owes $29,000 of the Federal Government's debt.”