Tony Hall: “In the year 1980, the national debt was less than $1 trillion. Today it is $5.7 trillion, six times as much. I do not…”

“In the year 1980, the national debt was less than $1 trillion. Today it is $5.7 trillion, six times as much. I do not want to go back to the days of deficit spending. Let us look at the figures we are talking about in the budget proposal this year. We are estimating we will have a $5.6 trillion surplus in the next 10 years. I do not trust 1-year projections, let alone 10-year projections, but let us assume that that is correct. Today we are going to vote to subtract from that the Social Security and Medicare trust fund moneys of $2.9 trillion. In other words, we are going to say to the American people, 'We are going to stop stealing the money' which we did for many, many years. I think that bill will get almost unanimous support. So we are making a pledge there. That gets us down to $2.7 trillion. Then we start talking about this tax cut. I have only heard one person say that we will be able to stick to the $1.6 trillion. Almost everyone says it is going to cost a lot more than that.”