John Spratt: “The year 2001. The President saw, looking out 10 years, surpluses of $4.6 trillion, and he said we can have it all, tax…”

“The year 2001. The President saw, looking out 10 years, surpluses of $4.6 trillion, and he said we can have it all, tax cuts and surpluses too. So he sent us a budget with enormous tax cuts. We warned against buying into those projections, but it was not heeded. They told us at the time that we could pass these tax cuts and we would not even have to consider an increase in the debt ceiling until the year 2008. That promise lasted 1 year. The next year, in 2002, there was a $450 billion request for another hike in the debt ceiling. The following year, 2003, there was a request for an increase in the debt ceiling of $984 billion, the single largest increase in history, a bigger amount than the entire national debt in 1981 when Ronald Reagan came to office. Add those three together and they tell you a lot: $450 billion, plus $984 billion, plus tonight's request, $800 billion, comes to $2.234 trillion. $2.234 trillion. That is the amount by which we have had to increase the debt ceiling of the United States in order to accommodate the budgets and fiscal policies of the Bush administration: $2.234 trillion.”