Political Quotes

“Mr. President, here is a number for everyone to think about today: $35.3 trillion--$35.3 trillion. That is our Nation's debt number. As you can see, we have gotten there because of years of deficit spending. Right now, this massive sum, which is our national debt, represents more than $100,000 of indebtedness for every man, woman, and child in this country. While this number is almost impossible to comprehend, it poses one of the greatest threats to our Nation's stability, security, and survival. To put this issue in perspective, our debt-to-GDP ratio is 121 percent, meaning our Nation's debt is one-fifth larger than our Nation's annual economic output. Think about that. The debt is larger than our output. By comparison, our debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of World War II was 106 percent. That was the record high before we got to the COVID-19 pandemic. As our debt balloons, the annual cost of interest payments on the debt continues to rise, and this crowds out vital services that ought to be going to people who need them. In fact, through the first 6 months of fiscal year 2024, our country spent more taxpayer money servicing the debt than we spent on our military. We spent $440 billion on interest payments on our debt. When faced with this reality, Tennesseans and Americans will probably wonder: Well, how did we get on this path to fiscal disaster? Of course, $35.3 trillion in debt didn't just appear overnight.…”