Charles W. Stenholm: “That is the crisis. Now, we hear folks saying, well, Charlie, this deficit is not the largest in the history of our…”

“That is the crisis. Now, we hear folks saying, well, Charlie, this deficit is not the largest in the history of our country as a percent of GDP, and I concede that point readily, because that is a fact, if we will also use the same GDP figures for spending and for revenue. And having been around this body now for almost 26 years, I tend to go back and see, well, what was it in 1978 when I was elected and what is it in 2004 today. And spending as a percent of GDP by the Federal Government for all programs has gone down one-half of 1 percent. Revenue has gone down by 5 percent. Therefore, we are perfectly willing to borrow from foreign interests that which we demand the right to spend for all of the purposes that we are spending today. And when we hear this, there is another thing; and this is the point I wanted to make. The current accounts deficit, the gentleman mentioned that, is the largest that it has been in the history of our country today: 6.9 percent of gross domestic product in the current accounts deficit.”