On the recordApril 13, 2011
I thank the Senator. Mr. President, our country requires us to stand and be counted. ``Nothing comes from nothing,'' as Julie Andrews sang in that wonderful song. Things have to be paid for. When you borrow money, you pay interest on it. Interest under the budget the President has sent to us last year was $200 billion--$207 billion, I think. In the 10th year, that budget, as scored by the CBO, is imposing on the American economy a $940 billion, 1-year interest payment. I know the Senator is familiar with Georgia. Alabama's general fund is less than $2 billion. Our education budget is less than $8 billion. We are talking about imposing on the American people an annual interest payment of $940 billion. The Federal highway fund is $40 billion, and Federal aid to education is $70 billion. This is going to crowd out everything. That is why we are on an unsustainable path. We need the President to engage, and I hope today he will initiate his engagement, in which he tells the American people we can't continue this way. Would the Senator care to close it out?
