On the recordFebruary 14, 2011
I was first elected in 1992, and in 1993 we considered a budget that put an end to fiscal recklessness. We passed a budget that, by the end of the 8 years of the Clinton administration, had not only eliminated the deficit, but had created enough surplus to have paid off the entire national debt held by the public by 2 years ago. That would mean that we'd owe no money to Japan, no money to China, no money to Saudi Arabia. That budget also created a record number of jobs and record economic activity, as noted by the record increase in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. So we had a good budget. We had fiscal responsibility, but unfortunately, in 2001, that came to an end when we reverted to fiscal irresponsibility. Under the Bush administration, we passed two tax cuts without paying for them, a prescriptive drug benefit without paying for it, fought two wars in the middle of cutting taxes, and a $700 billion bailout, all of which put us in the economic ditch.
