On the recordJuly 27, 2010
There has been considerable finger pointing, misdirected, I might add, by our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, with respect to who is responsible for the mountain of debt weighing on our Nation. I rise to set the record straight and highlight just some of the actions we have taken to reduce the deficit and restore fiscal responsibility. When this Congress took office in January of 2009, we inherited the worst recession since the Great Depression and a $1.2 trillion annual deficit with red ink forecast far into the future. Unfortunately, we now know what happened next. The Bush administration and Republican-controlled Congresses cast aside fiscal discipline and made a number of reckless, long-term budget decisions that turned record surpluses into record deficits. They initiated two wars, enacted two long-term tax cuts, and a new, permanent entitlement program, none of which was paid for, and all of which added to the debt. These actions alone added $6.6 trillion to the national debt and left the Federal budget fundamentally unbalanced for the foreseeable future.
