Patrick Leahy: “In fact, I might say to my friend from Maryland, we talk about how they might rate us if we had a capital budget. I look…”

“In fact, I might say to my friend from Maryland, we talk about how they might rate us if we had a capital budget. I look at the chart that he has been good enough to bring up, and I think that the United States is rating pretty darned good. We are an awful lot better in our deficit than all the rest of the First World--Japan, Germany, Canada, France, UK, Italy. I think our bonds would be pretty darned good. I say this to my friend from Maryland. We all know we are in about as much of a global market certainly as at any time in the Senator's lifetime or my lifetime, and markets become even more global as we go on with everything from the Internet to plants worldwide. I ask my friend, what is the dominant currency when we talk about that global market? Is it not the dollar?”