Madam Speaker,
This legislation increases the debt limit by an astounding $1.9 trillion, the largest one-time increase in the debt limit ever. Since the Majority came into control of Congress, the debt limit has been increased by over $5.3 trillion or by nearly 60%.
Despite this massive heap of debt thrust on the American people, Democrats plan to pile on even more debt next year. According to the President’s newest budget proposal, the amount of debt subject to the limit will increase by nearly $1.4 trillion from fiscal year 2010 to fiscal year 2011.
A number that large is hard to put into perspective, but let me offer a few points of reference.
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The President intends to increase the debt in just one year by an amount equal to the entire GDP of Canada.
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This one year increase in the debt is larger than the GDP of India, Mexico, Australia, or South Korea.
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It is larger than the GDP of Ireland, Poland, and Belgium, combined.
We’ve heard a lot of talk recently from the President about the need to get America’s fiscal house in order. However, according to the President’s own budget, Congress will have to raise the debt limit again before 2011 is over.
Even more disturbing, is the fact that under the President’s proposed budget, debt subject to this limit will exceed the size of the entire U.S. economy by 2013 and remain more than U.S. GDP through the next decade and presumably for years to come.
Experts on both sides of the political aisle agree that this kind of runaway debt threatens the very foundation of America’s economy. Yesterday, the market provided a stark warning as the credit rating agency Moody’s stated that the U.S. government’s triple A bond rating is threatened by the deficits driving up this debt.
I hear a lot from the President and from my colleagues in the Majority about inherited deficits and debt. But let’s be clear, according to the President’s own budget, the largest deficit in U.S. history will be under a Democrat Administration and a Democrat majority in Congress. A Democrat President and a Democrat Congress plan a one-year increase in the debt larger than the size of major economies around the world.
This isn’t about what anyone inherited, it is about what this President and the Democrats in Congress plan for America: too much spending, too much taxing, and too much debt.
Rather than letting this massive debt limit increase pass, I urge Congress to examine its out of control spending habit this year, rather than after the election as the President suggests with his so-called deficit commission.
I urge this House to restore responsible spending, and vote no.