In its latest report on the public debt, the U.S. Treasury Department now projects that the U.S. debt will exceed GDP by the end of this year.  This is three years earlier than the date projected in the same report last year.

This is simply another in a long list of reasons why any increase in the debt limit must be paired with significant spending reductions and real entitlement reforms.  Independent economists have found that such high, sustained levels of debt relative to GDP could cost the country up to 1 million jobs.  With the unemployment rate at 9.1 percent and close to 14 million Americans looking for work, it is time for President Obama to come forward with a serious proposal to get Washington’s spending under control.