[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 30 (Thursday, March 7, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E306]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE COST OF OUR NATIONAL DEBT

                                 ______


                   HON. WILLIAM M. ``MAC'' THORNBERRY

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 7, 1996

  Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, as we continue in our struggle to 
balance the budget and return government power to the States and local 
communities, I thought it would be a good time to remember what one of 
America's greatest patriots had to say about the cost of our national 
debt and the burden it places on current and future generations:

       I place economy among the first and most important virtues, 
     and public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared. To 
     preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us 
     with perpetual debt. We must make our choice between economy 
     and liberty, or profusion and servitude. If we run into such 
     debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our 
     necessities, and in our labors and in our amusements. If we 
     prevent the Government from wasting the labors of the people, 
     under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.

  These words are drawn from a speech given by Thomas Jefferson shortly 
after the birth of our country. This speech, sent to me last week by 
one of my constituents, Mrs. Louis Seewald of Amarillo, TX, should 
remind us all that we cannot continue the business as usual practice of 
spending more than we take in.
  As Jefferson foresaw, running up a debt serves to enslave the entire 
Nation. The last 25 years have proven him right. Despite movement 
toward a plan to balance the budget, the fact of the matter is that we 
still face a national debt of nearly $5 trillion. A child born today 
will have to pay $187,000 in taxes over his or her lifetime just to pay 
off interest on the national debt.
  If unchecked, the national debt will soon consume nearly 75 percent 
of our entire budget. This will leave virtually no funds for critical 
areas such as education, the environment, and crime prevention, and 
could possibly lead to a tax rate of over 50 percent.
  This is not what Jefferson would have wanted from the Government he 
helped create more than 200 years ago, and it is not what the American 
people want from the leaders they elect today.

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