[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 75 (Wednesday, June 4, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1107-E1108]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




STATEMENTS BY TIM BLAIS, JOSEPH BOUSQUET, AND KEITH McMANIS, MONTPELIER 
                 HIGH SCHOOL REGARDING DOMESTIC AFFAIRS

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                          HON. BERNARD SANDERS

                               of vermont

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 4, 1997

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of my colleagues I would 
like to have printed in the Record this statement by high school 
students from Montpelier High School in Vermont, who were speaking at 
my recent town meeting on issues facing young people.

       Mr. Blais: Congressman Sanders, in the early days of the 
     Government, debt was considered to be a last resort. The only 
     justification for debt of any kind was by war. In 1849, the 
     Government had $70 million in the bank;

[[Page E1108]]

     after the Civil War we were down to about negative $3 
     billion. Ever since then it has gone down.
       Debt is not really serious compared to the total assets of 
     the country. That is from Congressman Peter Starke.
       Mr. Bousquet: Good afternoon, Congressman Sanders. The 
     remark by Congressman Starke is not true. 
     $5,403,449,382,255.58 is a problem. This country knows it 
     just as well as I do that this country is in trouble. 
     Although the national debt has gone down in the 1990's, it is 
     still very, very high.
       Some of the facts: There are 267,204,471 people roughly in 
     America. The debt increases $722 million everyday. At this 
     rate each citizen's contribution to the debt to make it go 
     away is $222,000.15, and that means a baby, a child and a 
     man, and infant, whatever.
       Mr. Blais: What we are asking is why is it our 
     responsibility to pay for Government debts and what is 
     Congress doing honestly to bring us out of debt and what is 
     the future for our kids going to be like? From what I have 
     gathered there has been a lot of--I do not how to explain it 
     but there have been many attempts to bring the debt down, and 
     yes, it has gone down some by cutting budgets and whatnot, 
     but in the last roughly 55 years there hasn't been any major 
     decrease in the debt that we have.
       Mr. Bousquet: It is obviously going down, and I see that. 
     Why cannot we keep on going down and try to get it to a 
     reasonable $50 million or a reasonable $25 million. The debt 
     is still going up but it is not increasing as rapidly. The 
     only possible solution that I can come up with is cutting 
     back on something and it could be a number of things. The 
     budget is divided up into sections, right? One of the highest 
     is armed forces. We need defense, granted, but it is too 
     high, I think, and that is my personal opinion. I do not know 
     the background behind it.
       Mr. Blais: Well I have to say like Government funding for--
     I mean, I cannot give you exactly but I know a lot of things 
     that are Government-funded aren't going anywhere and haven't 
     been going anywhere in the last I do not know how many years, 
     and I would take a deep look at what everything is producing 
     and how much money you are giving them and look at it from 
     there.

     

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