[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 57 (Wednesday, May 8, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H2168-H2169]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE NATIONAL DEBT

  (Mr. PASCRELL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, Thomas Jefferson said, ``I place the 
economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as 
the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence, we must not let 
our rulers load us with perpetual debt.''
  I hear the words of the Founding Fathers on the floor evoked week 
after week. I never hear these words from Thomas Jefferson. That is 
because the public debt is something we do not like to talk about. We 
no longer have a

[[Page H2169]]

choice in the matter. In the minute that I will stand before Members 
this morning, we will accrue almost $1 million in interest to our 
public debt. These are wasted dollars paying interest on debt, rather 
than paying down the debt.
  Today the national debt is $6 trillion. Since January of last year, 
the CBO baseline's projected net interest payments over the 2002 to 
2011 period have gone up by $1 trillion, from $620 billion to $1.6 
trillion, roughly $10,000 per American household and $1,000 per 
household per year.
  If we make the tax cut permanent, like some have suggested, this 
number rises to almost $4,000 per household per year. This is insanity. 
Mr. Speaker, I ask that we remember the words of Thomas Jefferson.

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