[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 191 (Wednesday, December 16, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H15474]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    OUR UNCONSCIONABLE NATIONAL DEBT

  (Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, the Democrat majority voted 
today to raise our national debt limit by $290 billion. That vote we 
took today to raise the debt limit, rollcall vote 988, served as a 
terrible reminder of all of the votes we didn't take. The debt limit 
increase vote is the direct opposite of the votes we should have cast 
earlier this year--the votes to curb spending, the votes to cut pork, 
the votes for real economic stimulus, the votes for meaningful fiscal 
discipline.
  Today our national debt is $12.13 trillion. More exactly, it is 
$12,134,970,556,795.04. Since January 6, 2009, the start of this 111th 
Congress, the national debt has increased by $1.4 trillion. I am sadly 
familiar with these numbers because I began to place the amount of the 
national debt in the Congressional Record on a daily basis since last 
month as a reminder to all of us. We need to stop this borrowing and 
spending. I urge all of my colleagues to embrace fiscal discipline.

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