[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 48 (Thursday, March 22, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H1500]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1010
                           THE NATIONAL DEBT

  (Mr. DOLD asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DOLD. Madam Speaker, our national debt now exceeds $15.5 
trillion. I think it's fair to say that Washington has a spending 
problem. Republicans and Democrats alike have overspent over the years.
  In the past 4 years, Washington has spent over $5 trillion of 
taxpayer money that we don't have. The degree of how much this actually 
means to the American public, I think, is incomprehensible. Most people 
that I talk to just say that's a heck of a lot of money. I talk about 
the deficit of $1.5 trillion that we spent this last year and they say 
I just think it's a lot of money. It works out to be about $3.4 million 
a minute in deficit spending.
  But if we take eight zeros off these numbers, to put it in 
perspective for the American family, I think it gives them a good idea 
about what their budget would look like. The annual family income would 
be about $22,280. The money the family would spend in a given year 
would be $37,080. New debt on the credit card would be $14,800. The 
outstanding balance, which I think is important, is $155,000, and the 
total discretionary budget cuts that were put in for 2011 for this 
family, $398.
  Madam Speaker, that's what we're facing. We must pass a budget that 
takes the step necessary to rein in the out-of-control spending that 
our country has today and put ourselves on a path to economic 
prosperity. We have no other choice.

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