[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 175]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   NATIONAL DEBT NOW EQUAL TO ECONOMY

  (Mr. BURGESS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURGESS. Madam Speaker, Congress is now back into session and 
reconvening, hitting a dubious milestone. The national debt is now 
larger than the entire economy of the United States. Earlier this 
month, USA Today reported on this, and the numbers are daunting. The 
amount of money the Federal Government owes to its creditors tops 
$15.23 trillion. President Obama's own budget from last year shows the 
debt increasing by $1 trillion a year over the next 10 years, topping 
out at $26 trillion a decade from now.
  Put into perspective, other countries have similar situations: 
Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan--the very countries that are 
responsible for the European debt crisis. At the same time, the 
administration, over the last 3 years, has pushed a very aggressive 
spending agenda which includes a government takeover of health care, 
government takeover of banks, and $800 billion in stimulus funding.
  House Republicans passed well over 20 jobs bills last year that have 
yet to come up for a vote in the Senate. I encourage the other body to 
take up these pieces of legislation. We have got to get our country 
back to work. We need to grow more taxpayers, not raise taxes.

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