Madam Speaker, our Nation today is $7.990 trillion, nearly $8 trillion, in debt. Put that another way, our Nation today is spending $160 billion a year simply paying interest on the national debt.  That is about $500 million a day. In fact, it is $13 billion per month, it is $444 million per day, it is $18 million an hour, it is $308,000 a minute.  Or put another way, our Nation is spending $5,100 every second simply paying interest on the national debt.  In fact, if every person in America wrote a check to pay off the national debt, the amount each person would owe, including the children born today, would be $26,000. 

It is hard to believe now that we had a balanced budget from 1998 to 2001, because now this administration, this Republican Congress, has given us the largest budget deficit ever in our Nation's history for a fifth year in a row. In 2001, the deficit was $128 billion; in 2002, it was $157 billion; in 2003, $377 billion; 2004, $412 billion; and in 2005, it went to $427 billion. 

That does not include the money that is borrowed from Social Security.  No wonder this Republican Congress would not give me a hearing or a vote on my bill that basically said that politicians in Washington should keep their hands off the Social Security Trust Fund.  In fact, if it were not for the money being borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund, the deficit would have been $567 billion last year. 

Many American citizens, I know the citizens in Arkansas' Fourth Congressional District, are asking me where all this money is coming from that we are borrowing.  We have borrowed $700 billion from Japan, $250 billion from China, and $76.2 billion from the Caribbean Banking Center.  I had never heard of such. In fact, 45 percent of our deficit is being funded by foreign investors. 

In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, we are faced with the very important question of how are we going to pay for the rebuilding efforts.  I find it interesting that these questions are not asked when we talk about paying for the war in Iraq.  Just a few short months ago, $82 billion was passed in emergency supplemental appropriations.  In fact, we spend $188 million every day in Iraq and $33 million every day in Afghanistan. 

In a time of war, in the aftermath of our Nation's most costly natural disaster in our history, the Republican majority in Congress and this administration are still proposing another $106 billion in new tax cuts.  That is wrong.  It is morally wrong.  There is a lot of talk these days about values. I can tell you that those are not the kinds of values that I was raised on and still believe in. 

This Republican-controlled Congress claims these additional budget cuts are to pay for Katrina.  Over $62.3 billion has been allocated for hurricane relief efforts. However, budget reconciliation is not applicable to emergency supplemental funding.  We recently passed $82 billion in emergency supplemental appropriations for Iraq.  Where was the talk of reconciling the budget then?  It is clear these budget cuts are not aimed at offsetting the cost of the devastating hurricanes, but rather at partially offsetting $106 billion in new tax cuts. 

The Republican-controlled Congress is proposing to slash programs such as Medicaid, food stamps, student loans and other programs that would directly and adversely impact the poor, the disabled, and the elderly.  And those cuts, Madam Speaker, are wrong.  It is about priorities.  And this Republican Congress believes it is more important to fund tax cuts for those earning over $400,000 a year than to fund programs that benefit the poor, the disabled, and the elderly. 

I would like to wrap up my remarks by sharing with you a paragraph from a letter that I received just today from the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA.  It is signed by a number of organizations.  Some of them you will recognize, like the National Baptist Convention USA, the National Missionary Baptist Convention of America, the Presbyterian Church, and the United Methodist Church.  If I may read from that letter as my closing: 

The role of government is to protect its people and work for the common good. This is not the time for the budget reconciliation process to create greater hardships for those who are already experiencing greater suffering.  To do so is not only unjust; it is a sin.  It violates all the fundamental Christian principles of loving thy neighbor, caring for the poor, and showing mercy.  As religious leaders, this violation is unacceptable to us.'' 

And to the gentleman from South Carolina, I would say that this violation is unacceptable to me as well.