EIGHT IS ENOUGH!

Rep. Dennis Cardoza (CA), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications

“I know that many of our Republican colleagues agree it is shameful that the United States is forced to borrow from foreign nations like China, Japan and Saudi Arabia to finance our debt and to pay for reconstruction of the Gulf Coast and the war in Iraq.  We owe it to the American people and future generations to dig out of this mess. The Republican leadership has created a Credit-Card Congress that is recklessly selling out the future of America, our children and our grandchildren.  It is time to stop the madness. It is my hope $8 trillion serves as a wake up call that will signal a new direction for Congress on the budget.  It is time to put together a real plan to cut the deficit and put our fiscal house back in order.”

Rep. Jim Cooper (TN), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy

“Eight trillion dollars is a fantastic sum of money and all Americans should be worried about this news.  You know, the first rule of holes is to stop digging and it is now high time that this Congress and this Administration stop digging us deeper in debt.  President Bush is the first President since James Garfield in 1881 to never use his veto power.  We need for this president to bring some leadership and some discipline to the out-of-control spending going on in the Republican led Congress and the Administration.”

Rep. Mike Ross (AR)

"Our nation's debt has reached an $8 trillion dollar milestone.  If every single person in America wrote a check to pay off the national debt, including babies born today, each check would be written to the tune of $27,000.  It is hard to believe 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.  This unprecedented and continually mounting debt is demonstrative of fiscal irresponsibility at its finest, and we absolutely must restore fiscal discipline and common sense to our nation's government and its budget." 

Rep. Allen Boyd (FL)

“With the ever-increasing national debt hitting the breathtaking figure of $8 trillion, it is painfully obvious that our government needs to learn to live within its means.  The economic health we enjoyed during the 1990s has been eroded by an Administration and a Republican-controlled Congress that have few qualms about spending our hard-earned tax dollars and inevitably the tax dollars of future generations.  This financial burden is not only a problem for government leaders and economists, but a problem that hits us in our own backyards with cuts in domestic priorities like education, law enforcement, jobs, transportation and Medicaid.  With little to no budgetary guidelines and little to no accountability for how our tax dollars are being spent, our government is spending like teenagers with a no-limit credit card.  The Blue Dogs believe that we owe it to the American people to develop a reasonable and responsible plan to keep America from going even deeper into debt.”

Rep. Stephanie Herseth (SD)

“It is clear that our budget process is broken.  This mounting debt drives home the need for greater fiscal discipline, accountability and transparency in the budget process.” 

Rep. John Tanner (TN)

“Forty-eight months ago, we were recording the largest budget surpluses in our nation’s history, and we were on track to pay off our national debt. In these four short years, the Bush Administration and a Congress friendly to the Administration have reversed that trend, instead piling on a staggering $1.3 trillion in new debt. We are currently borrowing about $615,000 a minute, much of it from foreign countries who do not see the world as we do. We are literally mortgaging our children’s future to other countries.  The federal government has added since 2001 about $50 billion each year in additional interest payments on the federal debt, meaning less is available for human capital investments like homeland security, infrastructure, health care and education. There has never been a country in the history of the world that is strong and free with an unhealthy, uneducated work force and a dilapidated infrastructure. That is the direction this country is headed toward if we do not stop the reckless borrow-and-spend policies of this Administration and this Congress.”

Rep. Leonard Boswell (IA)

"Before the present Administration took office, the thought of an $8 trillion national debt was inconceivable. Today, it is a harsh reality. Sadly though, it is a reality the Republican Leadership of this Congress is unwilling to face. They would rather leave it to our children and grandchildren to deal with."

Rep. Dennis Moore (KS)

“If Congress continues to ignore the long-term consequences of our current fiscal policy, we will be forcing our children and grandchildren to pay a steep price for the deficits and debt we create today. Unfortunately, our current policies will impose a significant future tax increase on all Americans. The debt tax, which cannot be repealed, will have to be repaid by future generations, and I am deeply concerned that some in Washington have been unwilling to adjust their policies in response to changing conditions.”

Rep. Mike Michaud (ME)

“As a 29 year millworker, I know that working families in America have to balance their budgets, and it is shameful and dangerous that the federal government can't do the same.”

Rep. Earl Pomeroy (ND)

“The staggering $8 trillion national debt is more debt than this nation has ever had and a failing grade for the administration’s fiscal policies. As alarming as this debt is, some in Congress are presently pushing a budget that would make it even worse.  We need a path to fiscal sanity with budget discipline, including a requirement that spending increases or tax cuts have to be paid for.  In North Dakota a core family value is the need to make things better for our children than we had for ourselves. The administration has done exactly the opposite: taking a balanced budget and turning it into the worst debt situation we’ve ever had.”

Rep. Mike McIntyre (NC)

“An $8 trillion federal deficit should be a wake-up call for our entire nation.  Each day that passes and we do not address this critical issue is another day we burden our children and grandchildren.  No more hitting the snooze button.  Let’s sound the alarm.  Our future depends on it.”

Rep. Mike Thompson (CA)

“Eight trillion dollars is the price of the Congressional leadership’s failed policies.  Unfortunately, the Congress won’t be paying this price, our children and grandchildren will.”

Rep. Marion Berry (AR)

“Our government has borrowed more money over the past four years than it borrowed during the country's first 200 years. We fought the Civil War and two World Wars during that time and still didn't manage to run up this large of a debt. We simply cannot continue at this rate. I have faith in this country and in the people who work hard to make sure we succeed. But continued deficits only place high hurdles in front of future generations. If we do not make responsible decisions now, we will have nothing left to ensure that others have the same opportunity we had to succeed.”

Rep. Adam Schiff (CA)

"This is what we leave to our children, and it conflicts most directly with what my parents taught me and what most of our parents taught all of us, that is, we leave the country a little better off than we found it.”

Rep. Lincoln Davis (TN)

“The United States finds itself in a fiscal and moral crisis resulting from the Administration and Republican Congress’ “borrow and spend” economic policies.  The crisis comes in the form of our record setting $8 trillion national debt, $600 billion trade deficit, and $300 billion-and growing-budget deficit.  The numbers are so extreme they don’t seem real.  But they are, and they place an incredible burden on the futures of our children, our grandchildren, and our soldiers fighting in Iraq.  It is sad and shocking to think in a span of four short years this country has gone from a projected ten year, $5 trillion surplus, to an $8 trillion national debt.  To finance this growth in the debt we had to rely on foreign investors like Communist China, Japan, and the OPEC. Foreign countries now own 45% of our debt. We have got to turn this ship around.”

Rep. John Salazar (CO)

“Those of us who have grown up working the land understand the importance of working within a budget – tightening your belt when needed, but doing what you need to stay strong and independent. There is no real principle or plan behind these spending habits and frankly, it’s scary that most of our debt is owned by China. We need a fundamental change in direction – it is high time for this Administration and Congress to commit to budget principles that are honest and a true statement of what we value as a society.”

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