Federal Debt Expanding $1.4 Billion Daily

The Associated Press is reporting the federal debt now stands at $9.13 trillion, and is expanding by $1.4 billion a day and nearly $1 million a minute. Wow. Click here to read the news article. That's almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States. Simply put: our government is overspending and our country's economic growth is too slow. The result is not only a budget in the red but one that throws money down the drain. In order to fulfill the government's out-of-control spending appetite, we are barrowing money, and each year we must pay the interest on these debts. Last year the interest payments on the federal debt totaled a whopping $430 billion, ranking it the fourth-highest component of national spending behind Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and defense. The U.S. government actually pays in interest four times more than it spends on education. Our leaders in Washington have failed us. Republicans, including District 1 Congressman and Appropriations Committee member Jack Kingston, who for most of the decade completely controlled the goverment, have recklessly shunned fiscal responsibility. The federal debt has grown by almost 100 percent, up from $5.7 trillion, since President Bush took office in January 2001. When elected to Congress, I will work hard for a balanced budget that spends only what America can afford. I will also focus on growing our economy, which in itself reduces the federal debt. I will pass legislation that makes America the global leader in alternative energy research, development and production, and makes South Georgia the center of this effort.