National Debt Surges to a Record $8,000,000,000,000

The national debt rose to $8 trillion today marking a record high for the federal government's deficit spending. Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Napa Valley) called this milestone a consequence of the Congressional leadership's abhorrent fiscal track record.

“$8 trillion dollars is the price of the Congressional leadership's failed policies,” Thompson said. “Unfortunately, the Congress won't be paying this price, our children and grandchildren will.”

Thompson said “trillion” is a term that most mathematicians do not use but is unfortunately more closely associated with governments. To put the number in context, a million hours ago was in 1891, a billion seconds ago Richard Nixon was president and one trillion seconds ago-31,688 years-Neanderthals walked the earth.

“This development comes as no surprise, many of us have been attempting to restore fiscal responsibility to Congress for years now but the Congressional leadership has defeated our efforts.”

Thompson, a member of the fiscally conservative Congressional Blue Dog Coalition, has led past floor debates on attempting to apply PayGo rules to all spending and tax measures that the Congress approves. These rules would require that the federal government must be able to pay for any bill that the Congress approves. His effort was defeated by one vote but he vowed to keep trying.