U.S. Senate Debates Increase in Debt Ceiling

The U.S. Senate is debating H.R. 45, a measure to increase the authorized national debt ceiling to over $13 trillion.

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Muskogee) noted in his recent email newsletter that the U.S. Senate just increased the government's authorized debt ceiling less than a month ago on Dec. 26.

Dr. Coburn also provided mind-blowing perspective about the current Senate effort to raise the ceiling once again by almost another $2 trillion (take a good look at number 4 below):

• The debt limit increase will rank as the largest in American history, shattering the previous record nearly twice over.

• The federal deficit for 2009 surpasses our entire federal budget spending for 1999 by $200 billion.

• The deficit for 2009 is nearly three times our previous record for federal budget deficits.

• Our national debt in 2009 increased by a rate of $4 billion a day. That means every 1.5 days, the federal government is running a deficit equal to the entire annual budget of the State of Oklahoma.

• The national debt, not including obligations to the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, now stands at $39,000 per man, woman, and child.

• Currently, Congress borrows 43 cents for every dollar it spends.

Unbelievable, folks.