An erstwhile deficit hawk’s courageous stand against raising the debt limit

Below is a prescient speech given on the Senate floor years ago warning of the coming debt crisis. It was delivered when the national debt was $8 trillion less than it is today. It is reproduced here without comment:

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies.

Over the past 5 years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5 trillion to $8.6 trillion. That is ‘‘trillion’’ with a ‘‘T.’’ That is money that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, borrowed from China and Japan, borrowed from American taxpayers. And over the next 5 years, between now and 2011, the President’s budget will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 trillion. …

I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.”

From the Congressional Record
Sen. Barack Obama
March 16, 2006