Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,501,576,037,738.02. We've added $6,874,698,988,824.94 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,495,622,444,209.79. We've added $6,868,745,395,296.71 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,467,228,205,267.47. We've added $6,840,351,156,354.39 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,444,385,246,890.50. We've added $6,817,508,197,977.42 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,463,228,562,652.94. We've added $6,836,351,513,739.86 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.8 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,410,830,777,447.36. We've added $6,783,953,728,534.28 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.7 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,419,220,117,766.69. We've added $6,792,343,068,853.61 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.7 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,413,220,474,647.90. We've added $6,786,343,425,734.82 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.7 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,411,178,036,656.28. We've added $6,784,300,987,743.20 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.7 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,258,824,690,537.53. We've added $6,631,947,641,624.45 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.6 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,258,482,479,004.37. We've added $6,631,605,430,091.29 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.6 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,263,040,455,036.20. We've added $6,636,163,406,123.12 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.6 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,293,019,654,983.61. We've added $6,666,142,606,070.53 to our debt in 5 years. This is over $6.6 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 357 and, in particular, section 13, which encompasses my legislation, the Infectious Disease Reporting Act.

Section 13 imposes necessary requirements on the Department of Veterans Affairs to report infectious disease outbreaks at their medical facilities. These requirements are a response to infectious disease problems at VA facilities that were uncovered by my subcommittee's investigations last year. The investigations highlighted a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires' disease at the Pittsburgh VA from February 2011 to November 2012 which tragically caused the deaths of at least five veterans and afflicted as many as 22 others.

According to medical experts, timely disease surveillance is critical to infectious disease control; and delayed, incomplete, or inconsistent disease reporting can compromise an effective public health response and result in further infectious disease outbreaks.

Although it has become clear that these deaths could have been prevented with proper procedures, the VA failed to act appropriately within widely accepted medical practices. Surprisingly, the VA is not required by current law to report the incidence of infectious diseases at their facilities to State and local public health officials.

As one of the Nation's largest health care providers, VA should set the standard for infectious disease reporting. However, they do not even participate in infectious disease reporting like all other medical facilities within a particular State, creating a public health risk to those localities with VA facilities.

In response, section 13 requires the VA to report each case of an infectious disease in accordance with the laws of the State in which the facility is located.

And failure to report will subject the VA facility to State penalties. These penalties are vital to ensure the VA will comply with and improve their reporting requirements.

Given the VA's recent inadequate responses to infectious disease outbreaks, it is imperative that Congress and our veterans demand improvements. Therefore, I urge full support of section 13 of H.R. 357, as well as the passage of the entire bill.

Mr. Speaker, on January 20, 2009, the day President Obama took office, the national debt was $10,626,877,048,913.08.

Today, it is $17,263,279,883,739.66. We've added $6,636,402,834,826.58 to our debt in 5 years. This is $6.6 trillion in debt our Nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.