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 $17,151,627,467,959.50. We've added $6,524,750,419,046.42 to our debt in 4 years. This is $6.5 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 $17,081,509,219,228.50. We've added $6,454,632,170,315.42 to our debt in 4 years. This is $6.4 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 $17,081,509,219,288.50. We've added $6,454,632,170,375.42 to our debt in 4 years. This is $6.4 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 $17,087,891,889,205.15. We've added $6,461,014,840,292.07 to our debt in 4 years. This is $5 trillion in debt our nation, our economy, and our children could have avoided with a balanced budget amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman Miller and Ranking Member Michaud for their leadership on the committee and their commitment to maintaining strong oversight over the VA and their goal to reduce the backlog.

During my time on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, I have enjoyed the strong bipartisanship and the committee's dedication to get results for our veterans. Whether it is between Ranking Member Kirkpatrick and me on the Oversight Committee or Chairman Miller and Ranking Member Michaud on the full committee, we all share the same desire to help our veterans and do everything we can to help the VA operate more efficiently and effectively.

Fortunately for our veterans, this desire to help goes beyond the Veterans' Affairs Committee and is present in the entire House of Representatives. Earlier this year, I, along with 150 Members of the House, sent a letter to the President urging his immediate action to reduce this backlog.

Today, the House will have another opportunity to show its unity for veterans in passing H.R. 2189. This bill will aid the VA by establishing a task force to evaluate the backlog of veterans' disability claims, ensuring the VA will find innovative ways to reduce the backlog.

Currently, there are over 400,000 claims that have been waiting for over 125 days to process.

Although the VA has made some progress recently, the pace is still too slow for many of our veterans waiting for their claims to be processed.

As a Marine Corps combat veteran, I am proud to join my colleagues on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee to urge the passage of H.R. 2189. There are nearly 400,000 veterans in Colorado, and these men and women need Washington to step up and help the VA to reduce the backlog.

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 $17,078,769,687,926.64. We've added $6,451,892,639,013.54 to our debt in 4 years. This is $6.4 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 $17,075,230,597,788.39. We've added $6,448,353,548,875.31 to our debt in 4 years. This is $6.4 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 $16,747,370,534,090.62. We've added $6,120,493,485,177.54 to our debt in 4 years. This is $6.1 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 $16,747,411,584,091.53. We've added $6,120,534,535,178.45 to our debt in 4 years. This is $6.1 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 $16,747,421,858,503.24. We've added $6,120,544,809,590.16 to our debt in 4 years. This is $6.1 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 $16,747,409,787,772.33. We've added $6,120,532,738,859.25 to our debt in 4 years. This is $6.1 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 $16,747,419,536,935.48. We've added $6,120,542,488,022.40 to our debt in 4 years. This is $6.1 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 $16,747,429,285,635.12. We've added $6,120,552,236,722.04 to our debt in 4 years. This is $6.1 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 $16,747,458,528,953.05. We've added $6,120,581,480,039.97 to our debt in 4 years. This is $6.1 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. 3223, the Federal Employees Retroactive Pay Fairness Act.

This is an issue of fairness. Five days ago, the President signed my legislation, the Pay Our Military Act. However, hours later, the DOD comptroller sent an email to all DOD civilian employees who were included in the act, which is now law, that there would be furloughs starting immediately despite acknowledgment of the new law.

Last night, media sources reported that the Secretary of Defense had a change of heart--no doubt due to the multitude of letters he had received from me and my colleagues on this subject--and decided to bring these furloughed employees back to work.

Mr. Speaker, it would be a shame if the thousands of DOD civilian employees who were needlessly furloughed were not paid for time they could have spent working had the Secretary given the same level of priority to this issue that he did to college football.