Democrats whine, as Senate votes to open brave new frontiers of debt
Thursday, November 18, 2004
It seemed a natural thing to borrow some more money. The US government was paying the federal payroll though dipping into Civil Service retirement accounts. America is fighting a war and just coming out of a recession and there is no end in sight to the huge budget deficits that the Bush Administration needs to make America safe. But Senate Democrats, still stinging from their Nov. 2nd loss, just didn’t want to let this one go.
who doesn’t love that “Blank Check” movie
"I don't remember anyone during the elections making a promise to raise the federal debt to $8.1 trillion," Senator Kent Conrad (D- ND) said. "What we're doing here is just writing another blank check and saying to this administration, 'Go ahead, continue to run record budget deficits.' " But who doesn’t love that “Blank Check” movie with that cute kid from “Family Ties”?
Also, on the floor for the first time since campaigning is Sen. John Kerry (D-MA). Kerry seemed to want to remind the Senate just how boring he could be. "To pay our bills, America now goes cup in hand to nations like China, Korea, Taiwan and Caribbean banking centers," Mr. Kerry said. "Those issues didn't go away on Nov. 3, no matter what the results." And Kerry merely won the vote, as over 60 percent of the Republican senators fell asleep during Kerry’s oration. But the day was saved, by wily Orrin Hatch, who keeps a loaded pistol on his person at all times. Hatch fired 3 times into the air and once into Senator Richard C. Shelby (R-AL). Sen. Shelby’s condition has been upgraded to stable.
Sen. Miller went on to say that $8 trillion was not that much money
An impassioned cry for the raising of the debt came from Sen. Zell Miller (D-GA). Miller pointed out that the current national debt would only cost every man, woman and child one dollar a day, the price of a good cup of coffee, for the next 74 years. Sen. Miller went on to say that $8 trillion was not that much money in the grand scheme of things, and the he himself had recently taken out a 3 trillion dollar mortgage on his house, and thought he would have no trouble at all paying the $15 billion a month payments for the next 60 years. He did express some dissatisfaction about the additional $8 trillion he would have to pay in interest during that time. Despite Miller’s efforts, Congress voted down almost straight party lines. The Bill finally passed the Senate 52-to-44.
