Another $1.5 Trillion Added to National Debt

There was a very interesting article on bbc.co.uk on November 3, 2010 when the Republicans took over the House of Congress.   John Boehner, who was elected as Speaker of the House, was interviewed and said the following:

John Boehner, set to become the next speaker of the House of Representatives, said Americans had voted for "smaller government".

He pledged to repeal Mr Obama's healthcare reform "monstrosity", to cut spending and to create jobs.  [Oh yea, and how did that go?] 

Mr Boehner vowed to start work on the "people's priorities".

"They want the president to change course. Change course we will," he said.

John "Pinocchio" Boehner

Mr Boehner insisted that halting the president's flagship healthcare reform was a top priority.  [Let's see, how has that gone?  Well, now Catholic Church institutions have been told they must supply free contraception to their employees.  Guess "halting" healthcare reform hasn't exactly happened.]

While there will be much talk of compromise and reaching deals, many Tea Party supporters' explicit aim is to block and undo Mr Obama's agenda, our editor says. [And just what part of "Mr. Obama's agenda" has been blocked?  I haven't seen a single issue of Obama's agenda blocked.]

Now let's fast forward to the present, and today there was an article on cnsnews.com which tells us that the federal debt per household has increased since 2010 by $12,984.  Oh, those Republicans are really halting Mr. Obama's agenda, aren't they?  Here is the article:

$12,984--Increase in Debt Per Household Since First 2011 Bipartisan Spending Deal

By Terence P. Jeffrey
May 18, 2012

The White House and the congressional leaders of both parties in Congress have begun maneuvering this week over the issue of the federal debt and what to do when the government hits the latest statutory limit on that debt--$16.394 trillion—which Congress and the president agreed to when they cut a deal on the debt limit last August.

The federal debt is currently $15.709 trillion, or about $685 billion below the limit.  [Really putting the brakes on that spending, aren't you Republicans!]  

The first spending deal the White House and leaders of both parties in Congress made last year was on March 2 [with all those new Republicans who were going to halt Mr. Obama's agenda]. On that day, the president signed a continuing resolution to keep the government funded past March 4, when the previous continuing resolution, passed by a lame-duck Congress in late 2010, expired.

The March 4 CR kept the government funded for two weeks and was approved by a bipartisan 335-91 vote in the House and a bipartisan 91-9 vote in the Senate.  [Hey Republicans, I thought you were going to stop all the big spending when you got voted into office in 2010.]

Since that March 4, 2011 bipartisan continuing resolution, the federal government has been funded by a series of bipartisan deals cut between the White House and congressional leaders.  [Speaker Boehner, what happened to to your promise to cut spending?]

In the meanwhile, under these bipartisan spending deals, according to official figures published by the U.S. Treasury, the federal debt has climbed from $14,182,627,184,881.03 to $15,708,753,671,767.64.

That is an increase of $1,526,126,486,886.61. [Kinda hard to even read a number that big]

Given that the Census Bureau estimates there are about 117,538,000 households in the United States, the per household increase in the federal debt since Congress enacted its March 4, 2011 bipartisan spending deal has been approximately $12,984.

So there you have it, folks.  Really big difference between the two parties, right?  We can sure count on those Republicans to stand up to the big bad, high-spending Democrats, can't we?