Debt Has Increased $5 Trillion Since Speaker Pelosi Vowed, ‘No New Deficit Spending’

[JohnSmith2007 353]

To be fair, when Pelosi is no longer the Speaker then the rep that takes her place will be responsible for all spending. Before 2007 the debt was the fault of the reps. I don't give a damn if there is an R or a D after the name, both sides have screwed us. We are in a huge mess and I blame the government fully for it. Our system is broken and I don't see anyone fixing it.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Easy, all of it.

I take that as confirmation that you can't name any.

[JohnSmith2007 353]

I take that as confirmation that you can't name any.

I take it that you don't understand that Congress spends the money.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Listen to your clip. She does not say "A trillion here and there and then we are talking about real money."

She simply does not say that. You did not laugh when she said it because she never said it.

Never said that she said that.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Pelosi and Reid are responsible for all spending since they took control. Not a single dime can be spent without congress approval. How hard to understand is that?

And yet, that's not the issue. The issue is the subtle suggestion that is being made that the 5 trillion in additional debt is due to new deficit spending - i.e. new unfunded expenditures. Which ones can you name and how do those add up to 5 trillion over the past 4 years?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I take it that you don't understand that Congress spends the money.

You don't seem to understand the issue is whether new deficit spending has led to the additional debt. Not stuff that was already on the books but new unfunded expenditures. Name them.

[JohnSmith2007 353]

And yet, that's not the issue. The issue is the subtle suggestion that is being made that the 5 trillion in additional debt is due to new deficit spending - i.e. new unfunded expenditures. Which ones can you name and how do those add up to 5 trillion over the past 4 years?

There is 5 trillion of new debt, do you deny that? If you don't deny it then you must agree that Pelosi and Reid are the ones that did it.

[JohnSmith2007 353]

At the close of business on Jan. 4, 2007, Pelosi’s first day as speaker, the national debt was $8,670,596,242,973.04 (8.67 trillion), according to theBureau of the Public Debt, a division of the U.S. Treasury Department. At the close of business on Oct. 22, it stood at $13,667,983,325,978.31 (13.67 trillion), an increase of 4,997,387,083,005.27 (or approximately $5 trillion).

Pelosi, the 60th speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, has added more to the national debt than the first 57 House speakers combined.

The $4.997-trillion increase in the national debt since she took the gavel is more debt than the federal government amassed from the speakership of Rep. Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania, who became the first speaker of the House on April 1, 1789, to the start of the speakership of Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia, the 58th speaker, who took up the gavel on Jan. 4, 1995.

The national debt first topped $5 trillion on Feb. 23, 1996, more than a year into Gingrich’s speakership.

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/10/25/video-pelosi-promises-no-new-deficit-spending-in-2007/

If you doubt the numbers go here and plug in Jan 2007 as the begining date and todays date as the ending date. Every singl penny of that new debt is on Pelosi and Reid. No other explination is needed.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

There is 5 trillion of new debt, do you deny that? If you don't deny it then you must agree that Pelosi and Reid are the ones that did it.

I don't deny that there's additional debt of considerable magnitude. At the same time, you can't lay the blame for unfunded expenditures or for revenue reductions w/o spending reduction offsets passed by another Congress on the feet of the current Congress.

Until anyone here can name the new deficit spending (aside from the Stimulus and TARP which necessarily are deficit programs - at least in the short run) that has occured while Pelosi held the Speakership, it would appear that the Speaker has kept the promise she made.

[JohnSmith2007 353]

I don't deny that there's additional debt of considerable magnitude. At the same time, you can't lay the blame for unfunded expenditures or for revenue reductions w/o spending reduction offsets passed by another Congress on the feet of the current Congress.

Until anyone here can name the new deficit spending (aside from the Stimulus and TARP which necessarily are deficit programs - at least in the short run) that has occured while Pelosi held the Speakership, it would appear that the Speaker has kept the promise she made.

Wrong. Every single penny spent is on her. She has the ability to cut off any program. If she allows it to continue or increase then it is her fault. Why do you give her a pass? Do you only want to blame others for the dems failures?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/10/25/video-pelosi-promises-no-new-deficit-spending-in-2007/

If you doubt the numbers go here and plug in Jan 2007 as the begining date and todays date as the ending date. Every singl penny of that new debt is on Pelosi and Reid. No other explination is needed.

Look up Medicare Part D (unfunded), EGTRRA and JGTRRA as well as the cost of two wars for which no funding was ever even proposed. Then you'll understand why the budget trajectory changed from being rather encouraging towards the end of the 1990's to being disastrous by the middle of the first decade of the 21st century.

That is the type of new deficit spending that the Speaker vowed not to undertake. And it would appear that she's kept that promise; stimulus measures to address the largest financial and economic meltdown since the Great Depression notwithstanding.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

She has the ability to cut off any program. If she allows it to continue or increase then it is her fault.

Fair enough. But not cutting off any program is not not the same as new deficit spending. Besides, the only way to cut enough to eliminate the deficit is by attacking Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and the DoD. Or by raising taxes in the range of 1 trillion dollars anually. Any of these scenarios would tank this nation. But we could then thank the Speaker for restoring fiscal sanity to the country we used to live in.

[JohnSmith2007 353]

Look up Medicare Part D (unfunded), EGTRRA and JGTRRA as well as the cost of two wars for which no funding was ever even proposed. Then you'll understand why the budget trajectory changed from being rather encouraging towards the end of the 1990's to being disastrous by the middle of the first decade of the 21st century.

That is the type of new deficit spending that the Speaker vowed not to undertake. And it would appear that she's kept that promise; stimulus measures to address the largest financial and economic meltdown since the Great Depression notwithstanding.

If you want to give her a pass then that is your right. Vote for the same people that put us in this mess. Thank God that it looks like the majority of the country does not see it your way and will remove her next week. The fact remains that we have 5 trillion dollars in new debt under her command. If you think that is keeping a promise then I can't argue with you, you are beyond any rational reasoning.

Fair enough. But not cutting off any program is not not the same as new deficit spending. Besides, the only way to cut enough to eliminate the deficit is by attacking Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and the DoD. Or by raising taxes in the range of 1 trillion dollars anually. Any of these scenarios would tank this nation. But we could then thank the Speaker for restoring fiscal sanity to the country we used to live in.

So allowing the deficit to raise by 5 trillion is saving the country?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Vote for the same people that put us in this mess.

I have no intentions of voting for the GOP.

[mawilson 2,133]

Fair enough. But not cutting off any program is not not the same as new deficit spending. Besides, the only way to cut enough to eliminate the deficit is by attacking Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and the DoD. Or by raising taxes in the range of 1 trillion dollars anually. Any of these scenarios would tank this nation. But we could then thank the Speaker for restoring fiscal sanity to the country we used to live in.

A 20% cut to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the DoD should do the trick.