Our nation is over 15 trillion dollars in debt.

But what does 15 trillion dollars of debt really mean?

Well, it means that every American’s share of the debt is roughly 48,699 dollars. It means that our debt is more than our nation’s yearly gross domestic product. It means we must borrow 40 cents for every dollar we spend. And it means that China can purchase a new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter every two days with the interest that we pay them.

While these facts alone should cause concern, the truly frightening part is that there is no plan in place to prevent our debt from continuing to grow.

Increasing the debt limit by another 1.2 trillion dollars will mean that by the end of 2012 our national debt will be in excess of 16 trillion dollars. But worse than that, raising the debt limit sends the message to job creators that we are still not serious about making the necessary spending cuts and reforms to pay down this unsustainable debt.

My constituents have given me a clear message: make the federal government live within its means. That will require us to prioritize our spending and make tough spending decisions. But there is no other choice. It is simply impossible to continue to run yearly trillion dollar deficits – yet that is exactly what some in Washington want to continue to do. 

There is absolutely no doubt that if we don’t change course, this reckless spending binge will ruin our economy and bankrupt our nation. That is not fair for future generations.

We have an opportunity here today to say enough is enough. We can be the Congress that acts to put this great nation back on the right track.

I urge my colleagues to join me in voting in favor of this disapproval resolution.