Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon voted against legislation today to raise the debt ceiling on national debt to $14,294,000,000,000, an increase of $1.9 trillion dollars.  The Democrats’ measure passed 217-212.

“Just last week, Democrats were touting ‘fiscal responsibility’ and told America they had seen the error of their spending ways, but today passed an outrageous $1.9 trillion dollar debt limit increase, showing their willingness to allow America’s debt to reach over $14 trillion dollars.  For a visual, 14 trillion includes twelve zeros.

“This debt limit increase comes on the heels of the President’s $3.8 trillion budget  proposal for fiscal year 2011 and a debt limit increase of $290 billion passed by Democrats less than eight weeks ago. This is unsustainable spending.  We cannot borrow, tax, and spend our way to prosperity.  These are flawed policies that are driving our country further and further into debt.  This new debt limit increase is equal to American debt ‘ownership’ of $46,319 per person or $121,982 per household.

“What America needs is to start paying down the debt to restore confidence from banks and consumers, rather than continually destroying the value of the dollar.  We need pro-growth policies that create jobs and get the economy moving, not a trillion dollar government takeover of health care, job-killing taxes, or debt limit increases larger than the entire GDP of India, Mexico, Australia, and South Korea.”