Missouri Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill said on Wednesday that America’s $17 trillion debt threatens to put the nation “in a position where we’re not a first-tier nation anymore.”
McCaskill added, “I do believe a $17 trillion debt is irresponsible. I do believe that.”
McCaskill’s Kansas City comments were part of her “McCaskill on Main Street” tour. The Missouri Democrat explained that the federal government is now doing things it should not be doing because lawmakers “want to be loved.”
“We have ourselves doing things the federal government was never intended to do. I mean, we weren’t supposed to be buying municipal firetrucks at the federal government, we’re doing that now,” McCaskill said. “That’s not the way our Constitution was designed. We weren’t supposed to have the federal government paying for education. We are now doing a lot of that.”
U.S. debt has skyrocketed under President Barack Obama. In Jan. 2009, U.S. debt stood at $10.6 trillion. Today, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, America’s debt is $17.5 trillion–an increase of $6.9 trillion.
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