mr. president, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mr. gregg: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed. .the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. gregg: i ask to speak in

morning business. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. gregg: mr. president, we are as a nation facing an incredibly severe fiscal situation not only in the short-term but in the long term. the debt of this country is piling up at astronomical rates. this year we will have a deficit that is close to $2 trillion -- $2 trillion, 28% of our gross domestic product. we are talking about a deficit next year of well over $1 trillion. under the budget except to us by the president and approved by this congress, not with my support or many -- i don't think any republicans supported it -- the deficit will run at $1 trillion a year for as far as the eye can see. the debt of this country will double in five years. it will triple in 10 years. deficits are running at 4% to 5% of g.d.p. not only immediately after we get passed this

recessionary period, for, again, the next 10 years. and the debt to g.d.p. ratio a test of how viable a nation is will jump 80%. those are numbers which aren't sustainable. everybody admits they're not sustainable. and, in fact, they are numbers that are so devastatingly large and so unmanageable for a nation that were we trying to get into the european union we wouldn't be allowed in. that's how irresponsible our debt is, numbers that will lead us as a nation to lose the value of our dollar, the value of our currency, and the ability of us to finance our debt. in fact, we're already seeing signs to that effect. the chinese, the leadership of the chinese financial systems have made a number of statements which are, have said that they

won't necessarily forever rely on american treasury notes and purchase our notes. they are financing us right now. the country of great britain which is considered to be the second most stable country in the world has just selfed a notice from standard & poor's that its debt may, won't necessarily be downgraded but is being taken to negative status. and a leading economist and reviewer of the bond issues of the united states has today just announced that our aaa rating, aaa-plus rating, the best in the world, is at risk, because of this massive explosion in debt. to quote senator conrad, the chairman of the budget committee, a person i greatly admire on issues of fiscal policy, the debt is the threat. and it is. it is a threat to our nation.

it's a threat to our young people because they will inherit this massive obligation. to pay for costs which are being expended today. and there's a lot of reasons why the debt is going up radically primarily, though, it's spending. it is quite simply spending. spending of the federal government guess if the traditional live of level of 20% of g.d.p. which it has been at for 40 years and that will jump under president obama's proposal up to 25% and 26% of g.d.p. in the short run, obviously, revenues are a factor because we're in a recessionary period but in the long run what is driving the deficit, what's driving this massive increase of debt which will be unsustainable, is spending. well, the congress has a chance the next couple of days to do a small part but a significant part in the way of a public statement and in the way about

statement of policy that we're concerned about the debt, we have a chance to do something. first, the first place we can do something, and this administration has a chance to do something, the first place we can do something is as of today, five banks have repaid large amounts of their tarp funds. we will get about $65 billion of tarp payments back. in other words, the pay the tarp worked was, during the crisis, which also led to a fiscal meltdown, the government stepped forward and purchased preferred stock from a variety of major banks in this country. that preferred stock paid dividends to the taxpayer and it was an asset. it was a good decision. it stabilized the financial industry, the tarp funds and kept us from going over the precipice, kept us from an economicments down of catastrophic proportions, really, saved main street.

people on main street probably don't appreciate it that much but that saved folks' home, their ability to borrow, to start a business, meet a payroll. and the idea always was that money would come back to the federal treasury. the $700 billion of tarp money that was authorized would come back after the financial situation stabilized. well, now we are seeing it coming banful the first trafnlg, $65 billion plus 4.5 billion of interest. that's pretty good, $4.5 billion in interest in less than four months, by the way. taxpayers did pretty well on this. so what are we going to do with that money? well, i suggest and the law actually states that what should be done with that money is we should pay down the debt. and that's a good way to use this money. now, the other open is the treasury can simply hold on