
Claim: In 2006, U.S. Senator Barack Obama spoke out against raising the U.S. goevrnment debt limit.
TRUE
Example: [Collected via e-mail, July 2011]
Did Obama really say this before he was president?
'The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the
Origins: In 2006, while serving his first term as a freshman U.S. senator from Illinois, Barack Obama made the remarks attributed to him above during discussion in the
The full text of his remarks in the Senate on
The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. Over the past 5 years, our federal debt has increased by Numbers that large are sometimes hard to understand. Some people may wonder why they matter. Here is why: This year, the Federal Government will spend And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on. Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America's priorities. Instead, interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans — a debt tax that Washington doesn't want to talk about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies. But we are not doing that. Despite repeated efforts by Senators Conrad and Feingold, the Senate continues to reject a return to the Our debt also matters internationally. My friend, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, likes to remind us that it took Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that "the buck stops here.'' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America's debt limit.
Mr. President, I rise today to talk about America's debt problem.
commonsense
The shortened quote now attributed to him is a verbatim capture of the opening and closing paragraphs of his remarks of
passed by a
President Obama has undergone a change of position regarding raising the debt limit. In a
I think that it's important to understand the vantage point of a senator versus the vantage point of a president. When you're a senator, traditionally what's happened is, this is always a lousy vote. Nobody likes to be tagged as having increased the debt limit — for the United States by a trillion dollars. As president, you start realizing, you know what, we, we can't play around with this stuff. This is the full faith and credit of the United States. And so that was just an example of a new senator making what is a political vote as opposed to doing what was important for the country. And I'm the first one to acknowledge it.
Last updated: 7 October 2013
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Congressional Record. "Remarks by Sen. Barack Obama." 16 March 2006. Farley, Robert. "Obama Says Reagan Raised Debt Ceiling 18 Times; George W. Bush 7 Times." St. Petersburg Times. 26 July 2011. Stephanopoulos, George. "President Obama One-on-One." Good Morning America. 15 April 2011. Werner, Erica. "WH: Obama Regrets Vote Against Raising Debt Limit." Associated Press. 11 April 2011.