Jeff Flake So Just How Broke Are We?

Washington, D.C., Dec 6 - Republican Congressman Jeff Flake, who represents Arizona’s Sixth District, today illustrated the size and scope of the growing national debt. The U.S. government has halted production of its new, technologically advanced $100 bills due to an issue with the presses that print U.S. money. A Yahoo! Blog post states that the flawed bills cost approximately $120 million to print and add up to $10 billion – more than 10-percent of our total money supply. And because the flaw cannot be repaired, the bills will now have to be burned.

If we saved the quarantined bills from fiery doom and instead put them to use in paying off our massive $13 trillion debt, the government would have to goof up approximately 1,300 more times before our debt would be paid off.

“We’ve been figuratively burning money for years, but now we’re literally burning money?” said Flake.

Along with Senator McCain, Congressman Flake introduced the Debt Buy-Down Act, which allows taxpayers to designate up to 10 percent of their federal income tax liability to reduce the national debt. The bill then requires Congress to reduce federal spending by that amount.

More information on the Debt Buy-Down Act can be found here. ###

TEXT and IMAGE CREDIT: Congressman Jeff Flake Washington, D.C. Office 240 Cannon H.O.B. Washington, D.C. 20515 (202) 225-2635 - phone (202) 226-4386 - fax