{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://desjarlais.house.gov/media-center?ID=6DFF0055-0CA7-4019-8615-ABD9FE36C457", "Statement by Rep. DesJarlais in Opposition of Raising the Debt Ceiling", "2012-01-17", "2012", "2012-01", "Republican", "House", "TN", "Scott DesJarlais", "D000616", "desjarlais.house.gov", "desjarlais", "https://desjarlais.house.gov/media-center", "scraper", "Our nation is over 15 trillion dollars in debt.\n\nBut what does 15 trillion dollars of debt really mean?\n\nWell, it means that every American\u2019s share of the debt is roughly 48,699 dollars. It means that our debt is more than our nation\u2019s yearly gross domestic product. It means we must borrow 40 cents for every dollar we spend. And it means that China can purchase a new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter every two days with the interest that we pay them.\n\nWhile these facts alone should cause concern, the truly frightening part is that there is no plan in place to prevent our debt from continuing to grow.\n\nIncreasing the debt limit by another 1.2 trillion dollars will mean that by the end of 2012 our national debt will be in excess of 16 trillion dollars. But worse than that, raising the debt limit sends the message to job creators that we are still not serious about making the necessary spending cuts and reforms to pay down this unsustainable debt.\n\nMy constituents have given me a clear message: make the federal government live within its means. That will require us to prioritize our spending and make tough spending decisions. But there is no other choice. It is simply impossible to continue to run yearly trillion dollar deficits \u2013 yet that is exactly what some in Washington want to continue to do.\n\nThere is absolutely no doubt that if we don\u2019t change course, this reckless spending binge will ruin our economy and bankrupt our nation. That is not fair for future generations.\n\nWe have an opportunity here today to say enough is enough. We can be the Congress that acts to put this great nation back on the right track.\n\nI urge my colleagues to join me in voting in favor of this disapproval resolution.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T21:10:31Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://desjarlais.house.gov/media-center?ID=6DFF0055-0CA7-4019-8615-ABD9FE36C457"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6688509602099657, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}