They Voted for You: Debt

U.S. Sens. Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, both D-W.Va., voted for a measure "increasing the statutory limit on the public debt."

The resolution allows "the government to go a whopping $1.9 trillion deeper in debt," The Associated Press reports, "offering a vivid election-year reminder that the government has to borrow 40 cents of every dollar it spends."

AP reports that "The measure would put the government on track for a national debt of $14.3 trillion - more than $45,000 for every man, woman and child in the United States. And the debt is increasingly held by foreign nations such as China. The budget for the current year is about $3.5 trillion and the deficit will probably match last year's $1.4 trillion. The government would have to borrow to cover that $1.4 trillion."