They Voted for You: Debt

U.S. Reps. Alan Mollohan, D-1st, and Nick Rahall, D-3rd, voted to increase the statutory limit on the public debt by $1.9 trillion.

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-2nd, opposed the measure, which prevailed 217-212.

"The huge debt increase," The Associated Press reports, "is only enough to keep the government afloat for about another year as it borrows more than 40 cents of every dollar it spends on programs like defense, health care, feeding the poor and protecting the environment. The budget tops $3.7 trillion this year and the deficit's approaching $1.6 trillion under the budget submitted by President Barack Obama this week."

The article also said that "already, the accumulated debt amounts to roughly $40,000 per person," and that the vote increases the cap on federal borrowing to $14.3 trillion.

Thirty-seven Democrats, mostly from GOP-leaning districts, voted against the measure," the article said. "So did every Republican, even though they routinely supported prior increases in the borrowing cap when their party controlled Congress or when Republican George W. Bush was president."