Free Republic

(CNSNews.com) - At the close of business on Aug. 31--for the first time in the history of the country--the publicly held debt of the federal government topped $10 trillion, according to data released by the U.S. Treasury Department at 4:00 p.m. yesterday. During Obama's presidency, debt held by the public has now increased by $3.71694 trillion--or almost 59 percent from the $6.3073 trillion in debt held by the public that the government owed to its creditors on Jan. 20, 2009, when Obama was inaugurated.Also, according to the most recent reports available from the Treasury and the Federal Reserve, approximately $6.1...

As Congress grapples with finding enough votes to pass the compromise on raising the debt ceiling, Mitt Romney, the front-runner in most polls on the GOP presidential nomination sweepstakes, came out forcefully against the plan Monday. In a prepared statement, Romney attacked President Obama and rejected the deal, which has been the only issue in Washington for the past weeks and, along with the economy, is likely to dominate presidential politics through the 2012 election. “President Obama’s leadership failure has pushed the economy to the brink at the eleventh hour and 59th minute,” Romney stated. “While I appreciate the extraordinarily...

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) announced Monday he will oppose a deal to raise the debt limit by between $2.1 trillion and $2.4 trillion, putting pressure on House Republicans. Graham’s opposition is significant because it will make it difficult for any of the five Republicans in South Carolina’s House delegation to support the deal. “I cannot in good conscience support this deal. Simply stated, it locks us into more debt, bigger government and most devastating of all, a weakened defense infrastructure at a time when we face growing threats,” Graham said in a statement released Monday morning. “This agreement...

WASHINGTON – Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell warned on Friday that GOP senators will not vote to increase the government's borrowing limit unless President Barack Obama agrees to rein in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, laying down a high-stakes marker just weeks before the debt ceiling is reached. In an interview with The Associated Press, McConnell complained that Obama has refused his offers — both public and private — to work on a bipartisan plan to tackle the nation's massive benefit programs, which threaten to overwhelm the budget in coming years. "There will be no entitlement reform without President Obama,"...