Record $14 trillion-plus debt weighs on Congress

Here's what then-Sen. Barack Obama said on the Senate floor in 2006: "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance the government's reckless fiscal policies."

2006 was before the recession we are in now. Then was not a time to employ expansionary policies, but now is. That quote is as relevant to today as one from '95.