Madam Speaker, servicing the debt, $48 billion a year, affects every aspect of government. The fact that that kind of money has to go to strictly service the debt and cannot be used for social programs, cannot be used for education, cannot be used for health programs is what is wrong with this country. If we can get the debt paid down and free up some of the interest payments to it and slowly work away at it, we can free up funds to take care of the problems that we discuss in this House every day. Some of the debt is held on short term, high interest rates, so we have got to get rid of that first.
I see people in my constituency office on a daily basis who are struggling to get by, and they are struggling for one reason, the tax load is too high. There are two parents working, one working just to pay the taxes, so that they can try to make a living and try to take care of their children.
This has to be changed. We have to reduce the debt. We have to free up more funds. We have to reduce taxes so families in this country can enjoy the kind of life they deserve.