Orrin Hatch

The following originally appeared as an op-ed in the Ogden Standard-Examiner. -Team Hatch

We find ourselves in perilous times. We face the great challenge of spiraling federal debt that threatens the soundness of our currency, the security of economic recovery and the aspirations of the next generation. Federal spending is taking the largest share of national income since the early 1950s and the deficit is as large as it has been since World War II.

The future is just as bleak. Left to its devices, the Obama administration would implement a budget plan that is dangerous.

Ten years from now -- long after the economy is assumed to have recovered and long after the financial crisis is presumably a memory -- this president will have left a sorry legacy. The national debt will triple. In 2019, the federal deficit will be over $1 trillion and the total national debt over $20 trillion. And most of that borrowing will be needed just to pay interest on previous debt.

This is a recipe for toxic economic stagnation, or worse, a currency crisis, spike in interest rates, damaging inflation and a sharp recession. In either event, we will betray the fundamental tenet that has guided us throughout our history and will bequeath to the next generations an economy weaker than the one we inherited.

Leadership demands that we tear up the credit card that has enabled a spendthrift administration and its Democrat allies in Congress.

I find it disheartening to learn that the Democrat leadership plans to hide an increase in the federal debt limit -- the official permission to pass our bills to our children -- within a bill needed to fund our troops.

That's not real leadership.

Why would they do such a thing? This will be the 21st permanent increase since 1980. Isn't it time to say enough is enough? If a debt limit passes this year, it will have been less than a year since the previous increase -- well below the average break between borrowing binges.

As early as last week, the Democrats planned to try to sneak in an increase of $1.8 trillion, more than twice the largest previous increase in the credit limit. Why? Democrats hoped that extending their spending limit will allow them to continue their ways past the 2010 elections without the embarrassment of another vote that reveals what they are up to: spending money they don't have, burdening the economy with big government and big debt, and attempting to hijack free enterprise, limited government, personal responsibility and other traditional values.

The good news is that Democrats appear embarrassed, being caught in this act, and have scaled back their plans. But that just kicks the can down the road. They still plan another increase at another moment of greater political convenience.

I believe that it is time to say no to a record expansion of debt, and I want the opportunity to put this to an honest up-or-down vote. I fear that Democrats are unwilling to clearly state their objectives and will instead choose to lead by parliamentary gimmickry and deception.

I believe that Americans can remain true to its promise of a better tomorrow than the yesterdays we inherited. I believe that hard work can continue to be the route to fulfilling dreams of education, homes, and other advancement. I believe that the federal government should be in the business of adopting policies that encourage entrepreneurs and other ladders to advancement.

I do not believe we can meet these goals when being dragged down by federal debt. It is time for real leadership to plot a better course for our future.