Statement on the Budget Surplus and Debt Reduction

The American economy and our strategy of fiscal discipline continue to break records. Today the Department of the Treasury is announcing that in April the United States had the largest monthly budget surplus ever. In the first 7 months of this year, the surplus stands at a record $124 billion, matching the surplus for all of last year. This dramatic news is yet more evidence that our strategy of fiscal discipline, investing in people, and opening markets abroad is working.

These unprecedented surpluses call for new tools to manage our finances in the best interest of the American economy. Today the Department of the Treasury is once again buying back some of our Nation's debt. In total, we are on track to pay off a record $355 billion of debt over 3 years.

It is essential that we stay on the fiscal course that has brought us the longest economic expansion in history. Risky tax cuts that threaten this prosperity are the wrong approach. We should invest in our future by strengthening Social Security and Medicare, making investments in key priorities like education, and paying off the entire debt by 2013, making America debt-free for the first time since Andrew Jackson was President.