Why is the size of the deficit so important to you?

That is a very good example of the democratic deficit in my view.

We know that we've got to get control of our deficit.

I mean, they are really concerned about the size of the deficit.

"Given the size of our trade deficit, the best we can hope for in 1987 is to go from worse to bad."

And on the other side, we need to think about the impact of budget deficits.

But we do not have to clear most of the deficit in one parliament.

As a senator, I worried every day about the size of the federal deficit.

That's just under half the health care budget or about 1/2 -1/4 of the deficit.

Its recent high was in 1993, after a decade of growing deficits, when it hit 50 percent.