Congressman John Tanner says the federal budget the House of Representatives approved early Friday morning will increase the "debt tax" paid by future generations.

The budget plan spends borrowed money and adds on to the federal debt, which is already at $6.4 trillion, Tanner said. Currently, 18 cents of every tax dollar coming into Washington is used to pay interest on the national debt, which Tanner calls a "debt tax." The "debt tax" will increase as the government continues deficit-spending, as is projected for at least the next decade.

"Borrowing money to pay for this budget adds a long-term structural tax increase that is the biggest tax increase in our nation’s history. This ‘debt tax’ represents the interest that must be paid on the national debt," Tanner said.

As part of the budget agreed to Friday, Congress voted to increase the nation’s debt ceiling, paving the way to add more national debt. The House voted to raise the amount of allowable debt by $984 billion. Last year, the debt ceiling was raised by $450 billion. Now, within less than a year, Congress and the White House have agreed to borrowing $1.4 trillion.

"We have to reverse this trend, we and future generations will be overtaxed the rest of their lives," Tanner said. "It is immoral that we are sending our brave men and women in uniform overseas to fight a war, then bringing them home so they, their children and their grandchildren can pay off the ‘debt tax’ that accumulates on our debt."

Tanner is co-founder and leader of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 36 moderate to conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives. Tanner and the Blue Dogs offered an alternative budget plan designed to stimulate the economy without doing long-term damage to the nation’s checkbook.

"The Blue Dog plan would have provided some stimulative and immediate tax relief for all Americans to help stabilize our shaky economy but without long-term debt accumulation," Tanner said. "It would have gotten this country back on a path toward balancing its budget and reducing our debt."

The Blue Dog budget plan received 174 votes in the House and 42 votes in the Senate but did not get final approval.

Tanner represents the 8^th Congressional District of Tennessee. He serves on the House Ways and Means Committee.