Republicans in Congress are hashing out a new tax cut and spending bill that's projected

to add trillions to the national debt. We'll get to some of those specifics in just a moment.

But first, let's take a step back and explain a bit more about our already ballooning national

debt, how we got here and what it means for our economy and future generations. Here's

economics correspondent Paul Solman.

When we were there the other day,

the debt clock that's been in Manhattan since 1989

said our country owed $35 trillion,

$903,414 billion.

The number is the total of every dollar

the U.S. government has borrowed to cover

the difference between what it spends and the revenue it collects. That collective debt has

long fueled anxiety about how it will burden future generations. Take this ad, which appeared

on TV a few years before the clock went up, time so long ago

that it's barely video-worthy.

You owe the United States government in round numbers $50,000.

The estimated projection for a baby born today, four times as much.

Scary.

The size and the sort of trajectory of our fiscal

path is making a lot of people understandably nervous. To cover the gap between what the government

spends and what it collects, we sell IOUs, call them bonds. About a fifth of our debt is held by different parts

of the government itself, while the rest is held by the public, which includes foreign governments,

...