Congress raises debt ceiling to $9 trillion.

Congress raised the limit on the government's credit card to $9 trillion Thursday and lawmakers immediately went on a charge-it spree.

The House approved $92 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for relief along the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast.

The Senate adopted a $2.8 trillion budget blueprint that anticipates deficits greater than $350 billion for both this year and next. The spending blueprint, approved 51-49, little resembles President Bush's proposal last month for the budget year that begins October 1.

To the disappointment of budget hawks, the Senate's measure would break Bush's proposed caps on spending for programs such as education, low-income heating subsidies and health research. All told, senators endorsed more than $16 billion in increases above Bush's proposed $873 billion cap on spending appropriated by Congress each year.

I am going to have to call my daughter and apologize for ransoming her future to pay for this government's excesses. All I can say is that I cast my vote and hoped for a smarter America. I am pretty sure that America is gaining new wisdom everyday. Unfortunately it is at the expense of our children.