A penny is for more than your thoughts, it’s a solution for the nation’s debt crisis, according to U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., who joined Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fla., in speaking before a Mercatus Center panel yesterday on how to reduce government spending.

Enzi and Mack introduced the “One Percent Solution,” also known as the “Penny Plan,” which would cut a single penny from every dollar the government spends. These one percent spending cuts would balance the budget in five years. Excerpts from Enzi’s speech are below:

“In order to get people to understand why we need to make a cut at all, they need to understand the situation our country is in. You’ve got to understand how bad it is, you can’t just imagine that we can keep printing money and spending money, and doing new programs.

“We have a national debt that is approaching $16 trillion. We are in a crisis and we have to something about it.”

Click here to watch Senator Enzi’s full speech.

Click here to read Senator Enzi’s speech as prepared for delivery.

Click here to find out more about the “Penny Plan.”