It seems that $8 trillion is enough to make a dog howl a blue streak.

The Blue Dog Democrats — a small but vocal coalition of fiscally conservative Democrats — are howling long and hard at the news that by 9 a.m. Friday, the federal budget deficit had reached a record $8 trillion.

And now they are calling out Republicans and Democrats alike for a dog fight, of sorts, aimed at getting the nation's financial house in order.

"The Republicans have a lot to answer for, not just Republicans in Congress but in the administration, too," said Rep. Jim Matheson, the lone Democrat in the Utah delegation and a leader of the Blue Dogs.

"In 2001, we were at the tail end of a fiscal policy that put this country in a surplus," he added. "And now there has to be accountability for a $9 trillion debt."

The deficit now means that every man, woman and child in America owes the equivalent of $27,000.

What concerns Matheson and the other Blue Dogs is that there is simply no appetite in Congress, either among Republicans or Democrats, to changing their spending ways. Matheson calls it a "credit card Congress," one where no one seems concerned about paying the bill.

Granted, the nation has faced some unexpected costs: the continuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the rebuilding costs associated with hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

But when a typical family faces unexpected financial setbacks, it usually changes its spending patterns, either increasing the income by working extra jobs or cutting expenses or both, Matheson said. But Congress has shirked its responsibility in that it has continued to spend and spend lavishly on projects "that deserve to be questioned."

That blame falls more to Republicans, who control both houses of Congress and the White House, the Blue Dogs say. But the Blue Dogs say Democrats have to shoulder some blame, too.

And all sides must come together.

"Everything has to be put on the table, all of it on the tax side and all of it on the spending side," Matheson said. "It has to happen. We are in a very precarious position."

The Blue Dogs reissued their call to the president to convene an emergency bipartisan budget summit and the immediate passage of serious budget reform. Earlier this year, the coalition offered a "12-step plan" to cure the nation's addiction to deficit spending that required, among other things, that all federal agencies pass clean audits, a balanced budget and the setting aside of a rainy day fund to be used in the event of a natural disaster.

Most state governments, including Utah, already operate under those contingencies.