[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 13 (Wednesday, January 31, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H983-H984]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE LOOMING DEFAULT CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is good that we are here 
this morning in vigorous debate, and hearing my colleague, the 
gentleman from Michigan, who serves as the chair of a 130-person panel 
from the Republican Conference, it is interesting that he would say 
that we on this side of the aisle are frivolously representing to the 
American people that this is not a crisis.
  I beg to differ with my colleague, and I respect him, Mr. Speaker, 
but we have strong differences by the very fact that he made a 
statement that said that if this was to delay tax refund payments, to 
not allow tax refund payments into the spring or next year, it did not 
matter to him. So we do have a decided difference about the reality of 
what is going on today.
  I would simply like to draw the American people to not a frivolous 
discussion that my colleagues have been raising here, but one that is 
very serious. As I understand, it has been commented on by Wall Street 
representatives, commented on by individuals outside of the Beltway who 
truly will feel the impact.
  Let me call upon some of their names, Mr. Speaker. Those who live on 
the margin and receive their Social Security payments, by a default of 
this Government, they will not receive it. It sounds like I have said 
this before, but it is the seriousness of this issue. Veterans will not 
get their money retirees, and our existing military personnel in Bosnia 
will not get their money. We will be seeing some $965 million of 
payments to veterans that have been diminished by all of this.

                              {time}  1200

  We know this, as I see my colleague from New York had the opportunity 
to chair a Democratic Committee on Banking and Financial Services 
hearing yesterday. He called upon the Republican chair to have a 
hearing to get the facts on what a default would cause and what would 
happen.
  Unfortunately, they did not join in this hearing. I think some letter 
came to Mr. Schumer that said, we will do it next week. That puts us 
some 10 days away from default.
  Mr. Schumer, I would like to yield to you, if I might, just to 
provide us with some insight on that hearing.
  Mr. SCHUMER. I think the gentlewoman for yielding to me.
  It was a great hearing. One point that came up time and time again, 
and the gentleman from Michigan is misstating and misleading on this 
issue, it is true that clean debt ceilings have not come before us. It 
is also true that when there was a division, both sides agreed what 
should be done with the debt ceiling.
  Not once, not once, I say to the gentleman from Michigan, as when 
Bush was President and the Democrats had Congress, or Reagan, 
President, and the Democrats had Congress, did one side say, unless you 
are doing it our way, we are not going to approve the 

[[Page H984]]
debt ceiling. Not once. The bottom line is, these are bully-boy tactics 
which were never used before.
  Yes, there has been agreement with the debt ceiling put on ABDC, but 
it was bipartisan, et cetera. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding, 
because that is a grave misstatement of the facts.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I think your point is very well taken. I 
think it is important, as Mr. Schumer indicated, that any time that we 
have not had the passing of a clean debt ceiling or lifting of such, it 
has been bipartisan; but more importantly, let me state that all of the 
economists will confirm, we have never, never, never defaulted on 
payments that the American people must make and that this Nation must 
make on their behalf.
  We must understand, this Nation must understand, that the 
creditworthiness of this country is based upon its ability to pay its 
debt. The alternative: Sell all our gold. The other alternative: Do not 
pay any tax refunds.
  The President of the United States will not stand
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is good that we are here 
this morning in vigorous debate, and hearing my colleague, the 
gentleman from Michigan, who serves as the chair of a 130-person panel 
from the Republican Conference, it is interesting that he would say 
that we on this side of the aisle are frivolously representing to the 
American people that this is not a crisis. on those alternatives. That 
is a crisis.

  Has any other Western civilization nation or any other nation 
defaulted? Yes, four of them in the past 100 years, and they have not 
done so since 1970. Places like Argentina, Stalinist Russia. Is that 
the kind of company we want to keep to ensure that we have a nation 
that can be respected internationally and have the economy stable?
  Do we want to default? Do we understand that the Republican majority 
is saying to us, we are going to leave tomorrow, not come back, and 
take us to the brink of March 1, when we have not passed a clean debt 
ceiling in order to prevent default. That is the crisis which we face; 
and my colleague from Michigan, who, as I said, I respect, is clearly 
on the wrong road if he thinks he can bring the American people to the 
brink of default and we not constantly get on the floor of the House 
and explain it.
  We will not leave here tomorrow, and I will offer a resolution that 
we not have a recess so that we can continue this, and that we not go 
home while we are without the responsibility or the action of making 
sure that we can pay on our responsibilities and our debt on March 1.

                          ____________________