[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 26, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H2845]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE 78TH INCREASE IN NATIONAL DEBT CEILING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Smith] is recognized during 
morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, day after tomorrow, on Thursday, 
this Congress is expected to pass its 78th increase in the debt ceiling 
of this country. Seventy-seven times, so far, we have increased the 
debt ceiling since the 1940's. We are now at $4.9 trillion of debt. A 
lot of people in this country, Mr. Speaker, do not really think that 
they are responsible for this excessive debt. What has happened in the 
last 40 years is Congress has lost control of spending.
  Under section 1 of the Constitution, Congress is responsible for the 
purse strings. Congress is also responsible for how deep this country 
goes in debt. We have not only lost control of spending, but we have 
also lost control of how deep we go in debt, because in the last 7 
months we have seen Secretary Rubin and the President of the United 
States find a new way to drive us deeper in debt without the consent of 
Congress. That way, of course, was raiding the trust funds that we have 
in this country.

  Day after tomorrow, we are considering tying yet another diminishing 
of congressional power and tying that to the debt ceiling increase. 
That is the Presidential line-item veto, and I just want to mention 
that before I talk about this chart, the Presidential line-item veto.
  I served under three Governors in the State of Michigan. In Michigan 
we have a line-item veto. In every case with every Governor, they 
traded what they wanted because they had the power of vetoing out what 
the legislature wanted in particular spending. You know, 
philosophically, when you have got a liberal Congress and a 
conservative President, then a line item veto might make sense in terms 
of trying to reduce spending. But actually what is going to happen with 
a conservative Congress that is trying to get to a balanced budget and 
reduce spending and a President that has found it to his political 
advantage to continue helping people with taxpayers' money; in other 
words, not reducing spending, not achieving a balanced budget; is that 
we end up spending more. We end up giving additional congressional 
authority away to the President.
  Let me note, Mr. Speaker, this pie chart that represents the roughly 
$1.6 trillion expenditure of the Federal Government. If we start with 
the red triangle on this pie chart that represents about 18 percent of 
total Federal spending, that represents the 12 appropriation bills 
where Congress has control of the spending. In other words, if there is 
no bill passed by Congress, or if it is not signed by the President, 
then that reduced spending or no spending is what is going to happen.
  Where the President has power is in the blue part of this pie chart 
that represents the welfare program spending and the other entitlement 
spending of this country. That represents now 50 percent of total 
Federal Government spending. So that there were some of us that thought 
it was reasonable to tie changes in the entitlement spending that is 
going to help us achieve a balanced budget, to tie that to yet another 
increase in the debt ceiling.
  That now is not the plan in the bill that is going to be put before 
this body day after tomorrow, and I would suggest to you, Mr. Speaker, 
and through you to the American people, that we cannot balance the 
budget just by reducing the expenditures in the 12 appropriation bills 
where Congress now has full control. It just cannot be done.
  I have studied this over the past several years. You cannot reduce 
that expenditure below about $200 billion this next year. It cannot 
possibly be done and still have a viable operation and system within 
this country.
  That means that, if we are going to balance the budget, we have got 
to move into the welfare changes in the welfare program and entitlement 
programs. They are called entitlement programs, Mr. Speaker, because if 
you are at a certain level of poverty, you are eligible for food 
stamps. If you are a certain level of income and you have children, you 
are eligible for AFDC. If you are a certain age, you are entitled to 
other taxpayer helps in paying your medical costs. There is no money 
appropriated. It is in the law.
  The only way that a majority in Congress can change that law is the 
consent of the President. I would ask my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, to 
study the proposal that we are being asked to pass day after tomorrow 
very carefully. It continues to move us in a direction where we are not 
going to be able to balance the budget.

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