[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 134 (Tuesday, October 9, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H6440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF THE SEPTEMBER 11 CATASTROPHE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Schrock). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. SHERMAN. Mr. Speaker, let me begin with a commentary on the 
comments from the gentlewoman from Georgia, who quoted French sources 
as criticizing as inadequate our relief supplies to the people of 
Afghanistan.
  I agree we should do as much as we can to feed the people of 
Afghanistan and to get that food to them. And I admire the courage of 
American pilots who are doing just that, but let us put this into 
context.
  During World War I and World War II, the French did very little to 
deliver food to the Germans. In fact, it really was not part of our 
strategy during World War II to drop food onto German cities; and in 
fact, the French, aspiring for their own freedom, cheered as we bombed 
Dresden, not with food but with bombs.
  America has reached a new level of humaneness in its decision that 
not only does it wage war against a government, the Taliban, but it 
also wages food aid to the civilians under the control of that 
government. And I think that we should first give America credit for 
reaching this new plateau in humaneness before we criticize the fact 
that we are not doing enough, and I am sure that we will do more.
  I rise chiefly to deal with the economic effects of the September 11 
catastrophe. I urge that what we do be temporary, be fast, and be 
consistent with our Nation's long-term budgetary and fiscal needs. Keep 
in mind, that on September 10, before this disaster, we faced a tough 
budgetary situation, that next decade the baby boomers will be retiring 
and Social Security will have to pay out benefits, and in order to do 
that, we cannot abandon our long-term efforts of fiscal responsibility 
to deal with the short-term economic downturn.
  We need to adopt fixes to stimulate the economy that are fast, like 
providing $300 or $600 of tax relief to those Americans of the most 
modest means who did not get any tax relief out of the bill we passed 
earlier this year. Why? Because those Americans will spend that money. 
They will buy things.
  In contrast, we should not provide a capital gains cut because that 
is a cut not for people who buy stock but for people who sell it. At 
this point, a capital gains tax cut could only be called the ``Panic-
Selling Facilitation Act'' in that it provides tax relief not to those 
who can keep their investments in America but those who dump their 
stocks.
  It is important that our relief be temporary so that we can 
demonstrate to investors around the world that we will return to fiscal 
responsibility and pay off the national debt at least by 2015 or 2016. 
Doing that is not only critical for being able to meet Social 
Security's commitments to the baby boomer generation, but also to bring 
long-term interest rates down because no one will lend money for 10- 
and 20- and 30-year terms.
  Investors will not provide mortgages and long-term financing unless 
they are certain that long term the dollar will be valuable and will be 
stable because the Federal Government will return to the effort to pay 
down the national debt.
  Our departure from fiscal responsibility must be temporary. If we 
institute permanent changes, we will be in trouble.
  I might also add that, in building infrastructure, we should build 
the infrastructure that we need to provide for homeland security. We 
need to build security structures near our reservoirs and nuclear 
plants, and that is where we should focus our infrastructure building, 
as much as I would like to see us focus on the other needs of the 
country, the needs that existed before this event such as dealing with 
congestion on freeways in Los Angeles, the most congested city in our 
country.
  We ought to be careful, Mr. Speaker, in adopting the fiscal policies 
that will guide this country through this difficult period. If we adopt 
major changes in our spending and taxation and get out of town by the 
end of October we will not have been careful. We will have simply 
rushed something through. We cannot get it done in October, and we 
cannot wait till February.
  And so we in Congress ought to be willing to be here through the 
month of November to do what this country needs but to do it carefully.

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