[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 81 (Tuesday, June 18, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H3608]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  HOW BIG SHOULD FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 23, 2002, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Smith) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, passing on to my colleagues and 
the American people a predicament that Congress is now facing related 
to spending. How big should the Federal Government be, how much should 
we tax the American citizens in order to accommodate what we think is 
important and necessary spending now. And one of the problems with the 
overzealousness of Members of Congress to spend is that we either 
increase taxes to accommodate that spending or we increase borrowing.
  Right now, the debt of the Federal Government is a little over $6 
trillion. We have a law, though, that says that we cannot have a debt 
that is greater than what is approved by law, passed by the House and 
the Senate and signed by the President; and that debt limit now is 
$5.95 trillion. Yet the Federal debt actually is now $6.019 trillion.
  How does that happen? We are playing political games. There is a 
loophole that the last administration and this administration claim 
exists in current law to use surplus civil service retirement funds and 
pretend that is not borrowing subject to the debt limit. They use those 
extra dollars coming in from the deductions of Federal employees to 
increase Federal Government spending.
  The ultimate problem still is how much should we spend. When I first 
ran for Congress in 1992, the percentage of gross domestic product, 
spent for the Federal budget was just a little bit over 22.2 percent, 
of GDP. Five years later it was 19.6 percent of GDP. Last year we got 
it down to about 18.4 percent of GDP. Increased predicted spending for 
this year is now starting to go up again at 19.9 percent of what we 
produce in this country.
  So the question is how much do we borrow that requires interest and 
leaves an obligation for future generations? How much do we tax that 
takes away from workers. We have got a government, we have a 
Constitution, we have a free enterprise system that motivates. Those 
that work hard, that try, that learn, that save, that invest, end up 
better than those that do not. And what we have been tending to do for 
the last 40 years is increase taxes for those who succeed and 
redistribute wealth. So we tax at a higher rate everybody that is 
willing to take a second job or earn and save and invest, and, we now 
tax them when they die.
  How much do we tax before we start to take away that incentive to 
save, to work harder, to invest?

                              {time}  1100

  We are having a problem now encouraging small business to take the 
risk because of high taxes to pay for big government.
  I would encourage my colleagues to look at my joint resolution, which 
is H.J. Res. 99, that provides we keep budget spending a constant 
percent of GDP, and let the budget increase as the GDP, gross domestic 
product, increases.
  There has to be some limitation. We have proposals for a balanced 
budget. That is fine and good, but if we decide simply to increase 
taxes or increase borrowing to accommodate a growing budget, it still 
leaves a burden on future generations, and it takes away some of that 
incentive from current workers that are trying to work and save and 
learn and invest to make their life and their families' lives better.
  In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would say that the overzealousness to 
spend is what happens in these Chambers, because often Members are 
better off politically if they come up with new pork barrel projects to 
take home to their district. They often get in the newspaper and on 
television if they are willing to start a new social program that 
spends more of somebody else's money. It is just important that we 
remember that when we spend money, when we come up with these generous 
programs, as we approach prescription drugs in Medicare, let us 
remember that we are taking away from current workers or putting an 
extra burden on future retirees by increasing the debt load to 
accommodate what seems at the moment an important spending program. 
Taxes and debt are high enough. Let us be frugal on spending.

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