[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 122 (Tuesday, September 24, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H6475]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE FEDERAL DEBT

  Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, tonight I and some others are 
going to do a one hour special order, on some of the problems, the 
misconceptions about the debt of the Federal Government. The policy 
committee that I serve on, the Republican Policy Committee, met with 
Art Laffer, who I consider an esteemed economist in this country. One 
of my questions to Art was what is worse as far as being a downside to 
economic growth--the debt and going deeper into debt in this country or 
having tax increases, and he said they are both about the same. They 
take private money out of circulation that could be used to expand 
businesses and jobs.
  And that brings a question that this body must consider. How big 
should the Federal Government be in terms of a percentage of gross 
domestic product? How fast should the expenditures of this Congress 
grow compared to inflation? We have been growing from 2 to 4 times the 
rate of inflation every year for the last 20 years. The elections of 
politicians to come up with new programs, to come up with pork barrel 
projects to take back to their districts probably enhances the chances 
that they are going to be reelected. So the tendency has been to have 
government grow faster than the economy, faster than the ability of the 
American taxpayer to pay, and certainly faster than what is good for us 
in terms of increasing taxes and debt.
  Politicians, Members of Congress, Members of the Senate, the 
President have tended to say, well, we can expand government and not 
have it quite so visible in terms of the American worker digging into 
their pockets, if we pay for some of that increased spending with 
increased debt.
  When I was first elected to Congress 10 years ago the debt of the 
Federal Government was four trillion dollars. Today guess what the debt 
is in just under 10 years? The current debt of the Federal Government 
is $6.2 trillion. A 50 percent increase in 10 years. So we can imagine 
if we project that kind of debt increase for the next 20 years we are 
leaving our kids and our grandkids a tremendous indebtedness burden 
because we think the expenditures today are so important that it 
justifies higher taxes and more debt for our kids to pay.
  I think there is a misunderstanding about debt. We have said we have 
paid the debt down. Actually, the total debt of this country over the 
last 20 years has continued to increase, and so has the obligation of 
our kids to pay off our overzealous spending. I am a farmer from 
Michigan. Our tradition has been to try to pay off the mortgage on the 
farm to give our kids a little better chance. In Congress we are doing 
the opposite. We are increasing that obligation.
  Tune in tonight to the special orders and we will talk more on the 
problems of going deeper and deeper into debt and the increased 
downside for the economy.

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