[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 28, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1651-S1654]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATE OF THE UNION MESSAGE
Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I have listened to some of the
conversation that has gone on. Obviously, much of it has been pointed
toward this evening's speech that we all look forward to from the
President, the State of the Union, at which time he will outline at
least some of his plans for the direction this country will take.
I am looking forward to it. The President has committed himself to
going in certain directions. All of us understand that. All of us are
in favor of the things the President wants to do. I suppose we have
different views of how that might be done. That is the way it ought to
be.
I do hope we don't spend all of our time simply criticizing; that we
not use this as a sort of political fulcrum, but we really talk about
the issues. No one could disagree with the notion that we are looking
for ways to grow the economy and create jobs. Who can argue with that?
No one. How you do it, yes, I suppose there are different views.
To strengthen and improve health care, certainly that is one of the
issues all of us are faced with, whether it be Medicare, Medicaid, the
CHIP program, or just general health care. We are all very much
interested in it.
In my State of Wyoming, a rural State, we have a little different
problem, but interestingly enough, we have problems the same as they do
in Chicago or New York City. The cost, for instance, of liability
insurance is higher in our State than it is some others, which is kind
of strange. Nevertheless, we would all agree with the fact that we need
to do something about that.
Obviously, the defense of our country against terrorism, the defense
of our country against challenges overseas and security at home, no one
disagrees. Again, we have different ways of doing it.
I would like to deviate from the issue for a moment to talk a little
bit about--I guess, philosophically or in a broader sense--the notion
of dealing
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with these issues in terms of a longer term view. We have held in my
State of Wyoming over the last couple years several meetings; in fact,
about 26 meetings in 23 counties. We call them Vision 20/20. We met
with the people in the community, all of whom would come--some invited
for special reasons--to talk about what they wanted their community and
their family and their business to be in 20 years or 10 years or 15
years, how they envisioned the way things should be. Of course, as you
might imagine, we found out there are different views from different
people, but pretty much some of the same consistency in terms of
wanting better jobs, better security, having health care, having
freedom.
We find ourselves in this body, as in many bodies, as a matter of
fact, dealing almost exclusively with those issues that are right now
upon us, fixing what is going to happen tomorrow.
Of course, that is necessary. But it seems to me we would help
ourselves a great deal and help our country a great deal if we could
look a little further out into the future and say: What do we want this
Government to look like in 15 years, what kind of a system would we
think would be best for health care in 15 or 20 years, and then begin
to get some kind of a general conception of where we want to be and
where we think it is best to be for our country and for the people who
live here. And then as we move through the daily issues and as we move
toward the issues that we have to resolve, we can measure those against
where we want to be and see if in fact they are contributing to the
attainment of the goals we have set.
One of them certainly is the role of Government. We haven't talked
about this as much lately as we used to. What is the role of the
Federal Government? How much Federal Government do we want in our lives
over a period of time? This, after all, is the United States of
America. This is a federation of States. Most of us would agree that
the Government that rules best is the one closest to the people.
Obviously, there are roles for the national organization, there are
roles for the Federal Government. But there are also limits that ought
to be there, if we don't want the Federal Government to be the end-all
of governmental activity.
What do we see there? How do we want to do that? Most people would
believe there are some constitutional limits to the role of the Federal
Government. We seem to have dismissed those to a large extent and find
Government involved in nearly every aspect of our life.
That becomes kind of a political thing that we talk about. We talked
about that last week--what can we do this week for somebody? We ended
up with the other side of the aisle, in that week we spent trying to
catch up with the appropriations, having proposals of $500 billion
worth of spending that would grow Government over 10 years, at the same
time complaining about a deficit. So we didn't have a good concept of
where we wanted to go and measure against balancing spending and
balancing the budget. Of course, we want to deviate from that from time
to time, and the circumstances now require that we do something
unusual, I am sure, about defense and terrorism and about the economy.
So we are obviously going to spend more money now than we would
normally spend because it is not a normal situation. We hear all the
time ``back in 1998 we didn't have a lot of the problems that we have
now.'' We have to deal with them. Overall, what do we want? We want a
balanced budget. I think we want to be able to hold down spending, not
increase it, which is what we hear about, frankly, all the time.
We need to take a look at terminating activities that are out of
date. It seems when we get something going in the Federal Government,
it is there forever. In the private sector, when you have a company or
an operation of your own and you find something is not contributing to
that, you have to change it. Not so in the Government. But that ought
to be one of the directions we want to take.
Certainly, we ought to be able to do health care. What do we want
over time with health care? We have already indicated pretty clearly
over the past number of years, when it was tried in the last
administration to have a Government-run program, we didn't accept that
and most of us do not now. Obviously, some work needs to be done to
help people who need help. But where do we want to be? Do we want this
health care to be primarily in the private sector? I think so. Most
people do. So these are things we need to talk about and think about
and have a good deal of attention paid to. What is the role of the
Federal Government on these issues?
I noticed the other day a quotation from President Clinton that
Government's responsibility is to create more opportunities, and the
people's responsibility is to make the most of it. I agree with that. I
don't think his policies were in line with that, but I agree with that
statement. So what we are talking about here primarily tonight--and I
am sure for several months--is about strengthening America's economy.
The President's economic agenda has two main goals: To encourage
consumer spending that will boost economic recovery, and promote
investment by individuals and businesses that will lead to the economic
growth and job creation. Those are two different points of view, and I
respect that. Their point of view is to distribute money to everybody.
Over here, it is to create incentive to create jobs so you have a long-
term, positive impact. We need to do that.
So we will have great discussions, of course, on all of these issues.
That is the way it ought to be and, indeed, that is the way it is.
I see my friend from New Mexico here. I hope we can address ourselves
on these issues and do it in a way that we can disagree without making
a total political issue of each of them--talk about them on their
merits, on what they will do for the country, and not the impact they
will have in 2004. Frankly, we have had an awful lot of that. We need
to move beyond that.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico is recognized.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry. I thought I was
to have 10 minutes. Am I too late for that?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. There are 22 and a half minutes available on
the Republican side at this point. The Senator can take that time if he
chooses.
Mr. DOMENICI. I will use 10 at this time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized for 10 minutes.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, it is rather amazing, in the United
States we only have one country, we have one people, we have one
President, and he gives one State of the Union Address. Today we began
to see how difficult partisan politics has made the idea of having one
President, because before our President--the one President we have--
takes the one opportunity to address the American people as to what he
would like to do and what he would like help from the Congress and the
people on, we have an array of Democratic Senators come to the floor,
all of whom have today set their own standard for what he ought to do,
all of whom have criticisms of what he might say, all of whom suggest
if he doesn't do this, it will not work.
Well, I submit the President will have a myriad of healthy ideas for
the American economy, and I would like to discuss one major one for a
few minutes with the Senate and the American people--that is, the
concern we have in the United States about our economy not producing
jobs as it should and, thus, creating worry among our people beyond the
unemployed. Many Americans who are employed will not spend money,
purchase, or build a new house because their fear causes restraint. The
American economy is not producing jobs. The business investors don't
want to invest because they are not sure what is going to happen, so
they too are withholding. They are being investigated and have all
kinds of pressures so they are holding back. Even with this
combination, the American economy, when you add it all together, is
moving ahead quite well. That piece of the economy or that element that
we call the gross domestic product is increasing.
Normally, when it is increasing, you produce more jobs. The gross
product is not going down, which is negative, meaning a recession; it
is going up. In fact, sometimes in history, if it went up this amount,
jobs would be increasing in large numbers. This time it is
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not happening. That is why we call it a ``jobless'' recovery.
Our President isn't laying blame on the Bill Clinton Presidency, when
this recession started. I don't believe he has uttered a word about who
caused it. I hope he does not tonight. As a matter of fact, on that
score, we can all waste America's time talking about 3 years ago, what
was going on--was the American economy on the downturn, and was
President Clinton to blame or the Democrats?
The truth of the matter is a series of phenomena have occurred,
including a huge terrorist strike that occurred in New York, and a huge
drop in the stock market of the United States. You cannot blame that on
this President.
All of those things, and others, have combined with a 10 or 11-year
growth cycle that had to come down, bringing the American economy into
a nongrowth era for a while. Now it is starting up, and we want our
President to tell us how we can improve that situation for America.
That is what it means to speak about the economy and jobs.
Our President says: You all may have a lot of good ways, but I
believe we ought to cut taxes. Most economists suggest cutting taxes,
if you cut them right, will stimulate economic growth. The more money
that is put into the economy--that means into the pockets of people and
the pockets of business so they can spend it--the more you do that, the
more you have a chance of moving the American economy.
I understand the Democrats, with Senator Daschle as their leader,
have a $141 billion package, a portion of which is giving money to the
States because their treasuries are broke. If you want to do that,
don't call it a stimulus package. We may do that in another event in
the Senate, but our President, rightfully, is not including that in a
stimulus package. That is not a stimulus, to help our States. At one
time, we had a countercyclical problem. I don't know if Don Nickles
remembers, but Senator Muskie started it, and every time the economy
would go down, you give the States money. Well, the President doesn't
have that in this budget, in this proposal on taxes; but it may be
considered separately if we have to help. What he does is look at
accelerated expansion of the 10 percent bracket, accelerated reduction
in income tax rates, accelerated elimination of the marriage penalty,
with some refund of money, and an accelerated increase in the tax
credits. It has the exclusion of dividends from individual taxable
income and increases in small business expensing. That means if they
can expense more, they keep more, which I just said you must do. Let
them keep more so they can buy more equipment, spend more on jobs. The
President has a hold harmless provision under the alternative minimum
tax, a very necessary provision, and the cost of the plan is $98
billion in the first calendar year and $670 billion over 10 years.
The Democrat plan is so small I think we ought to nickname it. I
think we ought to call it ``the mouse.''
The American economy is $10 trillion. If we are talking about 5
years, it is $50 trillion. That means the sum of the transactions going
on, paychecks, car purchases, house purchases, financing, equals $10
trillion a year.
When my colleagues say let's accelerate it, that means let's put
money into the economy that stirs that up enough and shakes up all
those transactions where a little bit more fever is put in each one of
them so some action is occurring which we would equate with growth and
jobs.
Clearly, that cannot be done unless enough is put in to move the
giant battleship called the American economy. So how can that be moved
with a mouse? It cannot. If a mouse is put out there to do it, the
mouse will die and nothing will happen.
If my colleagues don't want to throw away taxpayers' money, then
produce a plan that purports to create jobs and is so small it does
nothing. Otherwise, that money will have been thrown away and my
colleagues would be back in 18 months or 2 years asking the American
people to give them another shot at it because we did not do enough.
So I submit that the President's proposal, which he has already given
us a glimpse of, which he will tell the American people about tonight
in detail, is the right one for America. Am I alone? Of course I am not
alone in thinking this. There are 110 economists. One would think from
what some on the other side say that the President called on a few
people and they gave him ideas and he picked this one and said: Oh,
here is a new idea. Let's not tax dividends on the individuals who
receive them.
That idea has been around. I have been in Congress 30 years. It was
around when I arrived. This is what 110 economists, with three Nobel
prize winners, said. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the
Record a summary of their approach.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
110 Economists Back Bush Tax Plan; 3 Nobel Laureates Join Group Urging
Congress' Support
(By James G. Lakely)
The Washington Times--January 18, 2003.--A letter signed by
100 economists, including three Nobel Prize winners, urges
Congress to support the main elements of President Bush's
$647 billion tax-cut plan, make his 2001 tax cut permanent
and restrain federal spending to spur the sluggish economy.
``As a rule, government cannot create wealth or expand the
economy. Only the private sector can do that,'' said the
letter this week to all members of Congress.'' Government
can, however, hinder economic growth through excessive taxes,
high marginal tax rates, over-regulation, or unnecessary
spending.'' The economists, including Nobel laureates Milton
Friedman, James Buchanan and 2002 winner Vernon Smith, said
increased spending to combat terrorism is warranted but that
``excessive federal spending has a dampening effect on the
American economy.''
To remedy that, Congress should ``end programs that outlive
their usefulness and roll back government's share of the
Gross Domestic Product.''
According to the Congressional Budget Office, government
spending represented 19 percent of the GDP in 2002, a level
that has remained roughly stable during the past 15 years but
threatens to explode to 40 percent because of entitlement
spending by 2075.
The ``wobbly'' financial markets can gain solid footing
again, said the economists, if Mr. Bush's $1.35 trillion tax
cut in 2001 is made permanent.
``Investors and individual taxpayers will be able to make
better decisions on their finances if they have greater
confidence about what tax laws they will be facing in coming
years,'' the letter said. ``It is imperative for Congress to
make the entire 2001 tax cut permanent.''
The economists also applauded Mr. Bush's proposal to
eliminate the double-taxation on corporate dividends, a
policy they said is ``especially harmful to economic
growth.''
Support for Mr. Bush's tax plan largely follows party
lines. House Democratic leaders have scheduled an event
Tuesday on Capitol Hill to argue that the president's plan is
neither fair nor fiscally responsible and would leave state
governments starving for money.
The various Democratic tax-cut proposals are dramatically
smaller, short-term, targeted more narrowly and feature
payments of at least $300 to all families, including those
who pay no federal income tax.
A spokesman for the Democrats on the House Appropriations
Committee criticized the president's plan for being too
skewed toward ``the superwealthy.''
``The White House needs to wake up and realize that giving
their rich cronies another tax break is not going to halt the
Bush recession,'' the Democratic aide said.
``We need to put money in the hands of people who are
having trouble putting food on their table, not people who
want to buy a second yacht.''
But Sen. Evan Bayh, Indiana Democrat, said he is ``keeping
an open mind'' on supporting a pro-growth tax bill that has
many of the features of the president's package. ``I'm not
someone who has an allergic reaction to the dividend proposal
as some do,'' Mr. Bayh said.
``I think you'll see a great many elements of the
president's proposal [in the final bill]. I think, frankly,
we'll improve it to make it even more growth-oriented for the
economy today.''
Mr. DOMENICI. They suggest that only the private sector can do what
is required. Government cannot create wealth or expand the economy.
Friedman, Buchanan, and Vernon Smith, all Nobel laureates, said
increased spending to combat terrorism must be done, but to the extent
that it is a lot of money, it will not help the American economy. They
go on to say we need what the President is suggesting in his plan.
This summary I have before me, News World Communications, from the
Washington Times quotes this series of communications.
I see Mr. Nickles, the Senator from Oklahoma. I was going to speak
about Iraq for a few minutes but I think I will not because I assume he
will speak on the economy and taxes. I think it would be good today to
have my speech and his back to back.
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