[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 29 (Tuesday, March 9, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H900-H901]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              ADDRESSING THE FISCAL PROBLEMS OF OUR NATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Case) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, good evening and aloha.
  Today, I stand here as a proud member of the 37 Member-strong 
moderate, independent Democrat Blue Dog Coalition. These Members come 
from all parts of our country and they are dedicated to these three 
basic propositions: first, the budgetary and fiscal integrity of our 
country is of paramount importance; second, our country's finances are 
royally messed up; third, there is a way out of this cesspool if we are 
honest about why we are here and what we all must do together to fix 
it.
  I have served here for 15 months now, and when I go home I am asked 
two questions. Number one, what is our biggest challenge in our 
country? Number two, what is the biggest surprise in my mind from 
having served here? My

[[Page H901]]

answer to both is the same: the financial condition of our country now 
and well into the next generation.
  Why is it our biggest challenge? I think it is pretty straightforward 
and obvious when we think about it because our very ability to provide 
what we want to provide for ourselves and our children is reliant on a 
strong fiscal foundation. Otherwise, it is just talk. Need to protect 
ourselves here at home and overseas. Where is the money? Need to 
improve education and health care. Take care of the poor and needy, 
need to provide the infrastructure, need to honor our commitments to 
Medicare and Social Security. Yes, where is the money? It is not there 
right now. We know that.
  Let us face up to it. Spending exceeds revenues as far as the eye can 
see. That is the definition of a deficit, when spending exceeds 
revenues, and total debt accumulative borrowings to match those 
deficits has now climbed well through $7 trillion, $7 trillion.
  What is my biggest surprise? My biggest surprise is that all of this 
is happening on the fiscal watch and under the revenue and spending 
policies of a Republican administration. Do not jump all over that 
comment and assume that it is simply a partisan shot. I just spent the 
better part of a decade in my own home State of Hawaii working as an 
independent, moderate Democrat with Republicans to right the fiscal 
ship of my own State. The last thing I expected when I got up to 
Congress here was to arrive here and see the fiscal irresponsibility, 
on a massive scale, brought on by the national counterparts of those 
same people that I had worked with successfully in Hawaii.
  My surprise does not arise just as a matter of policy disagreements 
because, after all, we can handle policy disagreements. We can identify 
choices. We can debate them. We can let the political process yield the 
result. That is not my surprise.
  My surprise is the manner in which we are dealing with this. It is 
much worse: denial, concealment, misrepresentation. Let me give my 
colleagues a couple of examples.
  First of all, this administration clearly overestimated job and 
growth recovery from its version of tax cuts. Second, it did not even 
include huge chunks of spending, spending we know we have to make, in 
the 2005 budget. What does that say when we do not even include the 
cost of the intervention in Iraq, do not even put it into the budget? 
What are my colleagues scared of? Are my colleagues afraid of the 
debate that will come from it?
  Clearly underestimating expenses like Medicare, projecting the 
Medicare bill at $500 billion and turning around mere weeks later and 
saying, whoops, we made a mistake, $630 billion after all.
  Finally, the one that bothers me the most, this is inexcusable. 
Bringing to this floor a budget that is only out 5 years into the 
future. The norm in Washington is 10 years, and I can make a good case 
to my colleagues that 10 years is not enough. Fifteen, 20, 25 years to 
account fully for Medicare, Social Security beyond that, and yet we are 
only going to talk about 5 years. That is like projecting a family's 
budget for an adjustable rate mortgage with a balloon at the end, but 
ending before the balloon is due. That is like projecting a family's 
budget for education, but stopping in the senior year of high school 
before their kids go to college. Why do you do that? Because you will 
not want to face the fact of what happens after that year has happened, 
and that is exactly what we have.
  Do not take my word for it. Here is David Walker, Comptroller General 
of the United States, on the Nation's growing fiscal imbalance: current 
fiscal policy is unsustainable; the status quo is not an option; faster 
economic growth can help but it cannot solve the problem. Finally, the 
one I particularly agree with: the sooner we get started the better.
  There are solutions, and what are they? Because talk is cheap. Here 
is the deal. They are there, they are tough, and they get tougher. We 
have to face up to those decisions right now, and we have to get to 
them right now. I urge my colleagues to be honest with the American 
people and address the fiscal problems of our country.

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