[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 116 (Thursday, September 23, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H7546-H7547]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             FISCAL DANGER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, the administration has America leading 
with its chin. You heard the last speaker talk about it, and I am going 
to talk about the same thing. We are going to get hurt.
  This administration has America going hat in hand from country to 
country looking for money and they intend to just keep on doing it. 
They cannot make manufacturing jobs, but they have manufactured the 
largest trade deficit in history. They cannot engineer an economic 
recovery, but they have engineered the largest budget deficit in 
history.
  They cannot extend the lifeline to unemployed workers but they can 
expand the number of workers who have exhausted their unemployment 
benefits to the highest level in 60 years.
  It is just 40 days until the election, and the President needs a big 
win to try to make America forget about Iraq. So instead of setting 
policy, we are masking massive problems. A lot of Americans here talk 
about a trade deficit and do not see the connection to their own lives. 
The administration has run up the largest trade deficit in history and 
it exports money and it exports jobs right out of the United States 
economy. It is not called outsourcing. It is called out of control.
  The mess this administration has made in foreign trade has claimed 
670,000 U.S. jobs in manufacturing, farming and fishing, another 
860,000 U.S. jobs in service industries have shifted offshore just in 
the last 2 years. One and a half million jobs is bad enough, but the 
story gets worse.
  The administration refused to solve its foreign trade issues. So U.S. 
exports are being hit by tariffs by the European Union and these 
penalties will rise 13 percent in the next month. The administration 
knows what is wrong but it will not act to fix it. Canada, Brazil and 
other nations have won cases in court about our foreign trade 
practices. But like so much else, this administration remains in denial 
and U.S. products could be hammered by another $3 billion in tariffs.
  These penalties can be avoided, but not by an administration that 
governs by press release. Instead, the administration's failure to act 
will make U.S. products more expensive and the U.S. economy less 
competitive in the world market. That is a formula for losing more U.S. 
jobs.
  A new study shows American multi-national corporations booked a 
record $149 billion worth of profits off shore in countries known to be 
tax havens. Do not blame the corporations. The U.S. Tax Code rewards 
U.S. companies for exporting their balance sheets, in effect. The 
administration knows. The Republican majority knows. They do nothing 
about it. We need a national policy that puts America first, but we do 
not have it and we will not get it under this administration. Instead, 
the administration gives us rhetoric, pledging allegiance to the middle 
class, but a reality that rewards the wealthy and ignores the 
consequences.
  The administration holds up the middle class when talking about 
massive tax giveaways passed. ``Hold up'' is the right term. The 
Republicans gave away another $149 billion today. There is no money to 
pay for it, but they did it anyway. The average middle class household 
will get a tenth of what the wealthy are getting. It is $169 for 
average Americans compared to $2,000 for the wealthy; $169 will not 
make college more affordable for middle class Americans. It will not 
make a gallon of gasoline less expensive. And $169 will not provide the 
business with resources to expand or re-training dollars to inspire 
Americans to embrace a changing global economy.
  This is another bait and switch tax giveaway. It will reward the rich 
and mortgage America's future.
  The administration has America on target to be $10 trillion in debt 
in the next 10 years. Nations that are not democratic and never will be 
are buying huge chunks of America's debt. Do not doubt for a moment 
that nations that do not share our values cannot exert enormous 
pressure over America when it hold trillions of dollars of our debt. 
They can and they will.
  The book ``After The Empire'' by Emmanuel Todd is like a crisis call 
for emergency action. Every modern nation has three foundation blocks, 
military, political and economic. Lots of countries have big and well-
armed armies. We certainly do. Lots of countries have established and 
effected political structures, democratic or otherwise.
  Only America has had an unequaled economic foundation. It is at risk 
from the crushing debt burden this administration has pursued with 
abandon. Ten trillion dollars of debt in the next 10 years. What kind 
of a military can you afford with a $10 trillion debt when you

[[Page H7547]]

have to borrow across the water to pay for your military? What kind of 
Social Security can we afford with a $10 trillion debt? What kind of 
domestic policy?
  The administration is charting a course that will be the end of us if 
we do not have a regime change on the second of November.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker) is recognized for 5 minutes.

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