[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 135 (Saturday, November 20, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2079]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E2079]]
   IN SUPPORT OF THE DEMOCRATIC PROPOSAL TO RESTORE FISCAL SANITY BY 
                     REINSTATING PAYGO REQUIREMENTS

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 19, 2004

  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, last night Congress voted to increase the 
public debt limit by an additional $800 billion to an astronomical 
$8.18 trillion. Simply put, this is morally indefensible.
  Every time we increase the debt ceiling and allow more money to be 
tacked onto the public debt, the U.S. government is saddling our 
grandchildren and their grandchildren with an economic legacy that 
virtually assures economic stagnation in their lifetime. The Republican 
leadership will hide behind the war on terror or the recession to mask 
the dire straits of our economy. But the truth is much more damning. 
The fundamental reason for the spike in the national debt is the 
unprecedented pace of Republican tax cuts that have occurred since 
2001. Recently, the Congressional Budget Office confirmed that tax cuts 
are responsible for nearly 60 percent of the budget deficit.
  We must return to the fiscal responsibility of the Clinton era where 
we had the political will to make hard, but responsible fiscal policy 
choices that resulted in the most robust economy in recent history. 
Moreover, from 1998 through 2000, with President Clinton in the White 
House, the government reduced debt held by the public, paying off $363 
billion. Even in the first year of the Bush Administration, in 2001, 
under budget policies put in place by the Clinton Administration, the 
debt came down by another $90 billion.
  One of the ways that we established fiscal sanity in the 1990s was 
the use of the pay-as you-go (PAYGO) budget enforcement rules. This 
practice helped Congress control spending and acted as a reminder that 
Congress needed to balance the government's checkbook, no matter 
whether it was tax cuts or increased spending on domestic programs.
  In their overzealous attempts to cut taxes, especially for the 
highest 1 percent of wage earners--those earning $400,000 and more, the 
Republican leadership has blatantly ignored the common sense logic of 
the PAYGO rules. They have added literally billions and billions of 
dollars to our deficit and, for that reason, the Congress is forced to 
raise the debt ceiling to avoid shutting down the federal government.
  I am deeply troubled that the President of the United States fails to 
understand or appreciate the financial burden he is imposing on middle 
income Americans, many of whom reside in ``Red States'' and supported 
his reelection. During the campaign season, the President promised to 
make permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that are scheduled to expire 
in 2010. This action will cost $1.1 trillion from 2010 through 2014, 
and even more in the years to follow. Continuing tax cuts permanently 
will significantly worsen the deficit after 2009, which make a mockery 
of the President's vow to cut the deficit in half in 2009.
  To return to economic prosperity and fiscal sanity, we need to 
reinstate PAYGO rules as a first step, restore balance between our 
defense security needs and our domestic security needs, and adopt tax 
policy that benefits middle income taxpayers and creates jobs. I urge 
our Republican leadership to chart a new economic course for our 
country so that the United States of America remains the land of 
prosperity for ``We the People.''

                          ____________________