[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 19 (Wednesday, February 15, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H306-H312]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE OFFICIAL TRUTH SQUAD
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, what a great pleasure it is to
come and speak to the House tonight about a number of different topics.
I want to thank the leadership and the conference for giving me the
opportunity to lead an hour here and talk about things that are of
utmost importance to our citizens all across this Nation.
When I have talked with some of my constituents, many of my
constituents at home, over and over and over again I hear them say,
what is going on up there in Washington, why has the discussion, the
personal animosity that seems to be brought to so many of our debates,
why is that occurring? It is a great question because it does a
disservice to us all; it really does.
What we are beginning tonight is what we are calling the Official
Truth Squad. This is our new logo of the Official Truth Squad, and we
thought that was appropriate because there are so many times that you
hear on the floor inaccuracies here, and so we thought it was
appropriate to put together a group of folks that would come as often
as needed to bring some truth.
To start that truth, I just wanted to set kind of the premise of why
people are so disgusted, what kinds of things that are being said that
make people so doggone disgusted with some of the language that is
going on up here in Washington.
These are real quotes; and I think it is important, Mr. Speaker, that
people
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hear these things because, again, it does a disservice to the whole
debate. These are quotes from Howard Dean, who is the chairman of the
Democratic party. This is a quote just a year ago: ``I hate Republicans
and everything they stand for.'' Can you imagine that? What an awful
thing to say to at least a third of the Nation, if not more, to
individuals who voted in the last general election for President, over
half of the individuals that voted, and that kind of tenor is just
wrong. It is just wrong. It does not help anything.
Just 6 months ago or so, he said: ``Republicans, a lot of them
haven't made an honest living in their lives.'' What kind of nonsense
is that? What kind of disservice does that do to our Nation?
We have heard some of that same kind of tone here on the House floor,
and so we endeavored to put together a group that would talk about the
truth, talk about real things, and try to bring some real information
to our citizens all across this Nation.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, I do not have the exact quote, but he said
something like, everyone is entitled to their own opinion but they are
not entitled to their own facts; everyone's entitled to their own
opinion but not their own facts. So we thought we would bring some
facts, and we will do that over this next hour and over the next number
of days as we come and talk with folks.
This Official Truth Squad grew out of the freshman class group of 24
or 25 of us who get together on a frequent basis, and we thought it was
an appropriate thing to do to counter what has come to be known as the
culture of cynicism, the culture of pessimism and the culture of
negativity that we oftentimes hear from the other side. So we hope to
bring a much more positive outlook, a much more positive view, frankly,
of our Nation and to bring some facts to the table that I think and we
think are appropriate just so people have the right kind of information
out there to make decisions, to figure out what their government is
doing and what it is not doing and what it ought to be doing.
With that, I am pleased to be joined by my colleagues, and first to
come talk to you about some things as its relates to the economy and
the budget is the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx). She is a
member of the freshman class. I have come to know and respect her so
highly. She has a background in education and is just as principled as
they come and as frankly positive as one could be about the outlook for
our Nation. So the gentlewoman is going to spend a few moments and talk
with you about the economy and the budget.
Ms. FOXX. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price)
very much for inaugurating the Truth Squad here tonight. I think it is
high time that many of us came here to the well and shared the truth
against many of the negative things that have been said night after
night after night on this floor.
I am very positive about our country. It is the greatest country in
the world, and it is the only place I know of where people are dying to
get into. We need to make sure that the positive things about this
country are talked about.
I want to talk a little bit tonight about the important role this
Congress is going to continue to play in balancing our budget by
spending our constituents' money wisely and by putting our national
priorities in order. I also am looking forward to exposing this
hypocrisy that has been exhibited here night after night by people who
are quick to lament our Nation's problems but unwilling to take
positive action towards solutions.
The Congress must become a better steward of the taxpayers' dollars,
and we must do it now. Our constituents deserve to send less of their
hard-earned dollars to Washington and spend more on their families,
businesses, and dreams. By cutting spending and cutting taxes, we will
allow citizens to have more time with their families because they will
not be having to work so much. Our constituents meticulously budget
their dollars at their kitchen tables, and we owe it to them to do the
same thing here in Washington. It is their dollars we spend, not ours.
Cutting Federal spending is not an easy thing to do. We have seen
this even as freshmen. However, it is the right thing to do, and my
colleagues who join me here tonight recognize this important
distinction and important responsibility to do what is right over what
is easy.
We had the chance recently to slow the growth of Federal spending,
and I am proud that this House did the right thing by passing the
Deficit Reduction Act. However, those very same Democrats who come here
night after night and complain about the deficit were unwilling to roll
up their sleeves and get to work to actually solve the problem. They
had their chance to contribute to a solution with the Deficit Reduction
Act, but they took the easy way out by voting against the bill. The
Deficit Reduction Act is one of the long-term solutions for the future
that we are supporting.
It is easy to hand out money willy-nilly. However, it is not easy to
find areas to reduce chronic spending; but reduce Federal spending we
must, and we must demand more accountability for that spending.
My constituents work hard, and more of them are working than ever
before. More people are working all over this country than ever before.
They have adapted to our changing economy; and as a result of sound
economic policy, more of them are in good jobs than ever before. We
have reduced the tax burden on American workers and small businesses,
and our economy is strong.
The money coming into the Federal Government has increased
dramatically; but, unfortunately, the money we spend has increased
dramatically, also. It is the taxpayers' money we spend; and we must be
responsible, meticulous, frugal and effective in the ways the Federal
Government spends this money.
As this Congress takes up the fiscal year 2007 budget, I hope my
colleagues will maintain that mentality. We have made great progress
with the Deficit Reduction Act, but we must do much more to transition
from deficit reduction to deficit elimination.
I also call on the Democrats to contribute to the solution and to do
the right thing by finding commonsense ways to reduce Federal spending.
While we are here tonight to expose some blatant hypocrisy by the
quick-to-complain Democrats, I would also like to invite them to start
doing the right thing. I would love to see some Democrats join us in
calling for reduced spending. I would love to see them back it up with
a vote for reduced spending. It is not the easy thing to do, but it is
the right thing to do.
{time} 1945
It is unfair to leave our children and grandchildren with massive
debts resulting from overspending. The President's budget is a further
attempt to help spare younger generations from debts that they do not
deserve, but we must keep making progress with what the President
outlined.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleagues for joining me
tonight in highlighting this important issue. I am really proud to be a
part of the Truth Squad, made up only of House Republicans; and I would
like to reiterate my hope that Democrats will join us in doing the
right thing, however difficult, by slowing Federal spending. I look
forward to working with them to restore fiscal accountability and
restraint so we can continue to trim and soon eliminate the Federal
deficit.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Price for hosting this hour, and I am
looking forward to many more evenings of our presenting to the American
people the facts about our economy.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman's
participation and involvement. It brings light to the appropriate
problem and the appropriate solution. The problem is too much spending.
The problem that we have here in Washington is too much spending, which
means the appropriate solution is to decrease that spending. The
Deficit Reduction Act was a move in the right direction, to decrease
spending by $40 billion.
Mr. Speaker, I know it is hard to believe, but we did not get a
single vote from anybody on the other side of the aisle for something
that is a move in the right direction. Was it as much as we would like?
Certainly not. But without any help from the other side, things get
much more difficult. We appreciate the gentlewoman bringing us the
truth as it surrounds the budget.
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I am pleased now to yield to the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs.
Blackburn) who, although not a member of the freshman class, we have
adopted because she brings such clarity of thought to the issues. She
has presented the optimistic and positive view of our Nation and the
hard work we are doing to move our Nation forward. I am pleased she is
able to join us tonight and talk a little bit about the budget.
Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia, and
kudos to Mr. Price and the other freshmen class members for starting
the Truth Squad. I know that each and every one of you are going to do
a great job as you take issue by issue that comes before this body,
issues that are so important to the American people because we want to
be certain that we do a few things while we are here, that we are good
stewards of the taxpayers' money, that we are diligent in preserving
freedom because we know that our children and our grandchildren deserve
the opportunity to have the ability to dream big dreams and, as we said
last night, to grow up in a safe, free and secure world. We want that
for them, and we want that for every American citizen.
Certainly being certain that we focus on our economic security is
important. As I said, last night we talked about national security and
that importance, that we have that free, safe world. Tonight we will be
looking at economic security. Congresswoman Foxx always speaks so well,
and I loved what she was saying about the spending habits of
Washington.
Mr. Speaker, some of my constituents remind me regularly that
Washington does not have a revenue problem, Washington has a spending
problem. This great big bureaucracy that is built up around Washington
has a tendency to eat up those tax dollars that come from the local
communities in Washington and somehow never get back out there to the
programs.
I think one thing we all would agree on is that Washington is never
going to get enough of your money. It is never going to get enough of
your money. It has an endless appetite for your money. Certainly Ronald
Reagan's statement that there is nothing so close to eternal life on
earth as a Federal Government program, we see that borne out every
single day. We as conservatives keep focusing on that spending problem.
We keep focusing on ways to reduce Federal spending.
Certainly we have made some inroads. The gentleman mentioned the
Deficit Reduction Act which was and is a plan that is going to yield a
savings for the American people. In this, we saw the 1 percent
reduction. How we pushed to get those bills in there. Last year, we had
bills, and the gentleman from Georgia joined me in sponsoring those
bills for 1, 2 and 5 percent across-the-board reductions so that we
would begin to prioritize.
That is what the American people want us to do, to prioritize, to
make decisions about where is the best way, the very best way for this
government to function so that it is continuing to provide the services
and the infrastructure that we need to be the greatest Nation in the
world. That is what they want to see from us. We were so pleased to see
those reductions included in that Deficit Reduction Act. Yes, indeed,
we are going to be working to be certain that we do that again this
year.
One of the good things about the Truth Squad and what you all are
going to do over the next many months is to bring forward ideas, to
bring forward ideas. How do we make this government more efficient, how
do we make it more effective, how are we certain that we are
prioritizing and meeting the needs and desires of the American people,
and how do we hold the Federal Government accountable for the dollars
that they are going to spend. Because it is not government's money, it
is the taxpayers' money.
I know that Representative Conaway is going to speak in a few more
moments. I hope he is going to talk about the Federal Programs Offset
Reduction Act that he introduced today. I am cosponsoring that bill.
That is the type of innovative idea that we need to see brought
forward. If you are going to propose a new program, then, by golly, get
in this budget and find something that is duplicative, that has
outlived its usefulness, that is wasteful and eliminate it. If you are
going to do something new, take away something that is not working.
As I have co-chaired the Task Force on Waste, Fraud and Abuse, that
has been one of the creative suggestions and one of the
recommendations, programs like that that we are looking for. We are
looking forward to supporting Mr. Conaway in that work because we know
it is our responsibility to be a good steward. We know that it is our
responsibility to keep in mind that Washington is never going to get
enough of the taxpayers' money, and we know that it is our
responsibility to remember that Washington does not have a revenue
problem. It gets plenty of money. Washington has a spending problem.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from
Tennessee for coming and providing great light for some of the
principles that we ought to be holding dear here.
One, we ought to be good stewards of the taxpayers' money. We
oftentimes see Washington just spending too doggone much money. People
know that. They understand and appreciate that.
They also understand that Republicans are the team that has the
ideas, as Mrs. Blackburn said, to decrease spending. She has provided
great leadership in providing a bill that would reduce spending across
the board at the Federal level by 1, 2 and 5 percent each. So take your
pick. Where do you feel comfortable? I, frankly, would support as much
as we can do. I know she would as well.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr.
Conaway), another member of the freshman class of the 109th Congress, a
Member I have come to respect very highly for so many things but
especially for his financial acumen. He is a CPA in his real job, his
real life, and he has brought great interest and enthusiasm to the
challenges we have in the economy and in the budget. He sits on the
Budget Committee. I am pleased to have him join us to talk about the
budget and where we are headed in the future.
Mr. CONAWAY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for not
only those kind words but also for creating the Truth Squad and being
the motivating factor behind that. I think it is going to do us good to
come here from time to time to talk about these things.
I also want to thank my colleague from Tennessee for those very kind
words. The bill the gentlewoman is talking about would actually be a
change in the House rules for next session, the 110th Congress, and
that is if you can find something that the Federal Government is not
already currently doing, in order to convince us that new program
should come into existence, you have to do away with an existing
program of equal or greater spending.
In other words, if your new program is not more important than some
other program in the vast array of public programs, basically you are
telling us this new proposed program is the least important thing that
our Federal Government can do. If that is the case, obviously why would
we do it?
Now the great thing about being freshmen, except for Mrs. Blackburn,
is that we do not know what we are not supposed to suggest and we do
not know what, quote/unquote, cannot be done. I know this is going to
cross jurisdictional lines within committees, and some would say that
it puts a damper on the creative spirit that brings these new programs
to life. In the short run, maybe that is not a bad idea. Nancy Reagan
had it right when she said just say no to drugs. Maybe we should say
just say no to new programs for a little cooling off period and get an
evaluation.
The President in his budget came up with 141 programs that through
the evaluation process, an objective evaluation process, that could be
targets for this program.
What I would like to talk about tonight is the reason why the
discussions we are having tonight are so important and try to add a
little sense of urgency to the overall issue of the budget for 2007.
That is the long-term look, the 50-year look at the growth in the
Federal Government, growth in Federal spending.
I would argue with just about anybody that the single biggest threat
to
[[Page H309]]
our way of life is the growth in Federal spending over the next 50
years. Now I say that with a recognition that we are at war, the global
war on terror is important and it is a crisis that we ought to have to
deal with, but I think spending of the Federal Government will ruin the
American way of life.
If you look at studies done by the Congressional Budget Office, they
have recently posted one to their Website, CBO.gov. If you look at that
long-term study in the growth in Federal spending, it will frighten you
or it should frighten you and add a sense of urgency to the need for
what we are doing here and what we are discussing here tonight, and
that is to try to trim back the rate of growth in this government.
Today, we spend an equivalent amount of 20 percent of our gross
domestic product. It is consumed by the Federal Government. That $2.7
trillion, in round numbers, that we will approve for the 2007 budget is
about 20 percent of GDP. Our current tax revenues, all revenues for the
Federal Government, are about 18 percent. So we are creating a deficit
that we all have to deal with and decry. Nobody defends the deficit and
nobody thinks it is the best way to go, but being an accountant and a
CPA, those are the facts. As the photographer said, if you want a
prettier picture, you need to bring me a prettier face.
But let us look at that spending out over 45 years. In the year 2050,
if you look at the CBO report, the Federal Government will consume
about 50 percent of gross domestic product. My colleague from Atlanta
knows the world has never seen a free market enterprise country where
the central government can consume half the GDP and the rest of the
country prosper on the other half. It just does not work that way.
So we have two choices as I see it. One, reduce the rate of growth
and reduce the programs that are not sustainable and bring the
projected growth in Federal Government in line with what tax revenues
can be. Or out of whole cloth, come up with a brand new economic
system, a brand new way of doing business that will allow the central
government to consume half, and the rest of us prosper and grow and
have a better standard of living on the other half.
Today, we had hearings in the Budget Committee. We had General David
Walker, the head of the Government Accountability Office; we had
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who was the immediate past chair or the director
of the Congressional Budget Office; and we had Elizabeth Sawhill from
the Brookings Institute, three individuals with impeccable credentials
in this area. They bring a great deal of credibility to the table.
Today in the hearings they were unanimous in the problem we are
talking about, in their agreement with the problem we are talking.
Now GAO's estimate is about 40 percent of GDP by 2050, and the
Congressional Budget Office is about 50 percent. There is a margin of
error there that is irrelevant when you look at revenues. The question
was asked, can we grow our way out of this problem? And the short
answer was eloquent in its brevity. All three simply said, no, we
cannot grow our way out of it.
{time} 2000
We cannot grow our way out of it, an elegance to that answer that was
deafening in the room. So we cannot grow our way out of it.
It requires us to begin to make choices today that are easier than
the choices available to us next year, and are clearly easier today
than any choice we will have 3 years from now regarding how we will
begin to reduce the rate of growth in this Federal Government.
As I have said, in this Chamber we give speeches, and with hyperbole
we typically overreach and puff and brag in order to convince our
colleagues that our particular argument is correct.
But a threat to our way of life, the threat to my grandchildren, your
grandchildren, is there. It is imminent when you look at the long term.
The bad news about it is it is not imminent in the sense that it is
going to happen tomorrow afternoon.
We as Americans just tend to deal with today's issue, tomorrow's
issue, maybe next week's issue; but we rarely want to take a look at 45
years down the road and make some hard choices that we have today. Let
me finish up with one quick anecdote about the importance of doing
this.
I have six wonderful grandchildren that I am incredibly proud of.
When I talk in the district to town hall meetings and groups like this,
I typically ask all the grandparents to raise their hands. You get a
good smattering of those folks.
I say, which grandparent in the room today would take their
grandchildren to their local bank and say, Mr. Local Banker, I want to
borrow every dollar in this bank, but I want my grandchildren to sign
the note. I want them to be responsible for paying it off. I am going
to take the money, and I am going to spend it on a few good things, but
I want to spend it the way I see fit. But I want you to look at my
grandchildren and make them pay off that debt.
There is not a grandparent in the room that says yes. There is not a
grandparent anywhere that I know of who would take that. Then I look at
them and say that is exactly what we are doing as a group. Our
collective conduct is doing just that. By 2050, we will have an
economic model that cannot be sustained, and the size of the Federal
Government cannot be supported by any level of taxation that would make
sense.
In an attempt to add some sense of urgency to the importance of what
our colleagues, you and our other colleagues, are talking about tonight
with respect to this year's budget and next year's budget and next
year's spending, the long look is important. As I said to start with, I
believe that this is the single biggest threat to our way of life that
we face, that is, acknowledging the fact that we are at war with some
pretty terrible people.
Dr. Price, I appreciate you allowing me to speak with the group
tonight. I appreciate you allowing me this time, and thank you for your
leadership in this Truth Squad effort as we go forward in the second
session of the 109th Congress.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Thank you so much, Congressman Conaway, for
your clarity. Clarity of thought is not often seen here in Washington.
You have just laid out for us, really, a pretty foreboding picture that
in a relatively short period of time, less than one lifetime, the
government, if not changed, will spend 45, 50 percent of the GDP on
government, on government programs. That just cannot be done, as you
say.
The positive thing that you mention is we can solve it. We can solve
it if we all knuckle down and get to work together, which I think is
the uplifting message that we need to give to the American people,
because it can be solved. We just have to do it together and do it
positively.
Thank you so much for coming and joining us this evening.
We are joined now by Thelma Drake, Congresswoman Drake, who is
another member of the freshman class and another member of the Official
Truth Squad who oftentimes comes to the floor and just provides great
insight into so many different areas. She is a Representative from
Virginia, has owned a small business, understands what it means to sign
the front side of a paycheck, and has great insight into the economy
and the budget itself. I want to thank you so much for joining us
tonight.
She is going to talk a little bit more about the budget.
Mrs. DRAKE. Thank you, Congressman Price. I want to thank you for
this effort, because this is a big effort to bring people together to
come and talk about America. I really chuckled when I heard
Congresswoman Blackburn talk about Ronald Reagan's quote, that no
program has eternal life like a Federal program.
You will remember, in the President's budget last year, in our very
first year as freshmen here, that he did propose cuts in programs, and
he has proposed cuts in programs this year.
The theory behind that is there is no way to end programs without
making very, very hard choices. But I do admire that the President and
this Congress are willing to look at does a program work, what are the
results, and how could that money be used if it were used somewhere
else. There are two things that I hear back home, and one is, when are
you going to balance the budget, and when are you going to control
spending?
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But then, of course, if a program is cut, the next thing I hear is,
why was that program cut? Of course, you and I understand, when we say
cut, now, with these programs, we are talking about cutting. But
usually when someone says something was cut, they usually mean it is a
reduction in the growth of spending. I think that is clear that we need
to talk about that so the public does not believe that there has
actually been a reduction.
With my staff, I look at them and say, don't tell me percentages;
give me the dollar amount for last year, the dollar amount for this
year, and then we can stop talking about cuts. Medicaid. We have heard
from constituents at home who say I want to talk to you about cuts in
Medicaid. I say, do you mean the 7 percent growth as opposed to the 7.4
percent growth that was projected before?
But last year as a freshman, when people would come to me, and they
would say the President has cut my program, I would explain the
President's philosophy, which was, let's look for programs that work,
let's look for programs that don't.
So I would say, maybe the President has made a mistake, and maybe his
information is wrong. If you would like to come back to me with the
good information, we will take it to the President.
Not one person ever came back.
I learned as a child in school that taxes are what we pay for
civilization. We as Americans all believe in that. We know that we have
a responsibility to Americans who are less fortunate. We have the grave
responsibility of defending this Nation, of educating our children,
that we have huge responsibilities on us. But one of the greatest
responsibilities, I think, is to ensure that every dollar we spend of
taxpayer money is spent wisely.
But what I was really thinking about, when I came over here tonight,
because I came over here tonight to talk about how great our Nation is,
as I came to the floor, one of the things I thought was how quickly we
as Americans have recovered since the very devastating attacks of 9/11.
We gathered our strength and our resolve and, through the courage of
our fighting men and women, have taken the battle to the terrorists who
despise our love of freedom and our open society. We have risen as a
beacon of hope to those who live in the Middle East and yearn for the
freedoms that we have.
Perhaps the most important thing about Americans and what we have
been attacked for, and please believe me, the targets that they took
were not chosen at random, when the terrorists attacked the Twin Towers
on 9/11, they did that because they are important symbols to our
commitment to capitalism and to free and open markets. They struck us
at our core. What they intended to injure was our spirit.
It was here that they failed, because they underestimated the
strength of the American people. The American people know that while
bricks and mortar can be torn down, that our resolve and commitment to
the principles that define us cannot be harnessed.
We have weathered a very difficult recession. We have weathered the
attacks of 9/11. We have experienced the burst of the telecom bubble;
and now we find ourselves, once again, in an economy that is exploding
with growth and opportunity.
Today our economy is experiencing significant growth. Since the
second quarter of 2003, we have experienced an average of 3.8 percent
quarterly gross domestic product growth. Nearly 4.7 million new jobs
have been created since that time, and today's unemployment rate is at
4.7 percent. That is lower on average than the seventies, eighties and
nineties. 2.1 million jobs have been created in the past year, and
193,000 were created in the past month alone.
Congressman Price, I would say that tells a very important story
about our Nation. Real after-tax income has grown by 7 percent since
2001. The average hourly wage is up 3.3 percent over the past 12
months, the largest 12-month increase in just under 3 years. Inflation
remains low. Consumer confidence is at a 3-year high, and homeownership
is at an all-time high. Tax revenues for fiscal year 2005 grew by 14.6
percent over fiscal year 2004. That has resulted in a $120 billion
reduction in the deficit.
This is a perfect example that there is such a thing as taxpayer
behavior, that when you allow people to keep their own money, they
create jobs, they save it, they invest it, they spend it, they grow our
economy. I believe, and I know that you believe, that our tax policy
must support our economy, and it must grow our revenues.
Congress is currently in the process of renewing aspects of the
legislation, the tax cuts, that have brought a lot of this economic
growth about.
But today is not a day to rest on our laurels. Leadership is about
creating a vision of where we want to go and how we want to get there.
It is not enough to create a favorable climate for economic growth.
This majority has a clear vision of how we can help Americans succeed
in this climate.
You and I both serve on the House Education and Workforce Committee.
We both know how hard our committee has worked to provide greater
educational opportunities for Americans from all backgrounds, as well
as to provide assistance for prospective employees to receive the
skills and training they need to be competitive in today's workforce.
You and I know the committee will continue to work hard this year.
I also think it is important, as I close, to just talk about who in
America pays taxes. One of the things that we have heard over and over
again is that the tax cuts are for the top 1 percent of America.
Americans do not realize that 50 percent of our people pay over 96
percent of the taxes. The top 50 percent pay 96.5 percent of our taxes.
That means the bottom 50 percent wage earners pay 3.5 percent of our
taxes. Forty-four million Americans are estimated to owe zero Federal
taxes this year and will receive a dollar-for-dollar rebate for their
withholding tax, thanks to the 10 percent bracket that was created.
I think it is the least-told story of the year, how great our economy
has done, the success of the tax policies. I think it is a story
America needs to hear, and I thank you for giving us the opportunity to
stand and talk about America, how great our Nation is, how wonderfully
our economy is growing, and that we are committed to the policies that
will continue that growth, continue to improve the lifestyles of all
Americans.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. What a wonderful vision you have created and
the great story that you have told about the recovery after 9/11 and
the incredible economy that we have going in America right now.
Often at home, people do not understand that. They aren't getting
told that, certainly not on the nightly news and not in the newspaper.
Thank you so very, very much for joining us.
I also want to just highlight what Representative Drake said about
the words that are used here in Washington. So often you hear about
cutting this and cutting that. In fact, things are not being cut. We
will talk a little bit more about that in just a minute.
Oftentimes, things are just decreasing the rate of increase, which is
a little different way to say it, but it has been said that Washington
is the only place where a decrease in the amount of growth that was
projected is considered a cut. We just have to suffer with that.
That is why we are joining you tonight as the Official Truth Squad,
to bring some real facts, some truth to the issue of the economy. I
wanted to expand a little bit on what I hear at home when people talk
about the kind of news that they see on television or the kind of
things that they most often read in the paper.
{time} 2015
They want to know why are they not hearing these good things about
America.
To highlight once again some of the statistics about our economy, 17
straight quarters of growth, 17 straight quarters of growth. The home
ownership rate in our Nation now is at an all-time high. Nearly 70
percent of Americans own their own home, 70 percent. What an incredible
story that is, and it cuts across all demographic lines and all sectors
of our society. And that is positive. That is a positive thing, that is
a good thing, and it is the result of the economic policies that have
been put in place here in this Congress.
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Unemployment rate: 4.7 percent. Four point seven percent. And most
economists will tell you that 5 percent unemployment is full employment
because we have got people looking for jobs or looking to change their
job or moving, those kinds of things. Five percent is full employment.
Right now, our unemployment rate is 4.7 percent. Four point seven
million new jobs in the last 5 years. Good news. Great news. It really
is.
And because you occasionally get that, this is today's Wall Street
Journal. The other side likes to talk about their third-party
validators. Here is a third-party validator, a Wall Street Journal,
front page story today: ``Retail Sales surge 2.3 percent, Underlining
Economy's Health. A 2.3 percent increase in sales. That just shows the
kind of wonderful and good economy that we have got going. So we have
got a plan. We have got a plan to continue to increase the wonderful
performance of this economy.
I wanted to talk a little bit more about some truthful aspects that
ought to be discussed, and Representative Drake talked about this, this
chart here, again trying to bring some truth to the issue of who pays
taxes. Oftentimes, we hear that the wealthy do not pay any taxes in
this Nation at all and they have all sorts of ways to get around paying
taxes. And this graph is so telling because oftentimes we hear, Mr.
Speaker, that a picture is worth a thousand words, and this picture is.
We have got six bars here. The first bar here is the top 1 percent of
wage earners in this Nation, and then, on this ordinate here, we have
got the percent of taxes that they pay. Out of 100 percent of taxes
here in America, what percent did the top 1 percent of wage earners
pay? Thirty-four point two seven percent. Over a third of the taxes in
this Nation paid by the top 1 percent wage earners. And if you go on
down, the top 5 percent pay over 50 percent of the taxes in this
Nation.
These numbers are not my numbers. These are official numbers, and it
just is really telling.
When we look down at that fifth bar, the largest bar there, that is
the top percent, 50 percent of wage earners. That is half of the wage
earners in this Nation. And the top 50 percent, as Congresswoman Drake
said, pay 96.54 percent of the taxes. The bottom 50 percent of wage
earners pay less than 4 percent.
So when you hear that the wealthy in this Nation are not paying their
fair share, I do not know about you, but I would say that this
distribution is not unfair to those at the lower end of our scale, and
it ought not be. But this is the truth. This is the truth. When you
hear those other lines and you hear those other statements, you just
know that it is not the truth.
This chart here talks about the revenue growth that we have had. This
is the amount of money coming into the Federal Government. And you have
heard it said oftentimes that in Washington we do not have a revenue
problem, we have got a spending problem. And, indeed, we do. Washington
spends too much of the hard-working taxpayers' money. But I think this
chart is telling. Because what this shows from the year 2000, and it is
projected out to the year 2011, there is a dip here at about 2002, 2003
in revenue coming into the Federal Government. And currently in 2006,
the amount of money that came into the Federal Government is $2.3
trillion. A lot of money. A lot of money.
But being an individual who likes to know why things happen, I want
to know why that increase occurred; and I think it is important to know
that at this point at almost the lowest point of revenue over the past
5 years, 6 years in this Nation, what happened is that we decreased
taxes. We decreased taxes through the President's recommendations and
through the hard work of this Republican Congress, decreased taxes to
all taxpayers in this Nation.
And what happens when you put more money in people's pockets?
Incredibly, what happens is that there is more revenue that comes into
the Federal Government because they become more productive. They spend
more, but they save more, and they have greater incentive, greater
incentive, frankly, to work. So the truth of the matter about revenues
in this Nation is that they are up because of decreases in taxes.
Numbers do not lie. Senator Moynihan said everybody is entitled to
their own opinion, but they are not entitled to their own facts. And
the facts will show that, in fact, after the tax decreases what
happened is an increase in revenue.
Now, oftentimes our friends on the other side of the aisle like to
say, and, in fact, we have heard it here tonight and I wrote it down
because I hear it so often but it is put in different ways, but we
heard tonight that government assistance to education has been flat
under this leadership. ``Government assistance has been flat.'' Well,
again, you are welcome to your own opinions, but you are not welcome to
your own facts.
Here are the education totals: The annual growth over the last 5
years, the annual growth over the last 5 years, 2000, nearly $40
billion in growth in education expenditures from the Federal
Government. Forty billion dollars. In 2001, over $40 billion of growth.
In 2002, nearly $50 billion in growth. And you see the other columns
there: 2003, 2004, 2005, continual increases. This is not the increase
from 1 year to the next. This is the absolute amount of money, new
money, Federal Government money being spent on education.
So when you hear people say that the amount of money going into the
education of our children and our young people has not increased or it
has decreased or it has been cut or it is not growing at all or it is
flat, that is simply not true. Simply not true. Again, you are welcome
to your own opinions. You are not welcome to your own facts.
What about Pell grants, Pell grant funding? Pell grants are those
grants that the Federal Government appropriately provides to those
individuals who want to seek a higher education degree and they simply
do not have the resources to be able to assist them. What has happened
to Pell grants since the year 2000? Remember the sounds that you hear
from the other side that these cuts have been disastrous, that you are
cutting and you are slashing? In fact, the annual growth in Pell grants
over the last 5 years average, average, a 10.3 percent increase per
year. That does not sound like a cut to me. That does not sound like a
cut to me.
So what this chart shows is significant growth year after year after
year, billions of dollars over the last 6 years annually. Not a cut.
Not a cut. And that is appropriate. It is appropriate that we do that,
but what we are here tonight to bring to the American people, Mr.
Speaker, are some facts, some truth that we would like to share with
the American people.
What I would like to do this evening in my brief time remaining is to
just bring a little truth and fact to where Federal Government spending
occurs. Because I think it is important for the American people to know
and appreciate just what their Federal Government is spending their
hard-earned taxpayer money on.
This is a pie chart. It is relatively simple, and there are about six
major categories of spending that the Federal Government has. And you
have heard a lot about automatic spending that occurs, and those
automatic areas are the area of Social Security, the area of Medicare,
and 20.5 percent for things like Medicaid and pensions and the like,
and then there is net interest. Then there is the discretionary side,
which really is the only side that we have been able to affect to any
great degree. One is defense, which is about 20 percent of the Federal
budget, and the other is 19.2 percent, which covers everything else
that the Federal Government does. So I think it is important to get an
appreciation for where Federal Government money is going. Social
Security, 21 percent right now. Medicare, 11.9 percent. Other
entitlements or other automatic spending, 20.5 percent.
We were talking about the amount of spending, where the Federal
Government spends its money; and the previous pie chart showed what we
have right now, in 2005. Currently, the Federal Government spends 54
percent on what are called mandatory programs, and it really ought not
be called mandatory. We could call it automatic. It is oftentimes
called entitlements.
But in that portion of this pie chart are Medicare, Medicaid, Social
Security, some Federal pensions and the
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like. But those are programs that have formula within them that allow
them just to continue to perpetuate year after year after year. And
this area of the pie chart is what Representative Conaway talked about.
That is the area that will consume 50 percent, 50 percent of the entire
gross domestic product.
Currently, this is 20 percent of the budget. This, over the next 10
years, will grow to 62 percent. As you can see, this trend, in 1995, it
was 49 percent; 2005, 54 percent; 2015, 62 percent. That trend is one
that we cannot sustain as a Nation. It just cannot happen, unless you
do what the other side talks about repeatedly, which is to raise taxes;
and, as Congressman Conaway talked about, in fact, you cannot even grow
your way out of it. You cannot even raise taxes enough to cover that
and sustain our way of life as a Nation. So I think it is incredibly
important that when we are talking here on the floor of the House that
we talk about real facts, real facts, honest information for the
American people.
Mr. Speaker, with that, I would just like to say what a pleasure it
has been to come before the American people tonight and to gather a
group of what we are calling the official truth squad of primarily the
freshmen class. And, Mr. Speaker, as president of the freshman class,
Representative Jindal from Louisiana has been wonderfully supportive of
these efforts to bring truth to the floor of the House. What a
wonderful thing.
We live in an incredible and a great and a wonderful Nation. It is a
Nation that has, through liberty and through freedom, benefited more
citizens than ever known in the history of the world. We believe, on
this Republican side of the aisle, that it is important that government
does do some things, but we do not want government running every part
of our life.
There are a couple of things the government should do well. It should
defend us well. It should have a balanced budget and be able to keep
the commitments that it makes. We have a clear and a positive plan to
build a safer world and a more hopeful America. We believe that
Washington spends too much money, too much of the taxpayers' hard-
earned money, and we have a commitment to balance the budget through
controlling the growth in spending.
The other side, as I mentioned, tends to be interested in doing one
thing, and that is raising your taxes. There is a plan afoot right now
that they have to increase and raise your taxes. It seems to be
oftentimes the only solution that they have.
But, Mr. Speaker, we were sent to Washington to solve problems.
Difficult problems, yes. But my colleagues and I and the official truth
squad will be here many, many times over the coming months to bring
reality to the discussions that we are having, to bring some truth to
the discussions that we are having, and to remember what Senator
Moynihan said, and that is that you are welcome to your own opinions
but you are not welcome to your own facts.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I thank the leadership once again so very
much for the opportunity to present this hour.
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