[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 34 (Thursday, March 16, 2006)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2236-S2241]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
INCREASING THE STATUTORY LIMIT ON THE PUBLIC DEBT
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the hour of 10:30
having arrived, the Senate will resume consideration of H.J. Res. 47,
which the clerk will report.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A joint resolution (H.J. Res. 47), increasing the statutory
limit on the public debt.
Pending:
Baucus/Lincoln amendment No. 3131, to require a study of
debt held by foreigners.
Amendment No. 3131
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the question is on
agreeing to amendment No. 3131.
Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a
sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Delaware (Mr. Biden) is
necessarily absent.
I further announce that, if present and voting, the Senator from
Delaware (Mr. Biden) would vote ``yea.''
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Ensign). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 44, nays 55, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 53 Leg.]
YEAS--44
Akaka
Baucus
Bayh
Bingaman
Boxer
Byrd
Cantwell
Carper
Clinton
Conrad
Dayton
Dodd
Dorgan
Durbin
Feingold
Feinstein
Harkin
Inouye
Jeffords
Johnson
Kennedy
Kerry
Kohl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Menendez
Mikulski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Obama
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Salazar
Sarbanes
Schumer
Stabenow
Wyden
NAYS--55
Alexander
Allard
Allen
Bennett
Bond
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Burr
Chafee
Chambliss
Coburn
Cochran
Coleman
Collins
Cornyn
Craig
Crapo
DeMint
DeWine
Dole
Domenici
Ensign
Enzi
Frist
Graham
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Hatch
Hutchison
Inhofe
Isakson
Kyl
Lott
Lugar
Martinez
McCain
McConnell
Murkowski
Roberts
Santorum
Sessions
Shelby
Smith
Snowe
Specter
Stevens
Sununu
Talent
Thomas
Thune
Vitter
Voinovich
Warner
NOT VOTING--1
Biden
The amendment (No. 3131) was rejected.
Mr. GREGG. I move to reconsider the vote and I move to lay that
motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the next vote in
this series be 10 minutes in length; further, that when the votes begin
at 1:30, all votes after the first vote be limited to 10 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Democratic leader.
Senator Sarbanes 11,000th Vote
Mr. REID. Mr. President, we just completed a vote that is a landmark
for one of our Senators. Senator Paul Sarbanes cast his 11,000th vote.
It was only a few days ago that we stopped the proceedings of the
Senate to underline and underscore the voting record of the senior
Senator from Vermont, Senator Leahy.
Senator Sarbanes has decided not to run for reelection, as we all
know, but what a legacy he has in the Senate. There is no one with a
better academic record than Paul Sarbanes: Princeton University, summa
cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa; a Rhodes scholar; he studied, of course,
because of that, at Oxford; Harvard Law School.
Those who have had the privilege of working with Paul Sarbanes know
that not only does he have this great intellect, he has so much common
sense. Legislation he works on is detailed, very thorough.
He, of course, is our ranking member of the Committee on Banking. I
have traveled with the distinguished senior Senator from Maryland. We
have traveled various parts of the world. I have fond memories of Paul
Sarbanes and all the things he has done. His wife Chris is a wonderful,
caring person, just like Paul.
Even though I have a lot of stories, I share one with the Senate. One
of the things people do not realize about Senator Sarbanes is his
athletic ability. He is a great athlete. I was told a story about
Senator Sarbanes that for me is a classic. I love baseball. I follow
the history of baseball. In high school, he was a star baseball player.
He was selected to play on an all-star team. He was a shortstop. He
comes to the all-star team as the shortstop from the Eastern Shore. The
manager coach announces the starting lineup and he has Sarbanes at
second base. Paul went up to the coach and said, I am a shortstop. I
was selected as an all-star shortstop. The coach ignored him. He went
back again, and finally the coach said, Kaline is starting shortstop.
Al Kaline was a better shortstop, at least the coach thought so, than
Paul Sarbanes. Al Kaline went to the Major Leagues when he was 18 or 19
years old and is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
I know we have a lot of things to do today. People are going to the
White House. There are a lot of places to go and this is a very
important bill, but I could not let the time go by without
acknowledging one of the great Senators in the history of our country,
Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from West Virginia.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I ask to speak not to exceed 3 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, one of the greatest orations ever uttered
was the
[[Page S2237]]
oration on the Crown. And it can be said that the theme of that oration
was a question: Who least serves the State? Demosthenes answered that
question: He who does not say what he thinks.
Socrates was asked which great oration of Demosthenes he liked best.
Socrates answered, ``The longest.'' In other words, he liked the
longest oration Demosthenes ever uttered. The Greeks taught the world
to think.
This man who is going to leave us after this term, regrettably, and
to our great loss, has always impressed me as a thinker, one in the
train of Demosthenes.
Paul Sarbanes is a great Senator, a great Senator.
I can remember when he went with me and other Senators to Panama.
There we talked to Torrijos and the other leaders of Panama, including
our own people. It was there that I changed my mind about the Panama
Canal Treaty. Paul Sarbanes was one of those who was there, who walked
with us, who talked with us, who was on plane with Torrijos.
Paul Sarbanes has not only been a thinker, he has been a great
inspiration to those who have served with him. He will be missed. He
will not be replaced. There are no more Paul Sarbanes. I shall never
forget him. He leaves a great void when he goes.
One might say: Whence cometh another?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 2
minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Maryland.
Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, much is being said about my dear and
esteemed colleague, Senator Sarbanes. He has been the longest serving
Senator in Maryland's history. And I would put to the Senate, he has
been the best serving Member of the U.S. Senate from Maryland.
Sure, he cast 11,000 votes, but each and every one of our colleagues
will know that when those 11,000 votes were cast, they were cast with
thoughtfulness, with due diligence, with the idea of how would that
vote serve the Nation and how would it help Maryland.
If we want to honor Senator Paul Sarbanes, let's make sure every vote
we cast brings to it the same kind of integrity, the same kind of
intelligence, and the same kind of devotion and dedication. That is
what I would like to do as the junior Senator, and say thank you for
being side by side with me.
Mr. BYRD. Yes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I know we want to proceed with our
business, but if I could just be recognized for 1 minute.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues for their very
gracious remarks and all of my colleagues for their expressions of
respect and affection.
My colleague, Senator Mikulski, said I was the longest serving
Senator in Maryland's history. I want you to know, it is a little bit
like being like Cal Ripken; every day you go to work, you set a new
record--one more day than the day before.
It has been, obviously, one of the great focuses and joys of my life
to be able to work here in the Senate with all my colleagues. I am
extremely grateful to all of you.
I will just close with this story, because I am still here until the
3rd of January 2007. So there is still time to go.
But I once got an award. My mother was there at this dinner. This was
a few years ago. And they asked her to speak as well. So she got up to
speak, and she said how honored she was they had given this recognition
to her son, and so forth, and how much she appreciated it. And then she
closed her remarks by saying: He has been a good boy--so far.
I carry that comment with me.
Thank you all very much.
(Applause, Senators rising.)
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The assistant majority leader.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, if I could just briefly say to our good
friend from Maryland that Republican Senators, too, join in wishing him
well on this extraordinary accomplishment. And if he would like to
resign any time before January, that would be all right, too. But in
the meantime, we are glad to have you around.
Congratulations, Senator Sarbanes.
Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I rise today to talk about America's debt
problem.
The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt
limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S.
Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on
ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our
Government's reckless fiscal policies.
Over the past 5 years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5
trillion to $8.6 trillion. That is ``trillion'' with a ``T.'' That is
money that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund,
borrowed from China and Japan, borrowed from American taxpayers. And
over the next 5 years, between now and 2011, the President's budget
will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 trillion.
Numbers that large are sometimes hard to understand. Some people may
wonder why they matter. Here is why: This year, the Federal Government
will spend $220 billion on interest. That is more money to pay interest
on our national debt than we'll spend on Medicaid and the State
Children's Health Insurance Program. That is more money to pay interest
on our debt this year than we will spend on education, homeland
security, transportation, and veterans benefits combined. It is more
money in one year than we are likely to spend to rebuild the devastated
gulf coast in a way that honors the best of America.
And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in
the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy,
robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure
like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children
of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing
our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on.
Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to
investment in America's priorities. Instead, interest payments are a
significant tax on all Americans--a debt tax that Washington doesn't
want to talk about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief
in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by
returning to responsible fiscal policies.
But we are not doing that. Despite repeated efforts by Senators
Conrad and Feingold, the Senate continues to reject a return to the
commonsense Pay-go rules that used to apply. Previously, Pay-go rules
applied both to increases in mandatory spending and to tax cuts. The
Senate had to abide by the commonsense budgeting principle of balancing
expenses and revenues. Unfortunately, the principle was abandoned, and
now the demands of budget discipline apply only to spending.
As a result, tax breaks have not been paid for by reductions in
Federal spending, and thus the only way to pay for them has been to
increase our deficit to historically high levels and borrow more and
more money. Now we have to pay for those tax breaks plus the cost of
borrowing for them. Instead of reducing the deficit, as some people
claimed, the fiscal policies of this administration and its allies in
Congress will add more than $600 million in debt for each of the next 5
years. That is why I will once again cosponsor the Pay-go amendment and
continue to hope that my colleagues will return to a smart rule that
has worked in the past and can work again.
Our debt also matters internationally. My friend, the ranking member
of the Senate Budget Committee, likes to remind us that it took 42
Presidents 224 years to run up only $1 trillion of foreign-held debt.
This administration did more than that in just 5 years. Now, there is
nothing wrong with borrowing from foreign countries. But we must
remember that the more we depend on foreign nations to lend us money,
the more our economic security is tied to the whims of foreign leaders
whose interests might not be aligned with ours.
Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and
internationally. Leadership means that ``the buck stops here.''
Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto
the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem
[[Page S2238]]
and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.
I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America's debt
limit.
Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of
final passage.
Raising the debt limit is necessary to preserve the full faith and
credit of the U.S. Government.
We cannot as a Congress pass spending bills and tax bills and then
refuse to pay our bills.
Refusing to raise the debt limit is like refusing to pay your credit
card bill--after you've used your credit card.
The time to control the deficits and debt is when we are voting on
the spending bills and the tax bills that create it.
Raising the debt limit is about meeting the obligations we have
already incurred.
We must meet our obligations. Vote for this bill.
Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, the spending process in the Congress is
broken. Some will argue that now is not the time to debate spending
reform or budget reform. They will say that now is not the time to have
a debate about our country's spending priorities. They will argue that
right now we need to just ``pay our bills'' for past transactions and
discuss reforms some time in the future. Raising the debt limit,
however, does not count as ``paying the bills.'' We are not paying our
bills.
Last fiscal year, the real Federal deficit--the amount by which the
Federal debt increased--was $538 billion. When we raise the debt limit,
we are not ``paying our bills.'' We are merely taking out another line
of credit--another loan--to allow for more spending that we can't
afford. It is akin to a deeply indebted family getting a loan for a new
car or getting a new credit card or line of credit without cutting up
the old credit cards that got them in trouble in the first place.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Federal Government
spent roughly $2.5 trillion during the last fiscal year. Let's look at
that amount of spending another way. If the Federal Government spent
$2.5 trillion last year, that means that on average, $6.8 billion was
spent each day, or $78,418 was spent per second by the Federal
Government.
I believe that it is absolutely necessary to have an open and honest
debate about our spending priorities. We are getting ready to increase
this country's debt limit to almost $9 trillion. Over the past 5 years,
our national debt has increased by $3 trillion, or nearly $9,000 per
American. That is a lot of money. In 1990, our total national debt was
about $3 trillion. That means that it took our country more than 200
years to accumulate that amount of debt--200 years to increase our debt
by $3 trillion. We just added that much new debt in only 5 years.
In 2001, the share of Federal debt per person in this country was a
little over $20,000. That includes everyone--not just those in the
workforce. According to the Office of Management and Budget and the
Census Bureau, total Federal debt per American will rise to $29,000 per
American by the end of 2006. That is an increase of $9,000 per man,
woman, and child in this country since 2001. But a lot of people are
quick to dismiss that figure. They will say that it doesn't matter,
that we only need to worry about how debt and deficits compare to
economic growth or to the size of the economy. I think a better rule of
thumb is how Government growth compares to the growth of wages and
earnings.
If regular Americans are tightening their belts, the Federal
Government should do the same instead of engaging in yet another
spending binge. Since 2001, total Federal debt per American has
increased by $9,000. But over that same time period, the average wages
of American workers have only increased by $4,200. Over the past 5
years, the growth of Federal debt per person has doubled the growth of
average wages of American workers. What makes this situation even worse
is that that $9,000 increase in debt per person is just going to get
bigger and bigger because we are not doing anything to cut spending or
prepare for the impending fiscal crisis that will result from the
retirement of the baby boomer generation. Interest on that debt is just
going to get larger.
Last year, interest costs--the costs of Federal debt that the
Government must pay to those who buy U.S. Treasury bonds--were about 8
percent of the total Federal budget. In contrast, the average American
spends roughly 5 percent of his or her income on credit card debt and
car loans according to the Federal Reserve. The Federal Government
spent close to $200 billion on interest costs alone last year.
According to the Government Accountability Office, or GAO, interest
costs will consume 25 percent of the entire Federal budget by 2035.
Let's put that figure into perspective. Twenty-five percent of the
Federal budget is a huge amount.
By way of comparison, the Department of Education's share of Federal
spending in 2005 was approximately 3 percent of all Federal spending.
The Department of Health and Human Services was responsible for
approximately 23 percent of all Federal spending. Spending by the
Social Security Administration was responsible for about 20 percent of
all Federal spending. Spending on Medicare was about 12 percent of all
Federal spending. Spending in 2005 by the Department of Defense--in the
midst of two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and a global war against
terrorism--comprised about 19 percent of all Federal spending. Thus, if
we do not change our current spending habits, GAO estimates that as a
percentage of Federal spending, interest costs in 2035 will be larger
than defense costs today, Social Security costs today, Medicare costs
today, and education costs today.
No family in America would ever be able to manage its finances this
way. No family would be able to build up insane amounts of debt,
unilaterally increase all of its credit card limits with no ability to
ever pay them off, and still be able to spend, spend, spend without any
accountability. We have some very serious problems to address regarding
spending priorities in this country.
According to the Congressional Research Service, Congress
appropriated $64 billion in earmarks for 2006, the current fiscal year.
That doesn't even include the earmarks from the highway bill that was
passed in 2005. We are going to spend $64 billion on earmarks and pork
projects across the country this year even though it is estimated that
the real Federal deficit--including the money that is regularly stolen
from Social Security--will again surpass half a trillion dollars.
Earmarks are a serious problem because they put parochial interests
ahead of national priorities. They put the interests of the next
election ahead of the interests of the next generation. Some, however,
argue that earmarks are not really a problem because they comprise a
small percent of the budget. They argue that entitlement spending is
the problem and that we ought to address that problem instead of
focusing on earmarks. These arguments completely miss the point.
If entitlements are the real problem and earmarks are not a problem,
then why did entitlement savings passed in the last budget resolution
for fiscal year 2006 only amount to $5 billion? If entitlements are the
real problem, why did we spend 13 times more money on earmarks last
year than we saved in entitlement programs? At that rate, we will solve
our country's fiscal problems some time after never. The budget
resolution we passed last year created entitlement savings of about $40
billion over the next 5 years. We spent more on earmarks in 1 single
year than we saved from entitlement programs over 5 years. Over the
past 3 years--since 2004--we have spent nearly $160 billion on earmarks
and special interest pork projects according to the Congressional
Research Service.
Since 1994, the number of individual earmarks has more than tripled,
increasing from 4,126 in 1994 to 12,852 in fiscal year 2006. Of those
12,852 earmarks, over 95 percent were not even included in bill
language. Instead, they were hidden within conference reports. Many
never even saw the light of day until they were snuck into unamendable
conference reports that were sure to be rammed through at the last
minute. Earmarking is a very serious problem that needs to be addressed
before we can get our fiscal house in order. However, there are also
other spending issues that this body should address.
The issue of improper payments by the Federal Government is one that
[[Page S2239]]
can and should be fixed. The subcommittee that I chair--the
Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management--has examined this issue
in depth. We have uncovered numerous examples of improper payments that
waste taxpayer money and harm those who aren't receiving the assistance
they need. An improper payment is basically a payment that was either
made to the right person in the wrong amount or a payment that was
given to the wrong person, regardless of the amount. Improper payments
include payments that were too high and payments that were too low.
According to estimates by the Office of Management and Budget,
improper payments last year totaled $37 billion. That figure is larger
than last year's expenditures by the Departments of Commerce, Interior,
State, and Environmental Protection Agency combined. The amount of
improper payments just from last year could have completely funded four
major Federal agencies. Improper payments are a very serious problem.
For example, 28 percent of all payments within the earned income tax
credit program are incorrectly made. Thus, for every dollar we spend in
that program, 25 cents are completely wasted. Improper payments within
the Social Security Administration totaled nearly $6 billion. And these
figures don't even take into account the seven major programs with
outlays totaling about $228 billion that are not yet even reporting
their improper payments.
There are some who wish to make the issue of spending a partisan
issue, but it is not a partisan issue. Members of both parties are
guilty of putting short-term interests ahead of long-term priorities.
Last week, Members of both parties voted to ignore Senate budget rules
in order to spend an additional $1 billion that is not paid for on
home-heating costs even though the month of January was the warmest on
record and winter will be over in less than a week. Both parties appear
to lack the political courage to make the hard choices to address our
impending fiscal crisis. This issue has nothing to do with Republicans
and nothing to do with Democrats--it has to do with what is best for
the American public.
Mr. President, the spending process in this body is broken. Our
priorities are completely out of whack. Earmarking and wasteful
spending are out of control. It makes no sense to effectively max out
our credit cards and ask for a higher credit limit when we have no
intention and no ability to ever actually pay for our debts.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, the outcome of today's vote on raising the
debt ceiling to nearly $9 trillion is not in question, but our future
economic security will be if we do not change from our current
disastrous course. We will raise the debt limit today so that the
United States does not default on its obligations, but we cannot for a
second think that we have solved the problem or even moved in the right
direction.
This will be the fourth time in 5 years that we have had to raise the
amount the Government is allowed to borrow. This is a direct result of
the fiscal irresponsibility of this administration. These policies have
taken the Nation from 2 years of record surpluses just 6 years ago--
when we were paying down our debt--to record deficits and debt. We are
passing on a crippling burden to our children and grandchildren and
threatening our economic security.
Since 2002, we have increased the debt limit by an astounding $3
trillion. And unless we make a significant change in our fiscal
policies, there are additional increases in our future. The
Congressional Budget Office forecasts that our gross Federal debt,
which includes debt the Government owes to the public plus funds owed
to Federal trust funds, including Social Security and Medicare, will
climb from its current level of $8.3 trillion to $12.8 trillion by
2016. Even this extraordinary estimate does not include either the
coming costs of military operations in Iraq or the substantial cost of
fixing the alternative minimum tax, which if left unchanged will impose
unintended tax increases on middle-income taxpayers, which most agree
need to be changed.
The burden this massive debt puts on our children is staggering.
Today, each American citizen's share of the debt is over $27,000, and
it will rise to over $39,000 by 2016. Paying off this debt will require
either extraordinary tax increases or significant cuts in critical
areas such as defense or Social Security. Tragically, it will mean that
an increasing number of taxpayer dollars will be spent not on moving
America forward but simply on treading water by making interest
payments to our creditors. Even under the CBO's conservative estimates,
interest payments on the gross debt will rise from $352 billion in 2005
to $662 billion in 2016. That means over the next 10 years, we will
spend an estimated $5.6 trillion on interest payments alone. Making
these interest payments means fewer resources are available for our
national priorities such as shoring up the Social Security and Medicare
trust funds as the babyboom generation begins to retire.
Equally disturbing is what this rampant borrowing will mean for our
economic security. As we go deeper into debt to foreign countries we
are losing control of our own destiny. Over 90 percent of our newly
issued debt is being purchased by foreigners. By the end of 2004, U.S.
Treasury debt held by foreigners was close to $2.2 trillion, more than
double the amount that was held at the beginning of this
administration. This large amount of foreign debt leaves us vulnerable
to the priorities of foreign creditors. If foreign investors, including
countries, were to decide, for economic or political reasons, to stop
financing our debt, the U.S. economy would be in for a severe shock.
Even without a catastrophic event, our unbridled foreign borrowing
erodes our power by providing other countries with leverage during
trade or other negotiations. We cannot delude ourselves into thinking
we can maintain our position in the world if we can't even balance our
checkbook.
We need to turn away from this administration's irresponsible fiscal
policies. One of the best steps we could take would be to reinstate
pay-as-you-go budget enforcement rules that require tax cuts and not
just spending to be paid for. This approach worked during the 1990s to
help bring about the first surpluses in a generation, and it can work
again.
We should also revisit this administration's irresponsible and unfair
tax cuts that have driven us so deeply into this deficit ditch. It is
unconscionable that middle-class Americans will be paying for years for
tax cuts that went primarily to the wealthiest among us. In fact, the
top 5 percent of households in our country, whose average income is
more than $250,000 a year, received almost half of the President's tax
cuts.
Today's action to raise the debt limit will hopefully be a reality
check on what Republican fiscal policies have wrought. We need to
change course. We need to return to fiscal responsibility. And we need
to start climbing out of this deficit ditch before we are buried in it.
Mr. BIDEN. Mr. President, I was necessarily absent this morning when
we considered Senator Baucus's amendment to the debt limit increase. If
I had been here, I would have supported the Baucus amendment.
The Baucus amendment is clearly needed. The massive scale of other
nations' accumulation of our debt has added another level of danger and
complexity to our international economic relations.
This is a two-way street. The tsunami of debt created by the policies
of this administration has to go somewhere. China is one of the major
purchasers of that debt. Japan, Great Britain, and others have major
holdings, too. In the short term, that has soaked up a lot of our
bonds, and helped to keep interest rates down. That is a good thing.
However, that has kept the Chinese currency artificially low, and
ours artificially high. So they can sell their products at a discount,
and our exports are more expensive. That is a bad thing.
Our trade deficit was a record $726 billion last year; $202 billion
of that was our trade deficit with China alone.
But as the rest of the world copes with the waves of U.S. debt, we
are now all in the same leaky boat. There is just so much of our debt
other nations want to hold. The more of it they accumulate, the closer
we are to the day when they will not want any more.
When that happens, slowly or rapidly, our interest rates will go up,
the value of their U.S. bonds will drop, and
[[Page S2240]]
we will all have big problems. We need both more awareness, and more
understanding, of this fundamental threat to our economic well being
and the global economy.
But the roots of that threat lie in the disastrous policies of this
administration.
Because this massive accumulation of debt was predicted, because it
was foreseeable, because it was unnecessary, because it was the result
of willful and reckless disregard for the warnings that were given and
for the fundamentals of economic management, I am voting against the
debt limit increase.
In the 5 years he has been in office, President Bush has added more
to our foreign debt that the 42 Presidents before him. It took 224
years to accumulate $1 trillion of debt to other nations. It took
President Bush just 5 years to more than double it.
Over $3 trillion in debt, foreign debt and debt held by Americans,
has been piled up by this administration.
When he set out on the course that brought us to this sorry state,
the President was clearly and repeatedly warned that massive tax cuts
would leave us vulnerable to natural disasters, economic slowdown, or
threats to our national security. ``Don't worry,'' the President told
us. ``I know what I am doing.''
After 9/11, in the face of what he has himself called the moral
equivalent of the World War II, or the Cold War, he insisted that while
everything else had changed, he would not change his economic policies.
Facts had changed. His promise to balance the budget, his promise to
pay down the debt, were proved to be false.
But he refused to take responsibility for his policies. He refused to
admit that a changed world demanded a change of course. His refusal has
pushed us deeper and deeper into the hole.
His refusal added $450 billion to the debt in 2002; it added $984
billion in 2003; it added $800 billion in 2004. And here we are again
today, adding another $781 billion. With that addition, our national
debt will be $8.6 trillion at the end of this year.
The President's budget plans will bring that number to $11.8 trillion
at the end of the next 5 years.
This is a record of utter disregard for our Nation's financial
future. It is a record of indifference to the price our children and
grandchildren will pay to redeem our debt when it comes due.
History will not judge this record kindly.
My vote against the debt limit increase cannot change the fact that
we have incurred this debt already, and will no doubt incur more. It is
a statement that I refuse to be associated with the policies that
brought us to this point.
Mr. DODD. Mr. President, the Bush administration seeks for the fourth
time in 5 years to increase the indebtedness of the United States--this
time by $781 billion. This body's consideration of that increase allows
us a moment to take stock of the abysmal fiscal health of our country.
As a Washington Post editorial pointed out yesterday morning, this
President solemnly pledged upon taking office to payoff $2 trillion in
debt held by the public over the next decade. It is patently obvious
that President Bush has not just failed but failed spectacularly to
deliver on his pledge. He has managed to amass more debt than any
President in history, with no end in sight.
By the end of this year, our gross Federal debt is expected to
surpass $8.6 trillion, or nearly $28,000 for every man, woman, and
child in America. This amount represents an increase of approximately
$3 trillion since President Bush took office.
This dramatic runup in the debt has real costs for America's
families--both today and for future generations. It puts upward
pressure on interest rates for things like student loans, home
mortgages, and automobile loans. It raises the cost of capital for
business investment. Each of these, in everything but name, represents
a tax increase on American families and businesses.
More directly, instead of investing in America's most important
priorities--like education, health care, and homeland security--the
taxpayers of today and tomorrow must spend more money paying off
yesterday's debts. In the late 1990s, interest on the debt represented
a declining share of our total budget. Today, that share has begun to
rise once again, a trend that would continue under the budget put
forward by the administration and the leadership in this body. For 2007
alone, taxpayers will spend $247 billion dollars on interest on the
debt instead of American troops and veterans or American families and
children.
Our leaders have to be candid with the American public about the
sources of this unprecedented level of indebtedness.
The administration is not incurring these debts in order to invest in
education. They are not supporting States and local communities
struggling to meet their school funding needs out of property taxes.
The administration is not incurring these debts to improve our
infrastructure. States, municipalities, and local communities are
struggling desperately just to maintain the infrastructure they have--
roads, bridges, ports. They are struggling to maintain a 20th century
infrastructure, let alone build a 21st century one.
Certainly, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have had a cost. So have
the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and natural disasters.
Though the President has been quick to blame factors like these, the
truth is the tax policies of his administration have played a far
greater role in creating the budget deficits accumulated on his watch.
Under those policies, this administration has spent close to $125
billion on tax benefits for the few most fortunate households in
America--those 0.2 percent of individuals making more than $1 million
per year--while doing little, if anything, for families in the middle
and those working hard to get themselves in the middle.
In a time of war and fiscal and economic strain, this administration
has delivered a tax windfall to the most fortunate. Never before has a
President made this choice during a time of war.
Regrettably, this kind of shortsighted leadership has been
rubberstamped repeatedly by the leaders of this Congress on the other
side of the aisle.
I would have hoped, at a minimum, that we as a body could adopt
measures to restore some semblance of fiscal sanity, such as pay-as-
you-go budget procedures or a smaller debt limit increase.
Unfortunately, neither of these common sense reforms was adopted.
Indeed, the majority even rejected an amendment by the Senator from
Montana to merely study the impact that foreign-held U.S. debt is
having on our Nation's long-term well-being.
We cannot erase what has happened in the past, but we can demonstrate
to the people of our country going forward that the Senate is willing
to take commonsense steps to put our Nation back on firmer budgetary
footing. That, regrettably, has not happened in the Senate today.
However, many of us will continue the effort to place our nation's
fiscal house on firmer ground.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on the third reading of the
joint resolution.
The joint resolution was ordered to a third reading and was read the
third time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is, Shall the joint resolution
pass?
Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, is there time to speak on the debt limit?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is not.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There appears to be a sufficient second.
The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk called the roll.
The result was announced--yeas 52, nays 48, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 54 Leg.]
YEAS--52
Alexander
Allard
Allen
Bennett
Bond
Brownback
Bunning
Burr
Chafee
Chambliss
Cochran
Coleman
Collins
Cornyn
Craig
Crapo
DeMint
DeWine
Dole
Domenici
Enzi
Frist
Graham
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Hatch
Hutchison
Inhofe
Isakson
Kyl
Lott
Lugar
[[Page S2241]]
Martinez
McCain
McConnell
Murkowski
Roberts
Santorum
Sessions
Shelby
Smith
Snowe
Specter
Stevens
Sununu
Talent
Thomas
Thune
Vitter
Voinovich
Warner
NAYS--48
Akaka
Baucus
Bayh
Biden
Bingaman
Boxer
Burns
Byrd
Cantwell
Carper
Clinton
Coburn
Conrad
Dayton
Dodd
Dorgan
Durbin
Ensign
Feingold
Feinstein
Harkin
Inouye
Jeffords
Johnson
Kennedy
Kerry
Kohl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Menendez
Mikulski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Obama
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Rockefeller
Salazar
Sarbanes
Schumer
Stabenow
Wyden
The joint resolution (H.J. Res. 47) was passed.
Mr. McCONNELL. I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. SANTORUM. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
____________________