[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 46 (Tuesday, April 25, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H1723-H1729]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
DEBT AND THE DEFICIT
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania). Under the
Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 2005, the gentleman from
Arkansas (Mr. Ross) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the
minority leader.
=========================== NOTE ===========================
April 25, 2006--On page H1723 the following appeared: The
SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. FITZPATRICK). ...
The online version should be corrected to read: The SPEAKER pro
tempore (Mr. FITZPATRICK of Pennsylvania).
========================= END NOTE =========================
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening as whip of the 37-member
strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. I rise this
evening on behalf of the Blue Dogs, who are very concerned about this,
our Nation's debt, which is $8,353,429,193,726 and some change. That
means for every man, woman and child alive in America at this moment,
it means their share of the national debt is $28,000. Many of America's
priorities will continue to go unmet until we get our Nation's fiscal
house in order.
I plan to spend a good part of this hour discussing the debt and the
deficit, but I just heard some things from a group that calls
themselves the Official Truth Squad. They had the nerve to come to the
floor of the United States House of Representatives and say it is the
Democrats that are responsible for $3-a-gallon gasoline at the gas
pump. But the best one of all was when they blamed it on former
President Clinton. Mr. Speaker, give me a break.
The American people know for the last 5 years and for the first time
in 50 years, the Republicans control the White House, the House and the
Senate. It is they who have failed to give us an energy policy that
will allow us to become less dependent on foreign oil. They know that
Democrats like myself have tried time and time again to reduce our
dependence on foreign oil.
We have a bill in committee, in the Committee on Energy and Commerce,
of which I am a member. We have a bill in the committee that mandates
10 percent ethanol in all gasoline and 5 percent biodiesel in all
diesel fuel, and yet
[[Page H1724]]
the Republican leadership refuses to give us a hearing let alone a vote
on this bill that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil. It will
create new markets for America's farm families. It will mean that we
pay 60 to 70 cents less per gallon at the pump; and yes, it will reduce
our dependence on foreign oil.
When we talk about alternative and renewable fuels, don't let anyone
tell you that is too futuristic. I am here to tell you if we can strap
a four-wheeler on a rocket and shoot it to Mars and control it from
NASA's headquarters in Houston, it is American people that did that,
and in America we have people with the know-how to create alternative
and renewable fuels; not only ethanol and biodiesel, but many other
forms that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
It was last August, 8 months ago, last August that I went to all 29
counties in my congressional district and called on the President to
suspend deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and I did this
because I know it is a short-term solution, and it works. President
Bush's daddy did it in 1991, and the price of a barrel of oil dropped
$11 overnight. President Clinton did it in 2000, and the price of a
barrel of oil dropped $6. My question is why did it take this President
8 months to decide to announce today something I called for him to do
last August, and that is to suspend deliveries to the Strategic
Petroleum Reserve?
It is 8 months too late, and that means we have lost a number of farm
families that will not be back in the business of providing America
with a safe and reliable source for food and fiber. If we are not
careful, we are going to become just as dependent on foreign countries
for our food and fiber as we have for our energy supplies.
So I am very concerned that tonight all we heard from the Republican
side of the aisle and this so-called Truth Squad is that it is the
Democrats and President Clinton that are responsible for the high
prices of gasoline.
Let me say that the American people are sick and tired of the
partisan bickering going on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Mr. Speaker, it should not matter if it is a Democrat or Republican
idea; it should only matter if it is a commonsense idea, and does it
make sense for the people that send us here to be their voice.
I am going to continue to push for ethanol and biodiesel and other
renewable and alternative fuels that will reduce our dependence on
foreign oil and bring down the price we pay at the pump because, Mr.
Speaker, I represent a very large and rural district where it is not
uncommon to travel 50 and 100 miles each way each day to a job. Our
working farm families can no longer afford the prices we are seeing at
the gas pump.
Mr. Speaker, I am also proud that the President finally today
suggested something that I put into a bill last September that the
Republican leadership refused to give me a hearing or a vote on, and
that is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the big
oil companies to determine if what we have been seeing is in any way
related to price gouging. I can tell you if it is, the big oil
companies responsible for that, they should not be put in the jail,
they ought to be put under the jail. Why did it take this President 8
months to heed my call for a Federal Trade Commission investigation and
to heed my call to suspend deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum
Reserve? I am sure it has something to do with his approval rating now
reaching an all-time low of 32 percent.
Now, I wasn't here this evening to discuss energy, but I got a little
fired up when the other side of the aisle decided they were going to
say it was the Democrats and President Clinton who are responsible for
$3-a-gallon gasoline at the pump.
I am joined this evening by a good friend and colleague within the
Blue Dog Coalition to talk about the debt and the deficit. He is a real
active member of the Blue Dog Coalition, the group of 37 fiscally
conservative Democrats, Mr. David Scott of Georgia.
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be on the
floor to set the record straight. I, too, heard what the Republicans
were just saying. The American people are a lot of things, but they are
not fools. They know that the President is a Republican. They know that
the Senate is in the hands of the Republicans. They know that this
House of Representatives is in the hands of the Republicans. The
Republicans are leading the country.
When Democrats were leading this country, at least one of our
Presidents, President Truman, said, the buck stops here. Not these.
They say the buck stops with the Democrats when we are the minority
party. There is not a bill we can get passed here because we are the
minority party. It is wrong as wrong can be for the Republicans to
point fingers and try to blame the Democrats for this huge increase in
prices. This belongs where it ought to be: On the failed policies of
the President.
Now, I like the President. I find the President to be a very fine
person, and I hold him in great personal esteem, but I totally disagree
with his policies. And the people of this country disagree with his
policies.
Now let us talk about the truth. We have had the Truth Squad just
speak, and I am sort of reminded of this story of a good friend of
mine. Her name was Isabella. One day in New York City Isabella had a
vision, and so she changed her name to Sojourner Truth. She went all
over this country speaking, and everywhere she went, people would ask
her about her funny name.
She would say, Let me tell you about my funny name. The Lord gave me
``Sojourner'' so I could travel the world showing the people and
speaking to them. But I told the Lord I needed another name, and he
gave me ``Truth'' so I could tell the truth to people.
Mr. Ross, that is what the American people are expecting us to do
tonight, to be sojourners of truth and to tell the truth. There is no
more burning issue. Yes, we must talk about the deficit, but we have to
talk about this gas price. We have to talk about the raising of it
because it is what is on the hearts and minds and souls of the American
people. They are fed up to here with these huge, gigantic gas spikes
and gas prices.
{time} 2145
Many people can't even make it. I was just out in my district in
Douglas County down on Dorsett Shoals Road this past Sunday. And one of
my constituents, a little lady, came out and said, Congressman, please
do something about these gas prices. Where is our country headed? Where
are we going? Please do something about securing our borders. Where is
our country going? I am here to tell you, Mr. Ross, the American people
are very, very concerned about the lack of direction and going in the
wrong direction that this country is headed in. Nowhere is it more
startling than in these gas prices.
Now, let me bring this to your attention, Mr. Ross, because this
really gets to me. And I want to talk about this for a moment. In this
article, I think it was from one of the media, the New York Times or
Washington Post. I don't have it correct. But they began to talk about
something that brings home the point.
Now, let me preface this by saying, I am a capitalist. I was trained
at the best school of business in the world, the citadel of capitalism,
the Wharton School of Finance where I got my MBA. Served on the board
of directors there for 6 years. So I am a capitalist. I believe in the
profit motive. I understand all of that.
But listen to this that we hear about the CEO at Exxon-Mobil. For his
efforts, Mr. Lee Raymond, who retired in December, was compensated more
than $686 million from 1993 to 2005, according to an analysis done for
the New York Times by Brian Foley, an independent compensation
consultant. That amounts to $144,573, every day.
Now, I am for profit. But there is a difference between profit and
greed, and that is what is upsetting the American people. At a time
when we have diminishing oil resources, at a time that the fuel prices
are skyrocketing, these oil companies are making huge profits.
Now, all I say is this: Don't we owe it to the American people to ask
these executives from these oil companies to come before Congress and
explain this to us?
The American people are asking questions. I know your constituents
are asking questions: How can it be? And not only that, if we move over
to Chairman Ray Irani of Occidental Petroleum, He received $63 million
in
[[Page H1725]]
total compensation just last year. And over the past 3 years, Irani has
reaped more than $135 million.
I am not kicking anybody for making money. This is a free enterprise
system. It is a capitalistic system. But we are not dealing with
peanuts. We are not dealing with renewable stuff. We are dealing with a
life and death, very valuable diminishing resource called oil that we
are dependent on, not just for us to make our economy go. It also is
the juice that enables us to fight our wars, protect this country.
There is a lot at stake with this.
Meanwhile, we want the truth. Here are the facts: the price of gas,
while all of these profits are going on, the price of gas has doubled.
Profits for big oil and gas companies have quadrupled at the time that
gas prices have zoomed up, while American families' incomes have been
stagnated.
Many small independent gas stations are reporting that they are being
gouged by big oil companies. Now, if they are saying that, shouldn't we
investigate? Shouldn't we take a look? That is all that I am saying. I
am saying we need to bring the oil industry individuals in and get them
under oath to provide us with some answers.
No, this is not a Democrat or Republican situation. It is all of our
situation. But I tell you, when they are in charge, it is wrong to
blame us.
Mr. ROSS. I appreciate the gentleman from Georgia and his thoughts on
this energy crisis. And he is right, these oil company executives, I
would invite them to come to my district and look into the eyes of farm
families that are no longer in business, working families who are
having to make difficult decisions about how to spend their money
because of the high price of gasoline just to get to and from work.
And yet this administration, this Republican-led Congress continue to
tell us that life is getting better. It is getting better for whom?
Gasoline prices are up 80 percent. Health care costs are up 50 percent.
College costs are up 40 percent, and incomes are down in this country.
That concerns me. And as one of the 37 members of the fiscally
conservative Blue Dog Coalition, we understand that all of this is
directly related to this, the national debt, which is now
$8,053,429,193,726 and some change, which equates to every man, woman
and child in America, including the children being born today, their
share is $28,000. We call that the debt tax, D-E-B-T. And that is one
tax that cannot go away until our Nation gets its fiscal house in
order. A lot of people think the deficit doesn't matter, that the debt
doesn't matter, that we can simply print more money. That doesn't
happen. It doesn't work that way.
Unfortunately, here's how it works. We are borrowing money from the
Social Security trust fund, which I am adamantly against. Now, I
understand, the first bill I filed as a Member of Congress was a bill
to tell the politicians in Washington to keep their hands off the
Social Security trust fund. Now, I understand why the Republican
leadership refused to give me a hearing or a vote on that bill, because
the projected deficit for fiscal year 2007 is $348 billion. That is the
number you will hear a lot. But the reality is that it is $548 billion.
The difference is they are taking the money from the Social Security
trust fund with absolutely no provision on how or when that money is
going to be paid back.
Now, when I go to the bank to get a loan, my banker asks me how I am
going to pay it back, where's the money going to come from to pay it
back, and when am I going to pay it back. Our government should be no
different. The politicians in Washington should keep their hands off
the Social Security trust fund. But, instead, this is what we get.
Forty-five percent of the debt is being borrowed from foreign central
banks and foreign investors. Forty-five percent of the deficit is
coming from foreigners. In fact, this administration, in the last 6
years, has borrowed more money from foreign central banks and foreign
investors in places like China and Japan and South Korea than the
previous 42 Presidents combined. And if we are not careful, if we are
not careful, those foreigners are going to influence and have an impact
and have control of our Nation's monetary policy. And we already see
what is happening with interest rates.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. ROSS. I will yield, yes, ma'am.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Let me just congratulate the Blue Dog
Coalition. I have listened to this very articulate explanation, if you
will, of the national debt; and I want to congratulate the gentleman
from Georgia and the gentleman from Arkansas and the distinguished
gentleman from Tennessee.
I just want to thank you for acknowledging or at least bringing to
the attention of the American people the impact of the deficit. Just a
reminder that when the Clinton administration left office there was a
surplus. And so this issue of the national debt and deficit is crucial.
And I would just simply leave with this thought: I also heard you
talk about the gasoline prices and, obviously, there is an enormous
range of issues that we need to discuss with that, the ethanol issue
and, of course, the strategic petroleum reserve.
But let us remember that the people who are most harmed by where we
are today, the deficit and gasoline prices, are hardworking, struggling
American families. These are people who get up every day, turn the
lights on early and get in their cars to make ends meet. And, frankly,
even though the President has offered some suggestions today as it
relates to gasoline pricing, I don't think this House should rest a
moment until we address this question.
Many people will say, I represent the energy company so I am not here
to suggest that there is a single answer. But I think the energy
company should come to the table, I think the President needs to have
the bully pulpit, if you will, and some relief needs to go directly to
mom and pop senior citizen at the gas pump. And I hope, as you continue
your discussion this evening, that Americans will understand that
Democrats are prepared to fix this horrible debt to protect the Social
Security trust fund which is a very important issue, but also respond
to the struggling Americans or the needs of fixed-income persons when
it comes to this crisis in gasoline pricing. It is not tomorrow, next
week; it is now. This Congress needs to stand up and address this
question, and they need to do it now. And I thank the gentleman for
yielding. I thank the distinguished gentleman from Georgia.
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. The gentlewoman from Texas brings up a very
interesting point in terms of our energy crisis and how it dovetails
with our debt, one of the important points we have got to look at so we
can see the dangerous track we are on. Mr. Ross, you just went through
one of the most disturbing facts of our debt and that is the
indebtedness that we are in to our foreign investors, borrowing more
money from them than all the 42 Presidents combined. But let us look at
who they are. Let us look at who they are who are controlling our
financial security. They are the very same nations that are controlling
our energy security. China and India, on the one hand, Japan, the OPEC
countries, the countries in the Middle East, on the other hand. Each of
these areas are controlling our debt, and they are controlling our oil.
The United States of America consumes 25 percent of the world's
energy. But we produce or have access to just the refining and
production capacity of just 5 percent. Put that together with the fact
that one thing nobody mentions, not the President, not anybody, but it
needs to be mentioned, and that is that why should we be taking this
time to plan the future of this great country on a diminishing
resource?
Every point, and I bring this to you again, this is a quote from a
president, former president of Exxon-Mobil. I talked about the other's
salary a minute ago to show the discrepancy. Here's what, 3 years ago,
John Thompson, president of Exxon-Mobil said. He said, we estimate that
the world's oil production from existing oil fields is declining at an
average rate of 6 percent a year. To meet projected demand in 2015, the
industry will have to add about 100 million barrels a day in new
production. That is equal to 80 percent more than we are producing
today, and oil is not a replenishing asset.
That brings me to the issue of where we really need to be planning
for the future of this country is not on a diminishing resource of oil
that is not
[[Page H1726]]
going to be there in the future. We have got to look elsewhere. And I
tell you this, Mr. Ross: if Brazil can take sugar cane and solve their
energy crisis and turn it into fuel for their automobiles with ethanol,
why in the world can't we do that in America with our corn or with our
other biofuel capacities, with our research? We have got the American
can-do spirit. The problem is we need to unleash it, and we have got to
do it, not depending upon oil that is a diminishing resource, but have
the vision, have the courage to look to the future.
And I tell you, surely, if Brazil can solve their problem with using
one of their natural replenishable resources of sugar cane to provide
their major source of fuel, surely we can do as well as that. And we
must do that.
Mr. ROSS. The gentleman is absolutely correct, and the fact that our
Nation is $8.3 trillion in debt has a direct impact on all of America's
priorities, many of which are going unmet today because of this
enormous debt. I mean, it is $8.2 trillion, but it is growing by nearly
$1 billion a day. We are sending $279 million a day to Iraq, $57
million a day to Afghanistan. This President, in this year's budget,
proposes cuts to things like education and student loans to the tune of
$2 billion. And yet the same budget, the same budget includes over $200
billion in new tax cuts for those that are primarily earning over
$400,000 a year. It is about priorities, and priorities should begin
with bringing down the high price of gasoline and diesel fuel; and
priorities should begin with reducing our dependence not only on
foreign oil but on foreign central banks and foreign investors to fund
our government.
{time} 2200
The U.S. is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign lenders.
Foreign lenders currently hold a total of about $2.174 trillion of our
public debt. Compare this to only $23 billion in foreign holdings in
1993.
The top 10 current lenders, countries that this President and this
Republican Congress continue to pass tax cuts with money that they are
borrowing from these countries: Japan, $668.3 billion. China, you can
see here in 2000, and these are based on numbers from the United States
Treasury and the United States Census Bureau, the public debt held by
China quadruples under President Bush by billions of dollars. In 2000,
when the President took office, our government had borrowed $62 billion
from China, and in less than 6 years this chart shows that we have now
borrowed $257 billion from China. This was printed on February 23,
2006. We cannot get them printed and updated quickly enough because the
new number is $262.6 billion. United Kingdom, $244.8 billion. Our
Nation has borrowed $97.9 billion from the Caribbean Banking Center. I
had never heard of such. Taiwan, $71.6 billion. OPEC nations, $77.6
billion that we have borrowed from them. With the excessive price we
pay at the pump, they are getting the profits. They are getting so much
in profits on our backs that they are then turning around and lending
our Nation money so that these Republicans in Congress can keep
borrowing money from OPEC to give their rich buddies a tax cut.
And I would submit to you if you earn over $400,000 a year, you ought
to be for this. If you earn less than $400,000 a year, this is not a
good deal for you, and it is certainly not fair to your children, who
have got to pay this back someday.
Korea, $68.3 billion. Germany, $65.2 billion. Canada, $54.9 billion.
And to round out the top 10 list of countries that our Nation has
borrowed money from to fund tax cuts, Hong Kong, $48.3 billion.
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. The American people are fed up with this, I
assure you.
Mr. ROSS. The gentleman is so right. The gentleman is so correct on
that.
In a moment we are going to be hearing from the cochair for policy
for the 37-member-strong fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, and
it is interesting what the gentleman from Tennessee is about to present
to us. This is a little known report.
And before we get into this, let me just let you know, Mr. Speaker,
that every Tuesday night, as members of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group
of 37 fiscally conservative Democrats, we come to the floor of the
United States House of Representatives to talk about the budget, the
debt, the deficit, and how this directly impacts America's priorities.
And, Mr. Speaker, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns of
us, I would encourage you to e-mail us at BlueD[email protected].
Again, Mr. Speaker, I would encourage you to e-mail us your thoughts,
concerns, or questions to BlueD[email protected].
Very few people in our Nation, in fact, very few people in this
Congress, know about this little known report. It is called the
Financial Report of the United States Government, and this is the 2005
edition. Very few copies of this report are printed. Very few copies
are circulated.
Contrast that, Mr. Speaker, to this: This is the budget of the United
States Government. It is delivered with a lot of fanfare to every
Member of Congress's office. You always read about it and see it in the
newspaper, radio, and television. You hear about it and see it, and
this is the budget for fiscal year 2007. The budget of the United
States Government, you get an idea of how thick it is. It is a big
document, and it is delivered each year to all 435 Members with a lot
of fanfare.
This document, however, is delivered only to a handful of people, and
it is only delivered to them because the law requires it, but it is a
financial report of the United States Government. And here is what is
interesting about this report: When we tell you that the deficit for
2005 was $319 billion, that is based on cash-basis accounting. Now, the
Financial Report of America, and I believe it was Senator John Glenn
that introduced the legislation, Congress requires the Secretary of the
Treasury to issue this Financial Report of America using accrual-based
accounting. It is this Congress through various laws that require every
business in America with revenues over $5 million to use accrual-based
accounting. They get in a lot of trouble with the IRS if they do not,
and yet our government does not use the accrual accounting method, and
our government certainly is bigger than $5 million in revenue every
year. Our government uses cash-based accounting. And based on cash-
based accounting, the deficit for 2005 was $319 billion.
Maybe the reason this is not widely distributed and not very well
known is because when the Financial Report of America issued by
President Bush's Secretary of the Treasury, as required by law, uses an
accrual-based accounting method, this little document reveals that the
true deficit for 2005 was not $319 billion. It was $760 billion. Lord
knows we are not trying to make it sound any worse than it already is
because at $319 billion it is one of the largest deficits ever in our
Nation's history. It is hard now to believe that we had a balanced
budget in this country from 1998 to 2000, but we did. And yet under
this administration and this Republican-led Congress, we have got the
largest budget deficit ever in our Nation's history for 6 years in a
row, and that is based on the cash-based accounting method. And when
you look at the accrual accounting method, it is much worse.
Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee,
the cochair for policy for the 37-member-strong, fiscally conservative
Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, Mr. Jim Cooper, who discovered this
document. And I yield to him to better explain it to all of us.
Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Arkansas for
yielding and my friend from Georgia for his remarks.
If the gentleman from Arkansas would not mind, I might take that
podium because of the easel next to it, because I brought a chart with
me tonight.
Mr. ROSS. Please do.
Mr. COOPER. I appreciated the gentleman's remarks because he was
exactly on track. There are two basic methods of accounting. One is
simple, it is based on the cash basis. That means when you pay for
something, you have to acknowledge it on the books.
We all know that we live in a credit card economy, and it is easy to
buy things with plastic, and you know that when you sign that little
piece of paper after you put down your credit card, you have
effectively bought it even
[[Page H1727]]
though you have not paid the bill yet. You might not pay the bill until
the end of the month or the end of the year, but it is important to
acknowledge the fact that you have bought it when you put down the
plastic.
That is essentially what the accounting method that my colleague from
Arkansas was describing does. It is called accrual accounting, A-C-C-R-
U-A-L. Now, it has nothing to do with the word ``cruel.'' It is not a
mean form of accounting. In fact, it is probably the kindest form of
accounting because it remembers our elderly, it remembers our sick, and
our disabled not just when their bills are due, but when their needs
arise. And that is when we should pay attention to our seniors, our
sick, and our disabled.
I brought with me a chart tonight that asks a very simple question.
Here we are in the Congress of the United States. This is the greatest
country in the history of the world. You would think that in a recent
year we would be able to tell you, Mr. Speaker, and tell the American
taxpayer how big our deficit was. Well, there are different ways of
measuring it, and let me list the ways for you tonight.
One is the way that my colleague mentioned, the U.S. budget that the
President talks about so much. I am going to have breakfast at the
White House in the morning with the new OMB Director, Rob Portman, a
former colleague of ours, and I am going to be discussing this with him
in the morning. It will be interesting to see what his reaction is.
Under the OMB approach of cash accounting, the deficit last year was
$319 billion. That was the third highest figure in U.S. history. It is
about 2.6 percent of GDP. So it is huge and worrisome. They claim it is
shrinking, but let me show you these other deficit measures again for
the same year, 2005. If you do not allow us to borrow money from Social
Security, the gross borrowing for the U.S. that year was $494 billion.
So in a sense our true deficit in 2005 was not $319 billion. It was
$494 billion, because I do not know anybody back home who supports our
borrowing from Social Security in order to reduce the appearance of the
size of the deficit.
But here is the number that my colleague from Arkansas mentioned as
well: This is using real accounting, accrual accounting, like all
businesses of any size in America have to use by law. If you apply that
to the U.S. Government, you get a shocking result. The budget deficit
jumps $441 billion to $760 billion using modern accounting. And guess
what. This deficit is not shrinking, as OMB claims. This one seems to
be growing rapidly. And that number equals almost all domestic
discretionary spending in America, defense and nondefense. That is a
huge number. That is a deficit as large as basically all the money that
Congress has any say over during the year because the rest of it is in
entitlement programs and the interest on the national debt.
As bad as that is, look at these other numbers. These are truly scary
numbers because if you believe, as I do, that Social Security is the
most solemn obligation in the United States, you cannot ignore Social
Security. And as good as this document is using modern accounting, it
basically ignores Social Security because it has got a little paragraph
in here on page 12 that says in the section ``Other Responsibilities,''
oh, by the way, the Social Security unfunded liability situation is
trillions of dollars. Well, that needs to be accounted for in the
annual budget deficit, and if you account for it in the annual budget
deficit, it means that the budget deficit in the year 2005 was
basically $1.7 trillion, many times larger than the figure the
administration releases.
But guess what. Not only is Social Security a sacred obligation of
our Nation, so are other programs like Medicare. Medicare takes care of
our elderly and our disabled, and it, too, is a solemn obligation of
our Nation. But it, too, is ignored in this document, ignored in the
annual deficit figure. If you factor that in, the true deficit for the
year 2005 was not $319 billion, was not $494 billion, was not $760
billion, was not $1.7 trillion. It was $2.747 trillion, or $2,747
billion. That is a number so large, it is almost impossible to imagine.
It is literally as large as the entire Federal budget itself.
So if you want to measure the budget deficit accurately, I think you
have to acknowledge there is not just one measure. There is the old-
fashioned cash measure, which can be used, but is unrepresentative of
our true obligations under credit card accounting and under the needs
that we have with Social Security and Medicare. If you used a more
modern accounting, suddenly the deficit looks a lot larger. In fact, if
you include Social Security and Medicare, the deficit is, in fact,
larger than most citizens can imagine.
Very few people know this. It will be interesting tomorrow morning at
breakfast to see whether the new Director of OMB knows this because
these numbers are so large, they literally represent a crisis for our
Nation. It is a crisis not only for this generation, but for future
generations, because what a deficit means is it is borrowing money,
oftentimes, as my colleague from Arkansas said, from foreign nations,
and these folks expect to be repaid with interest. And that puts a
terrific debt burden, D-E-B-T, on the backs of our kids and grandkids
as they struggle to pay the interest costs. Pretty soon interest alone
will take up almost $400 billion or $500 billion a year of American
productive capacity. That is a shame because that money could be
invested in roads and schools and future productive opportunities for
our young people. Instead it will be paid in interest to foreign
central bankers. It is the only tax that can never be repealed.
{time} 2215
It is a tax that will not go away until we once again return to the
days of budget surpluses, when we can pay down that debt. But we are a
long way from home right now, because the Nation is on the wrong track.
We are headed in the wrong direction, and we need to acknowledge these
truthful deficit measures so we can better understand our current
plight.
It is important that the American people be informed of all the
facts, not only the President's budget, but also the financial report
of the United States Government which was issued by his own Department
of Treasury, but which they printed so few copies of that they
literally don't want you to see it.
So I would like to yield back my time to my colleagues from Georgia
and from Arkansas. I appreciate your holding these issues up for the
American people so the entire Nation can be involved in the debate. It
is very important, Mr. Speaker, that all the American people see what
is really going on in our great country, because our responsibility in
this generation is to keep our country great.
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, one of the points, just to add to
what you are saying to show the real gravity of this situation, is
this: Just the interest, just the interest alone that we are paying
back on this, is the fastest growing part of our budget. Just the
interest. Combined, that interest amounts to more than all of what we
are spending for veterans, for education and for our own homeland
security. The interest just is overwhelming.
Now, I want to make a point, because you brought it home, and as you
were explaining that, the gentleman from Tennessee, I was reminded of a
little history lesson here. If you would look back through history at
all of the great civilizations, great nations, from the Roman Empire to
the British Empire to the Ottoman Empire, they all collapsed from three
important things: Global overreach, diminishing resources at home and
an overwhelming, irresponsible debt in the hands of foreigners.
We are on the verge of handing our country over to foreigners, in our
fiscal area, in our petroleum area and because of a lack of security on
our borders.
I tell you, Mr. Ross, the American people are dialed in on this. They
are concerned about this and they want some leadership. They want
vision. They want our borders secure. They want America to be America.
Why can't we be independent in our resources, if we can make fuel to
run our automobiles from corn? We know we can. Do you know why? Because
the very first automobile manufactured by Henry Ford, the Model T, you
know what it was fueled by? Ethanol made from corn. What more evidence
do we need?
Mr. ROSS. I would say to the gentleman from Georgia, I could not
agree
[[Page H1728]]
with you more. The point we are making I believe this evening, I hope
this evening, is as long as we have got this massive debt, which is
costing us half a billion dollars a day in interest payments alone, as
long as we continue to borrow $1 billion a day, increasing the $8.3
trillion debt by $1 billion a day, then America's priorities will
continue to go unmet.
We talk about investing in alternative and renewable fuels. The
Potlatch Corporation with their plant in Cypress Bend, Arkansas, in my
congressional district, has been recognized for their efforts in
publications including the Wall Street Journal, I believe.
They have a plan. They have the ability to take the wood, if you
will, the timber, if you will, that is left in the woods that is not
used in a manufacturing process, combine that with what is left on the
sawmill floor, and they can power at least five towns the size of my
hometown of Preston, Arkansas. To invest in that kind of equipment and
technology and to make the thing economically feasible, it is going to
have to be mass produced on a large scale, so they are in search of
money to go forward.
In the energy bill there is money to invest in these types of
alternative and renewable fuels, but because of the massive debt there
is only $150 million. Don't get me wrong, $150 million is a lot of
money to a country boy from Prescott, Arkansas. But my point is this:
To be able to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and to make our
Nation more energy self-sufficient, to get this project off the ground
to where it can be mass produced, they need $100 million. There is $150
million for similar type projects for all of America. They need $100
million of it.
My point is we are not investing nearly enough in alternative and
renewable fuels. $150 million is a lot of money, but our Nation is
spending three times that, $500 million every day simply paying
interest on the national debt, when we could be investing in
alternative and renewable fuels to bring down the high energy bills
that are having a negative effect, a horrible impact on America's
working families, America's seniors and America's farm families.
Just look at what interest payments on the debt are doing. The red on
this chart is the net interest that is being paid in billions of
dollars. The blue is how much we spend on education. Yes, we will spend
more money paying interest on the national debt in about 100 days than
we will spend on education in 365. Homeland security is the green bar.
Veterans. I might remind you, we have got a whole new generation of
veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, including my brother-
in-law, who is in the United States Air Force, and my first cousin, who
is in the United States Army.
So look where our priorities lay in this country. Until we can get
our Nation's fiscal house in order, this Republican Congress is going
to continue to spend half a billion dollars a day paying interest on
the national debt, while education and homeland security, keeping
America safe and our veterans, will continue to get the short end of
the stick.
I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is a double-ended stick too,
because we must understand what this means in terms of the President
will say, well, we are borrowing this money, we are making these budget
cuts for tax cuts, so we can give tax cuts to the top 10 percent of
this country, when they are not tax cuts. America needs to understand,
they are not tax cuts. They are deferred tax increases, deferred tax
increases, because somebody has got to pay for that.
It is not fair. I have got two lovely little grandchildren. I love
them to death. I have got two children. That debt is going to be on
them. That is not fair. It is not fair to do that.
Now I need to talk about one other thing so that we will know
clearly, as you spoke on renewable energy programs and as we talk about
this budget, the budget that again we will hopefully not have the votes
for again. But let's talk about it, because you have got to look at the
President's actions and the Republican administration's actions.
Like I said earlier when we first started out, you can't blame the
Democrats. We are not in charge. I hope that the American people will
give us that opportunity this November to be in charge. Then we will be
responsible.
But I guarantee you one thing; we won't point the finger at the
Republicans. We will say, as Harry Truman said, ``The buck stops
here.'' We will say, as John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, ``Ask not what
your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.'' We
will do what Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, ``The only thing we have
to fear is fear itself.''
That is what the American people are waiting for. They are waiting to
be challenged. They are waiting to be inspired. We don't need our
country run by the Middle East, by Iran, Iraq or Saudi Arabia. We don't
need it run by China or India. That is not what made America great.
America became great because of our own inventiveness. We can become
energy independent. All we have to do is unleash the mighty, free
enterprise spirit within America.
If we know that oil is a diminishing resource, it is foolish for us
to plan the future of this great Nation on a ready supply of oil, when
we know it is running out. We have proven that. We have got to be bold.
We must have vision. We must understand, and we must not be like those
other previous civilizations on whose bleached bones are written those
pathetic words, ``too late.'' Rome moved too late, the Ottoman Empire
moved too late, the Dutch Netherlands moved too late and even Great
Britain moved too late.
Will we move too late, Mr. Ross? I don't think so, because there is
too much can-do spirit in this country. That is what made America what
it is, and that is what is going to take us forward. We have the
leadership, we have the will, we have the vision, and we can be what
the American people want us to be.
Mr. ROSS. The gentleman from Georgia is correct in talking about not
only do we understand what the problem is, record debt, record
deficits, but we also have a solution to the problem.
As members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog
Coalition, all 37 of us, we have a 12-point plan for meaningful budget
reform. These are not rocket science ideas; they are common sense
ideas.
One of them is promoting accountability within our government. I have
talked about this before, and I am going to continue to talk about it,
because I continue to have these manufactured homes located in my
congressional district.
FEMA has this so-called FEMA staging area at the Hope Airport in
Hope, Arkansas, and the idea was that manufactured homes, 14 and 16
foot wide, 60 foot long, and they are fully furnished, they would come
and go. Hope is 450 miles from the eye of Hurricane Katrina.
Well, they all came, and none of them ever went. As a result, at one
time we had 10,477 brand new, fully-furnished manufactured homes
sitting at the airport in Hope, Arkansas. They were going to use these
old World War II era runways, taxiways and tarmacs, and you can see
that is what they did with some of them. Then they started to have to
use pasture land.
Here is a better shot. When I say pasture land or hay meadow, you get
the idea what I am talking about. Here are these mobile homes sitting
there on the grass.
So when I started getting on them and raising this issue back in
December, I thought FEMA would get these homes to the people who lost
their home and everything they owned in places like Mississippi and
Louisiana. But instead, FEMA's response to this is they are now
spending $4.3 million laying gravel on this pasture to keep the
manufactured homes from sinking, instead of getting the homes to the
people that need them.
They claim they won't locate them in Louisiana and Mississippi in
flood plains. Why didn't FEMA think about that before they went out and
spent nearly $1 billion on these mobile homes? FEMA says it is okay to
put tents in flood plains, it is okay to put almost 80 million camper
trailers in flood plains, but, no, not mobile homes, not even
temporarily for 18 months. So people continue to live in hotel rooms,
they continue to live in tents, they continue to live in campers across
Louisiana and Mississippi.
You would have thought that FEMA would have figured this thing out
since
[[Page H1729]]
last August when Hurricane Katrina hit. Unfortunately, we had a
horrible tornado come through Arkansas and Tennessee, numerous
tornadoes, I might add, which literally destroyed the community of
Marmaduke, Arkansas. It took a number of Congressmen, a number of
Senators, a Governor and I don't know who all else two weeks to get
FEMA to move 25 of these 10,477 mobile homes from Hope, Arkansas, to
Marmaduke, Arkansas.
We come to find out they have simply moved them to a so-called FEMA
staging area at Marmaduke, and are telling those homeless it might take
30 days to process their paperwork to see if they can get one of these
homes.
This is a symbol of what is wrong with this administration, this
Republican Congress and their Federal Emergency Management Agency. I
will continue to raise this issue and continue to give you an update,
Mr. Speaker, as long as we have got a single home sitting at the
airport at Hope, Arkansas, while people remain homeless from these
horrible natural disasters.
In fact, Mr. Speaker, the current update as I understand it is we now
as of tonight have 10,112 manufactured homes sitting there at the
airport in Hope, Arkansas. This is an example of the lack of
accountability within our government, the kind of accountability that
we need if we are going to get our Nation's fiscal house in order.
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Ross, you cannot help but feel compassion
for the American people. They deserve much better than this, with
Katrina, the natural disasters that are happening and the lack of
response of FEMA. You talk about FEMA. I had a similar problem in my
own district, where we had literally thousands of trailers sitting
right there on the campus of Ft. Gillem.
{time} 2230
Weeks, weeks, weeks went by, not going down into the Louisiana area.
Lack of coordination, lack of proper direction.
The American people deserve much better than this, and we are going
to give them much better. We have got to change the direction of this
country. It is implicit in the debt that we are having. It is implicit
in the response and the concerns with the rising gas prices. It is
implicit in what is happening with the depletion of our military and
our armed services, in the service of Iraq and Afghanistan. It is
implicit in the situation with the Dubai Ports deal, even to think that
they would turn over the security of this country to a company owned by
a country who was only one of three countries to recognize the Taliban
as the authority, ruler, in Afghanistan, while we have got our young
men and women dying and fighting the Taliban. A tremendous disconnect.
And it is obvious it is there. As I said at the outset, we are here
to be sojourners of truth. And we are sojourners of truth here tonight.
Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Georgia, the gentleman from
Tennessee for joining me this evening as we discuss this huge issue,
this debt, and deficit facing our country, as we do every Tuesday
night.
We began the hour with a debt, $8,353,429,193,726 and some change.
Just in the last hour since we have been discussing the debt and the
deficit and what it means to America and how America's priorities are
not getting funded because of it, how our veterans are not being taken
care of, our school children are not being taken care of, our Nation is
not nearly as safe as it should be because of America's priorities
cannot be met as long as we do not have our fiscal house in order.
But during this hour that we have stood here talking about this, this
administration, this Republican Congress has increased the national
debt to the tune of about $41 million. In fact, this is no longer the
national debt. The debt now is $8,353,470,859,833. Just in the hour we
have been here, our national debt increased by more than $41 million.
It now stands at $8,353,470,859,833 and some change. It is time for
this Nation to get its fiscal house in order. Forty-nine States are
required to have a balanced budget. As members of the fiscally
conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, we believe our Nation
should have a balanced budget. Small businesses are required to have a
balanced budget. And America's working families and seniors and farm
families are required to have a balanced budget.
It is time for America to have a balanced budget. Madam Speaker, as
members of the 37 Member strong, fiscally conservative Democratic Blue
Dog Coalition, we will continue this dialogue and this debate on the
House floor every Tuesday night until we have an administration and a
Congress that will get our Nation's fiscal house in order.
With that, Madam Speaker, if you have any questions for us, in the
time remaining, I would encourage you, Madam Speaker, if you have
questions or comments or concerns, I would encourage you, Madam
Speaker, to e-mail us at [email protected]. That is
[email protected].
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