[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 112 (Tuesday, September 12, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H6401-H6406]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: September 12, 2006 (House)]
[Page H6401-H6406]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr12se06-136]
{time} 2000
RESTORING ACCOUNTABILITY AND FISCAL DISCIPLINE
The SPEAKER pro tempore. 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.
Mr. ROSS. Madam Speaker, this evening I rise on behalf of the 37
member strong, fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition.
There are 37 of us that have come to Washington to try to give this
Congress a good dose of common sense, especially as it relates to
restoring accountability and fiscal discipline to our Nation's
government.
As you can see here, today the United States' national debt is
$8,518,180,439,082 and some change. If you divide that number by every
man, woman, and child in America, our share, each of us, of the
national debt is $28,504. And, Mr. Speaker, where I come from, not many
of us would be able to find that kind of money to pay back our share of
the national debt. And I contend, Mr. Speaker, that the American
people, it is wrong to ask them to pay for this out-of-control reckless
spending that we have seen from this President and this Republican
Congress.
As a small child growing up, I always heard it was the Democrats that
spent the money and that it was the Republicans that were fiscally
responsible. Then I came to Congress and I learned the truth. It was
from 1998 to 2001, under a President named Bill Clinton, that this
country saw its first balanced budget and had surpluses. It was the
first time in 40 years that a Democrat or a Republican had done that.
And this President, this Republican Congress, I might add that this is
the first time in over 50 years the Republicans have controlled the
White House, House, and Senate, and what have they done? They have
given us the largest debt ever, ever, in our Nation's history,
$8,518,180,439,082 and some change. Again, for every man, woman, and
child in America, for each of us, our share of the national debt is
$28,504.
Why do I raise this issue? Because it is time the American people
know the truth. I raise it out of concern for the future of my country,
our country. I raise it out of concern for my children, your children,
your grandchildren because it is they who will be left to foot the bill
for this out-of-control spending and lack of fiscal discipline that we
are seeing from this Republican-led Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I am sick and tired of all the partisan bickering we
hear and see in our Nation's capital. I don't care if it is a Democrat
idea or a Republican idea. All I care about is, is it a common-sense
idea? Does it make sense for the people who sent us here to be their
voice, to be their representative at our Nation's capital, in these
halls of Congress, on the floor of the United States House of
Representatives?
So tonight I am here tonight to only hold the Republican leadership
accountable for the largest debt ever in our Nation's history but to
also offer up common-sense solutions that I am asking Republicans to
join me in supporting for the sake of our country, for the future of
our country. Common-sense solutions that can put us back on a path
toward a balanced budget and can restore this country to the shape and
to the economy that we enjoyed in the late 1990s.
The debt is important. Why? Because the total national debt, numbers
do not lie, facts do not lie, the total national debt from 1789 to 2000
was $5.67 trillion, and you see where it is today, $8,518,180,439,082.
But by 2010 the total national debt will have increased to at least
$10.88 trillion. That is a doubling. That is a doubling of the 211-year
debt in just 10 years.
Let me put it another way. This President and this Republican
Congress have borrowed more money from foreign central banks and
foreign lenders in the past 5\1/2\ years than the previous 42
Presidents combined. Interest payments on this debt are one of the
fastest growing parts of the Federal budget. And what the Blue Dog
Coalition has coined as the debt tax, d-e-b-t, cannot be repealed. That
is one tax that will not go away until this Congress gets its fiscal
House in order and restores some bipartisan common sense here on the
floor of the United States House of Representatives. The current
national debt as you see, $8.5 trillion. Each individual's share,
$28,504.
Why do deficits matter? They matter because deficits reduce economic
growth, and we have seen that. A lot of people have lost their jobs in
the past 5 years, and some will say that we are now seeing people being
put back to work. But ask yourself, for those of you who lost a job in
the past 5 years and have been fortunate enough to find new work, most
of you, at least the people I talk to in south Arkansas tell me that
the job that they have taken pays 5, 10, 15, $20,000 less per year than
the job they lost, and the job they lost oftentimes included health
insurance and their new job does not.
Why do deficits matter? They burden our children and grandchildren
with these liabilities. It is our kids and grandkids that are going to
be stuck paying this debt tax, d-e-b-t.
Why do deficits matter? Because they increase our reliance on foreign
lenders. Foreign lenders now own 40 percent of our debt. The United
States is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign lenders. You want
to talk about national security. Mr. Speaker, this is a national
security issue. The United States of America is becoming increasingly
dependent on foreign lenders. Foreign lenders currently hold a total of
about $2 trillion of our public debt. That is right. Over $2 trillion
of that number right there has been borrowed from foreign lenders.
Billions more have been borrowed from the Social Security trust fund.
When I came to Congress in 2001, 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. This Republican
Congress refused to give me a hearing or a vote on that bill, and now
we know why. They have raided the Social Security trust fund to pay for
tax cuts for folks earning over $400,000 a year. Shameful. Shameful.
Shameful.
Compare this: Foreign holdings in 1993 were $623 billion. Today, over
$2 trillion of our Nation's debt, money we have borrowed, from foreign
central banks and foreign investors and foreign lenders. And who are
they? Here is the top ten list. These are the countries that the United
States of America have gone to and borrowed money from in order to fund
tax cuts in this country for people earning over $400,000 a year. It
may make for good politics, but, Mr. Speaker, I contend it makes for
horrible, irresponsible fiscal policy.
Japan, the United States of America has borrowed $640.1 billion from
Japan. China, Communist China, we have borrowed $321.4 billion from
Communist China. The United Kingdom, $179.5 billion. OPEC, imagine
that, and we wonder why gasoline is so expensive. Our Nation, the
United States of America, has borrowed from OPEC countries $98 billion.
Korea, $72.4 billion. Taiwan, $68.9 billion. The Caribbean banking
centers, $61.7 billion. Hong Kong, $46.6 billion. Germany, $46.5
billion.
And are you ready for this? Rounding out the top ten countries that
the United States of America has borrowed money from to fund tax cuts
in this country for folks earning over $400,000 a year: Mexico. The
United States of America has borrowed $40.1 billion from Mexico.
Our Nation today is borrowing about a billion dollars a day. That is
a far cry from the time period 1998 through 2001 when our Nation
experienced a surplus. Today, policies and the budgets passed by this
Republican Congress and this Republican President have given us the
largest debt ever in our Nation's history and one of the largest
deficits ever in our Nation's history. Again, this President and this
Congress have borrowed more money from foreign lenders in the last 5\1/
2\ years than the previous 42 Presidents combined. It is our
[[Page H6402]]
children who will be left to repay these enormous loans to these
foreign countries.
On July 19, 2006, the administration released its mid-session review
of the budget. After further examination, let us take a closer look at
what this report actually tells us. And let me just add, Mr. Speaker,
if you have any comments or questions or concerns, I would encourage
you, Mr. Speaker, to e-mail us at BlueD[email protected]. That is
BlueD[email protected]. Again, we are 37-members strong. We are
fiscally conservative Democrats that are trying to bring a good dose of
common sense to the floor of the United States House of
Representatives. You can e-mail, Mr. Speaker, at
BlueD[email protected].
Let us look at the real numbers, the facts. Originally, the
administration predicted that the deficit for fiscal year 2006 would be
$318 billion. So back in July, July 19 to be specific, the President
had a press conference to announce good news, that the administration's
updated estimate of the deficit for 2006 would only be $296 billion,
not $318 billion, as originally projected. That is the fourth largest
deficit ever, ever, in our Nation's history. The largest was in 2004,
$413 billion. The second largest was in 2003, $378 billion. The third
largest was in 2005, $318 billion; and the fourth largest is projected
to be in 2006, the President's own estimate, $296 billion.
And the fact is, Mr. Speaker, these revised estimates do not account
for the extent of our budget problems because they included in this
calculation the annual surpluses of Social Security. When the Social
Security surplus is excluded, as it should be, the politicians in
Washington should keep their hands off the Social Security trust fund.
Not counting Social Security, the real deficit for 2006 is not $296
billion but rather $473 billion.
Mr. Speaker, when this administration took office in 2001, it had an
advantage no administration in recent times had enjoyed, a 10-year
projected surplus of $5.6 trillion. The administration has replaced
that surplus with reoccurring deficits and record debt. When the cost
of items omitted from the mid-session review are included, the
deterioration in the budget between 2002 and 2011 is about $8.5
trillion.
{time} 2015
You can see in 2000 the surplus and you can see how the deficits
started and you can see where we are headed. Although these numbers are
more positive than the administration's February forecast, they
unfortunately do not represent any significant improvements in the
long-term budget picture. Even the administration's 5-year forecast,
which omits the cost of certain planned policies, never shows a deficit
smaller than $123 billion.
Mr. Speaker, let us look at this chart here. The administration's
estimated future deficits fail to include the full cost of items on its
agenda. And once likely costs are included, the deficit is never better
than $229 billion for the foreseeable future. Look at the realistic
deficits. Look at the realistic estimate that shows bleak deficit
outlook all the way up to 2015, 2016. In fact, the true state of the
budget is worse than the administration's forecast depicts because it
omits certain costs, as I mentioned. When realistic adjustments are
made for real items, annual items never improve to better than $229
billion for any year over the next decade. And by 2016, the deficit
grows to $444 billion. The administration's new estimates for the war
in Iraq and Afghanistan reflect a total of $110 billion for 2007, $60
billion more than the President's February budget. The budget says one
thing, reality is another.
And let me say, as long as we have men and women in uniform in harm's
way, I am going to support them. My brother-in-law is in the United
States Air Force, spent Christmas on a tanker refueling fighter jets
over Afghanistan. My first cousin is in the United States Army. His
wife gave birth to their first child during his service in Iraq. This
war in Iraq has impacted just about every family in America in one way
or another. I went there in August of 2004 when we had some 3,000
National Guard troops from Arkansas. I visited with young men in
uniform that I had taught in Sunday school and that I had duck hunted
with, and I can promise you that as long as we have the men and women
in uniform in harm's way, I am going to support them.
This is where I disagree with this President. This President is
spending $8 billion of your tax money every month in Iraq. But if you
ask him to be accountable for your tax money, he will tell you you are
unpatriotic. That is where I disagree with this President. I think any
President, Democrat or Republican, should be held accountable for how
they spend our tax money, and I believe it is time for this President
to give us a plan, a plan that can allow us to put the Iraqi people
back to work, a plan that will allow us to hire enough Iraqis to be
able to take control of their police and military force so that the day
may come when we can bring our men and women in uniform home.
Beyond 2008, the administration provides no further funding for the
war in Iraq or Afghanistan. The President's budget says that, beyond
2008, there will be no war in Iraq or Afghanistan. I think we know the
truth, and I think we know different. Based on a model presented by
CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, costs for military operations in
Iraq and Afghanistan could run as much as $371 billion over the next 10
years, from 2007 to 2016. And this calculation is likely conservative.
The report also estimates that the President's plan to partially
privatize Social Security will worsen the unified deficit by $721
billion over the next 10 years.
And the report does not include the cost of addressing Medicare
physician payments. And I can promise you this: if we don't fix
Medicare, if we don't fix Medicare, a number of providers will no
longer accept Medicare, and it will be the patients, the patients, who
suffer. We deserve to do better than that by our seniors. We deserve to
do better than that by those who count on us in their retirement years
for health care. A long-term fix to the Medicare problem could cost
from $127 billion to $275 billion over the next 10 years in the absence
of other policy changes, and that is not even included in the budget or
in these deficit projections.
So the budget is meaningless. These projections are meaningless. This
budget and these projections indicate that the war will be over in Iraq
and Afghanistan by 2008, that there are no problems with the long-term
future of Medicare, that there are no problems with Social Security.
Mr. Speaker, I mentioned it before, but it is worth repeating. It is
worth repeating that since President Bush took office, the amount of
foreign-held Treasury debt has more than doubled, increasing from $1
trillion to $2.1 trillion, meaning that this administration has already
accrued more foreign debt than the previous 42 Presidents combined.
Unlike deficits in earlier years, current deficits have been
primarily financed by foreign investors. With the rise in foreign debt
equaling three-fourths, the increase in publicly held debts since the
start of the current administration, this rise of foreign held debt is
troubling because it makes our economy beholden to foreign creditors
and represents another financial burden passed on to future
generations.
You can see, from 2001 until now, how the amount of foreign-held debt
has more than doubled under this administration and this Republican-
controlled Congress. Again, our government, the United States of
America, has borrowed more money from foreign investors in the past
5\1/2\ years than the previous 42 Presidents combined.
Unlike deficits in earlier years, current deficits have been
primarily financed by foreign investors, as I mentioned earlier. The
rise in foreign debt is troubling because it makes our economy beholden
to foreign creditors. The rise in foreign-held debt is troubling
because it makes our economy beholden to foreign creditors and
represents another financial burden passed on to future generations,
specifically our children and our grandchildren.
As I mentioned earlier, it is a national security issue; it is a
threat to our national security when we are borrowing money from places
like China and OPEC to operate and run the day-to-day operations of the
United States of America. Foreign-held debt is fundamentally different
from domestically held debt since the interest payments on foreign-held
debt flow outside the United States and reduce Americans'
[[Page H6403]]
standard of living. The cost of servicing foreign-held debt is high.
Local, State, and Federal Government interest payments to foreign
investors totaled $114 billion in 2005, an amount that will grow
rapidly if the Treasury continues to sell debt to foreign investors at
the current rate.
Why does all this matter? I think this best sums it up right here.
Like interest payments on a family's credit card, every dollar spent on
interest on the national debt is a dollar that doesn't educate a child,
build a road, or keep the Nation secure. Because of recent record
deficits, the government's annual interest payment is the fastest
growing category of Federal spending over the next 5 years and has
posted double-digit percentage growth for the past 2 years, interest
payments towards spending on most national priorities, such as homeland
security, education, veterans health care, yes, veterans health care.
Isn't it time that our Nation keep its promises to our veterans?
By 2011, annual interest payments under the administration's proposed
budget will grow to $302 billion, a 38 percent increase from the
current level. You can look here and see what is going on. Interest
payments on the debt dwarf other priorities. In the red, you will see
in the red that is the amount of money that we are spending of your tax
money, I should say this Republican Congress is spending of your tax
money, simply to pay interest on the national debt. In the light blue
you can see the amount of your tax money going to educate your children
and grandchildren.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. ROSS. I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I couldn't help but listen to the
gentleman's very effective presentation of the plight of America today.
And I thank you for yielding, because what caught my attention was the
gentleman's very, very important analysis of homeland security and
veterans.
We are within 24 hours of honoring the victims of 9/11, and the
tragedy is that we have in New York those first responders that
survived and yet cannot get the health care that is owed to them
because of the lack of sensitivity and responsibility of this Congress
to provide resources for those victims, first responder victims who
cleaned up or worked in the World Trade aftermath and cannot get the
health care that they need. And it is a shame that veterans now of the
Iraq war will be coming home injured and don't have the resources
because of this enormous debt to provide for keeping veterans hospitals
open and providing the 18,000-plus that are injured the resources that
they need.
And my final point is that, as you noted, homeland security as it is
suffering, isn't it interesting that we went on a series of hearings
throughout August and the constant refrain was the necessity of border
security and securing America. But yet this debt, which has interest
payments that cause us to really not finance the Republican majority
these vital programs, specifically Homeland Security and veterans. So
we don't have the money for border security, we don't have the money
for more Border Patrol agents, we don't have the money for more
equipment because of this enormous debt.
So when we hear these voices raised about 9/11 and securing America,
it really is with dual voices, voices of talk but no reality. Because
with this enormous debt that Democrats really working together have
over and over again tried to get the Republicans to stop these enormous
tax cuts and recognize our priorities, we are now suffering with this
enormous debt, and homeland security is suffering and our veterans are
suffering.
So I thank the gentleman for providing us with this insightful
discussion, and I hope that we will get our priorities straight. And I
hope we will move in a new direction, because, frankly, we are not
going to meet the promise of America in terms of our obligations with
this enormous mounting debt and the interest payments taking away from
the very people who need it, securing our Nation, and our veterans who
have put their lives on the line for this country.
Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for her comments. And
you are right, it is about priorities. And you can see where the
priorities lie with this Republican Congress and this administration.
Again, in the red, in the red you will see the amount of your tax
money that is going to pay interest on the national debt. In the light
blue you will see the amount of money going to educate our children. In
the light green you will see the amount of money going to homeland
security. That is right, there is a lot of talk these days about
homeland security. That is the new buzz word. But look at the reality.
In the green, that is the amount of your tax money going to homeland
security. One out of every five packages in the belly of a plane on
commercial flights today that are defined as freight, that is right, a
lot of freight moves around this country on the belly of commercial
airplanes, one in five packages today go unchecked. We feel safer. We
feel safer because I take off my boots and take off my belt and go
through a metal detector, and proud to do it. And I see all the
suitcases and mine going through the x-ray machine. But the American
people I don't believe realize that one in five packages on the belly
of a commercial airplane is freight that goes totally unchecked. And
the terrorists know this.
{time} 2030
What is more important, protecting the American people or giving
another tax cut to people earning over $400,000 a year?
Ninety-four percent of the containers that enter America by way of
ports go totally unchecked. Is America really any more safe today than
it was before 9/11?
Again, in the green, the amount of your tax money that is going for
homeland security. Finally, in the dark blue, the amount of your tax
money going to keep America's promises to our veterans. Again, in the
red, the amount of money going to pay interest on the national debts.
I raise this issue because the debt and the deficit should matter to
the American people. It should matter to all of us because our Nation
is spending over $.5 billion every 24 hours simply paying interest on
the national debt.
I have got folks who have been waiting over 25 years for Interstate
49 in Arkansas. Give me just 4 days' interest. Give me just 4 days'
interest on the national debt and I can build I-49. I have folks that
have been waiting on I-69, which was first announced in Indiana 5 years
before I was born. I am 45. I have got folks that have been waiting 50
years for Interstate 69. Give me 3 days' interest on the national debt
and I can build I-69 across south Arkansas.
I got a call today from Fred Denton in McGehee, Arkansas. They have a
really nice port there on the Mississippi River. They are losing
industrial prospects and economic opportunities and jobs, like
biodiesel plants, because they do not have rail. They need $10 million
to get rail to that port. Give me just a few hours' interest on the
national debt and we can get rail to Yellow Bend Port on the
Mississippi River.
These are America's priorities: Improving our infrastructure,
educating our kids, honoring our veterans, protecting our homeland,
honoring our troops by giving them the equipment and supplies they need
to do their job as safely as possible, investing in our Nation's
infrastructure, which creates jobs and economic opportunities.
Those are America's priorities, but your tax money is not going
toward them. Your tax money is simply going to pay interest. For the
most part, it is going to pay interest on the national debt, and that
is why I believe it is important that we get our Nation's fiscal house
in order.
The administration claims that its deficits are manageable, but
mainstream economists agree that large persistent deficits undermine
the long-term strength of the economy. Government borrowing raises
interest rates. And the cost of capital crowds out private investment
and diminishes sustained economic growth.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan last year warned that
if these large budget deficits are not addressed, at some point, in his
words ``at some point these deficits will cause the economy to stagnate
or worsen.'' That is from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan
Greenspan.
Now, I have set the stage this evening for the problem at hand, but I
[[Page H6404]]
told you I was also going to offer up, on behalf of the 37 Member
strong fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, some common sense
solutions. We are not here just to criticize the Republicans for the
way they have managed and controlled this Congress under this President
for the past 5\1/2\ years.
We have talked about the facts and we have showed the numbers. And
numbers don't lie. But I also promised this evening we would talk about
a number of common sense solutions that we encourage and have asked
Republicans to join us, as conservative Democrats, in embracing and in
passing in this Congress for the sake of our country, for the sake of
the American people.
We have a 10-point plan in the Blue Dog Coalition. Ten points to
budget reform, common sense budget reform, that can get these record
deficits under control and restore us to the days of balanced budgets.
We will go through those 10 points, but at this time I would like to
introduce one of the founders of the Blue Dog Coalition, a real role
model for me in my 5\1/2\ years here, and that is Mr. Tanner, the
gentleman from Tennessee, who has developed a plan which includes
legislation, which includes bills that we all got together and we wrote
and I am cosponsoring. They are endorsed by the Blue Dog Coalition.
They are common sense proposals that will restore accountability to our
government.
So I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee, a founder of the Blue Dog
Coalition, Mr. Tanner, to discuss House Resolution 841, a common sense
piece of legislation to restore accountability to this Congress and to
these United States of America and our government.
Mr. TANNER. Thank you very much, Mr. Ross. I assume the number you
referred to are from the IG reports and the requirement that we have a
hearing on them.
Mr. ROSS. That is right. I didn't get into the details. I was saving
it for you.
Mr. TANNER. I want to talk about the government of the United States
from a business standpoint, because the Congress of the United States
is failing the constituents, the shareholders of our country. Every
day, to whoever is watching C-SPAN, every day the Congress is failing
in its primary responsibility as a third branch of government, as the
legislative branch, to oversee the executive branch. And then you have
the judicial branch that interprets the laws that are passed here, but
Congress has completely abdicated its oversight responsibility under
the Constitution of the United States of America as one of three
separate but equal branches.
And so I come to this not as a Democrat or a Republican but as a
businessperson. My family has been in business in Tennessee for over
100 years, and I know a little bit about accountability, about audits,
about responsibility for money that is entrusted to one from another.
Now, the Congress of the United States takes money away from all of us,
Members of Congress included, in the form of taxation, an involuntary
removal of money from our pockets through the form of taxation to the
government. The government, as it relates to the Congress here in the
Capitol, is supposed to oversee the money it appropriates to any
administration. That is our primary responsibility, other than national
security, of course. But if we remove that, we are supposed to look out
for the taxpayers.
This is the people's House. We are the primary representatives of the
people in the national government here in the U.S. House of
Representatives. The only branch of the Federal Government, the only
office I know of that one cannot be appointed to. When someone who
serves here dies or resigns, no one is appointed. It is a special
election. And very seldom are there 435 Members here, because somebody
has died or resigned for some reason, to seek another office or do
something else, but there is no appointment here.
So this is the only office I know of in the whole constellation of
offices, State and Federal, where no one can be appointed. Everyone who
sits in this House is elected by his or her peers, his or her
constituents. So it is a special responsibility that we have, and this
responsibility is not being discharged.
Now, the reason I say that is because the last year we have from the
GAO of the auditors determinations as to whether or not the executive
branch of the government, all the Federal agencies, are able to produce
an acceptable audit, in other words to tell us as representatives of
the people, we who took money away from people involuntarily in the
form of taxes, whether we appropriated it to this or any other
administration, what did you do with it? I think that is one of the
most basic responsibilities we have to our citizens and to our
constituents.
This GAO report for the fiscal year 2004, the last one we basically
have, we have one later, 2005, but it is still incomplete, asks the
Department of Agriculture if they could produce an audit? No.
Department of Defense? Could they produce an acceptable audit? No.
Department of Education? No. Department of Health and Human Services?
No. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD? No. Department of
the Interior, which are all the national parks, can they produce an
audit? Can they tell us what happened to the money we appropriated? The
answer was no. The Department of Justice. The Department of Justice.
The answer: No. Department of State. No. Department of Transportation.
No. Department of Veterans Affairs. Mr. Ross talked about the veterans.
The answer to, can you tell us what happened to the money that was
appropriated to your department, was no. AID, Agency for International
Development. No. NASA. No. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in charge of
nuclear stuff in this country. The answer to, can you tell us what
happened to the money, was no. Office of Personnel Management, in the
White House. No. Can't tell us. Small Business Administration. No.
In short, 16 of 23 Federal agencies could not produce an acceptable
audit. What has Congress done about it? Virtually nothing. This is an
abdication of one of the primary responsibilities of every Member of
this House. Not Democrat, not Republican, but every Member who holds
his hand up and says I promise to support the Constitution and all the
rest.
The people of this country, the shareholders of America, ought to
demand at the very least that we can tell them what happened to the
money that we took from them, and this government can't do it.
The problem is, we have a friendly administration, a compliant
Congress. Nobody wants to embarrass anybody else. I understand that.
But what we have created here is a situation where this government is
violating every business principle I know. There is not a private
business in this country where one can go to the comptroller and say,
here is a $5,000 expenditure, can you tell me what this is for, and get
the response, I don't know; or I can't answer that question.
Nobody would tolerate that. Nobody would put up with it. Yet that is
what our shareholders, the American citizens, are witnessing every day,
day after day, here in Congress. There are no hearings. There is no
oversight. It is horror stories coming out of whether it be no-bid
contracts for Iraq, whether it be no-bid contracts for Katrina. Money
is leaving this place through a fire hose and nobody is asking the
administration what happened to it. And if they asked them, they
couldn't tell them. That is where we are tonight.
{time} 2045
It is intolerable as a business person. And again, we have a
responsibility as Members of Congress. I don't care whether you are
Republican or Democrat, we have a responsibility as Members of Congress
to answer to our constituents, our shareholders, the citizens of this
country, this is what we did with your money. We appropriated to
whatever Department one wishes to choose, and we held them accountable
for it. What did you do with the money?
Well, we don't have that. We have a situation where there is no
oversight, for an obvious reason: we have one-party government here.
What we want to do and what I want to do is simply for lack of a better
term audit the books. Before we ask the American people for one more
red dime, we ought to find out what is happening to the money we are
already taking away from them, and that is what the Blue Dog Coalition
is all about. That is
[[Page H6405]]
what we want to do. We want to call people in and say you got this and
this appropriation, what happened to the money? It is that simple. And
if you can't tell us, you don't get it next year.
Mr. ROSS. Did you say there were 16?
Mr. TANNER. According to the GAO in fiscal year ending 2004, 16 of 23
Federal agencies, and 19 of 24 in fiscal year ending 2005, according to
the GAO, couldn't produce a clean audit. I wish I had made this up, but
I didn't. It would be easier to stomach. But nothing is asking.
So we filed a bill that says when the inspector general of any
Department identifies either, one, an unacceptable audit, in other
words they can't tell you what they did with the money; or, two, they
identify in government talk a high-risk program, what that really means
is a program that was enacted that doesn't work. Our bill says when
either one of those two events occurs, Congress must hold a public
hearing on that within 60 days so that the American people will have
some means to find out just exactly what is going on in this town,
because right now there are no hearings. There is no oversight. There
is no subpoena power. There are no subpoenas being issued to call
people in and say, give us your books and tell us what you did with the
money. That is not happening here.
It is understandable. It is politics and I understand that, but the
American people deserve better than that. They deserve better than
that, not just from the Democrats but from the Republicans as well.
They ought to be demanding. Even though it is a Republican
administration, it doesn't matter. We are a separate but equal branch
of government charged with this responsibility. We ought to hold the
executive branch accountable.
The citizens of this country, the shareholders in this deal, they are
getting shortchanged every single day because it is not happening. If
it was happening, you would not have these reports. It got worse in
2005 from 2004. That is because nobody is asking them what did you do
with the money. If they asked the administration, they couldn't tell
them. That is an intolerable situation from a business standpoint, not
just from politics, but from a business standpoint.
I congratulate and appreciate you doing this hour tonight because
this is something that the consequences, and I will be quiet because
Mr. Cardoza has just joined us, but the consequences of this continuing
borrowing of money from people who are not a U.S. interest are creating
a financial vulnerability which is nothing short of a national security
matter.
It is not hard to imagine. China, Communist Red China, has acquired
over $300 billion worth of our paper. It is not a stretch of anybody's
imagination to understand that they may be interested in something Iran
is doing that is not in our best interest, that they may make a move in
Taiwan. I made the tongue-in-cheek statement here one night that it is
getting to the point that if China attacks Taiwan, we have to go to
China and borrow the money to defend Taiwan.
That is a national security matter that is real. It is not a scare
tactic. This is real, as it relates to the vulnerability that is
created by us financing our government with foreign investment. That is
number one.
Number two, as you said earlier, Mike, we are transferring our tax
base to interest. There is no country that has ever been successful
with no infrastructure investment by the government and no human
capital investment, human capital being education and health care. No
country in the history of the world has been strong and free with an
unhealthy, uneducated population. The more we transfer the tax base to
interest and away from investment in infrastructure and the human
capital of our citizens, our shareholders, the more we are creating a
vulnerability in this country which is a national security matter.
Mr. ROSS. I want to thank the gentleman from Tennessee, one of the
founders of the Blue Dog Coalition, for being here this evening on the
floor and outlining House Resolution 841, a commonsense proposal to
restore accountability to our government. We are 37 members strong. We
are Democrats, fiscally conservative Democrats, who want to restore
some commonsense and fiscal responsibility to our Nation's government.
Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments or concerns or questions for
us, you can e-mail us at BlueD[email protected]. That is
BlueD[email protected].
At this time, I yield to our co-chair for communications within the
Blue Dog Coalition, a good friend of mine and a leader of our group,
Mr. Dennis Cardoza from California.
Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Ross yielding me this
time. I want to start this evening by thanking Mr. Tanner.
In the 4 years I have been in Congress, he has been one of the true
leaders of the Blue Dogs. I think of him as the conscience of the
Congress these days with regard to the issues of fiscal responsibility
and accountability and making sure that our government does the right
thing.
Mr. Ross, I want to thank you. I have traveled to your district. I
know how much your constituents respect you on this matter and others,
but it is really so important for the American people to understand the
magnitude of the challenge that we are facing with regard to the
national debt, and your leadership each and every week here on the
floor means so much not just to me and the Blue Dogs but to the entire
country.
I want to talk about my recent work with my colleagues on a task
force on waste, fraud and abuse. My distinguished colleagues, Mr.
Waxman from California, Mr. Tierney from Massachusetts, and Mr. Tanner
who you just heard, serve as Members of what we call the Truth Squad,
which is charged with holding the Bush administration accountable for
the mishandling of taxpayer dollars. That is something that this
Republican Congress has simply failed to do.
The Blue Dogs are committed to ensuring that this government account
for its stewardship of taxpayer dollars. You heard Mr. Tanner:
currently, 19 of 24 Federal agencies can't pass a simple, clean audit.
That is happening under a Republican watch.
This administration touts itself as being a businesslike
administration, yet no business in America would tolerate the fiscal
irresponsibility that is being conducted by this administration. It is
really little wonder that with their lack of oversight of this
Congress and lack of oversight in the administration, that we continue
to see abuse and waste on this scale.
The Blue Dogs believe that all Federal agencies should be required to
pass a clean audit. The American public deserves nothing less.
I introduced a bill this year, along with Mr. Tanner's piece of
legislation, that says that any Cabinet Secretary who can't pass an
audit for 2 years in a row can't run his agency, basically, couldn't
run a business if he was running a pharmacy in Prescott or Hope,
Arkansas, Mr. Ross. If you ran that and couldn't pass an audit,
couldn't pay your bills, your wife, Holly, would say come back and run
this business right.
The reality is that we need to recall this administration and this
Congress and tell them to run the business right. They are simply not
doing it.
As co-chair of the Truth Squad, I am working with my colleagues to
bring attention to the most egregious waste of taxpayers' dollars, the
places where we are absolutely wasting taxpayers' dollars and putting
that money down the drain. In fact, we have unveiled a new award called
the Golden Drain Award. All told, the Truth Squad has identified with
the help of our staff over $150 billion of American taxpayer dollars
that have gone down the golden drain of waste, fraud and abuse.
Mr. Waxman's Democratic side of the committee has documented all of
these facts and has put out a report to this end. We created this award
because it is essential that we bring attention to these outrageous
instances of waste, fraud and abuse, otherwise they will never stop.
Sadly, there is seemingly an endless list of nominees for this award
under this Congress and this administration. We will unveil one or two
or three on Thursday.
Mr. Ross, since we have been here talking, we have talked about the
waste in Iraq. You and I went together to your home district and went
to the Hope airport to see the FEMA trailers, nearly half a billion
dollars of FEMA
[[Page H6406]]
trailers, that never got delivered to the people that needed them, but
the taxpayers sure paid for them.
We see how we have wasted money on homeland security and the borders
and the airports, and they are still not secure. The ports certainly
are not secure enough. The list goes on and on. The administration's
track record for no-bid contracts, for waste in contracting, for lack
of oversight in contracting is truly appalling; and we talked in a
press conference 2 weeks ago, the Truth Squad did, about these
egregious behaviors.
Mr. Speaker, enough is enough. It is time for accountability. It is
time to audit the books. The Blue Dogs that serve in Congress are fully
committed to this. The Democratic Caucus is fully committed to this. It
is time that the entire Congress be committed to this.
Mr. Ross, I will close tonight's activities with one last thought,
and that is that we owe the taxpayers more than we are giving them with
the jobs we are supposed to do. We should be accounting for their money
every single day we are here.
Mr. ROSS. I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr.
Cardoza), co-chair for communications for the fiscally conservative
Blue Dog Coalition, for his leadership within the Blue Dog Coalition
and for his efforts through legislation to restore accountability to
our Nation's government.
Mr. Speaker, no business in our country could succeed financially if
it failed to fully report back to its shareholders on how it is
spending its money. However, that is exactly, as we have learned
tonight from Mr. Cardoza and Mr. Tanner, how our Federal Government is
operating. The administration is not telling its shareholders, the
American taxpayers, how it spends the money coming into Washington.
In 2004, $25 billion of Federal Government spending went absolutely
unaccounted for according to the Treasury Department. The Bush
administration was unable to determine where the money had gone, how it
was spent, or what the American people got for their tax money. Even
worse, the Republican-controlled Congress failed to hold the executive
branch accountable for this omission. And through these common sense
pieces of legislation, we plan to hold every Federal agency accountable
for how it spends America's tax money.
The next year, the GAO reported that 18 of the 24 Federal agencies
have such bad financial systems that they don't even know the true cost
of running some of their programs. Yet Republican leaders in Congress
did not force these agencies to fully account for how the money was
being spent before doling out billions more of your tax money to the
same programs.
Clearly, Congress has failed to ask serious questions about the Bush
administration's fiscal irresponsibility and record-high deficits 4
years in a row that have now pushed the Federal debt to well over $8.5
trillion.
Mr. Speaker, the time has come to hold this administration and this
Congress accountable for its reckless behavior. I believe Congress must
act now to renew its constitutional responsibility to serve as a check
and balance for overspending, waste, fraud and financial abuse within
the executive branch.
Again, Mr. Speaker, tonight in the past hour this number here
increased by a little over $41 million. Our national debt is
$8,518,180,439,082. The national debt in America is $8,518,180,439,082.
And that number, Mr. Speaker, during the hour that we have been here
talking about restoring fiscal discipline and commonsense to our
Nation's government, has increased by over $41 million.
It is time for this Congress to restore accountability to our Federal
Government. This is not about beating up Republicans. I don't care if
Democrats or Republicans are in control; I am going to hold them
accountable. I am going to hold them accountable for how they spend
American taxpayers' dollars.
Mr. Speaker, tonight we stand before you not only talking about the
problem but offering up common sense solutions that demand
accountability within our government. The time has come to restore
commonsense and fiscal discipline and accountability to the government
of the United States of America.
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