[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 117 (Tuesday, September 19, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H6712]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    DEMOCRATS AND THE BUDGET DEFICIT

  Mr. DAVIS of Alabama. Permission to speak out of turn, Mr. Speaker.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from 
Alabama is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. DAVIS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I have the honor of being the 
first of a series of Democratic speakers tonight about the budget. And 
my colleagues will talk in some detail about the deficit and the debt 
and its consequence on the country.
  But, if I can, I want to begin with a memory of a 10-year-old child 
growing up in Montgomery, Alabama. I remember being 10 years old and 
listening to a very conservative radio commentator talking about the 
liberal government in Washington, D.C., spending too much money.
  I remember hearing this very skilled radio commentator talk about the 
fact that amazingly the Government of the United States of America was 
running a $36 billion deficit, and that it might rise to $100 billion 
the next year.
  And I remember hearing that very conservative radio commentator say: 
If we do not get our hands on our budget, if we do not figure out a way 
to restore fiscal discipline, there was no way that we can have a 
strong and solvent economy.
  Well, that radio commentator was named Ronald Reagan. He would be 
elected to the Presidency 2 years later; would forget a lot of what he 
said. He ended up running up massive deficits during his own time in 
office.
  I begin with that observation, Mr. Speaker, because for the next, 
what is it, 51 days between now and November 7, we will hear a lot of 
talk about which party can be trusted to better manage the money of the 
American people. We will hear a lot of talk in this 51 days about the 
danger of Democrats being fiscally reckless and irresponsible, and we 
will be told that all we will do is we will tax people too much, and we 
will spend too much.
  And I looked in the paper today, Mr. Speaker. The President's 
approval ratings are rising, we are told, and they are rising for one 
reason. He has gone from a 70 percent approval rating among Republicans 
to 86 percent.
  And when I read the various political reports that we are regularly 
favored with in this city, I read the Republican's strategy on November 
7 hinges on one factor: bringing home the base. Bringing home those 
Republicans in Tennessee and Missouri and Ohio who drifted away, 
getting them to come back and to believe again.
  So I want to direct my remarks, if I can, at the Republican base for 
a minute. I am not a member of it. We have got a lot of conservatives 
in Alabama, and I think I can speak to them. It is interesting, Mr. 
Speaker, I want them to know a few basic facts.
  I want them to know that fiscal conservatism has changed its meaning 
in this city, and the government in which they put their votes and in 
which they put so much faith is now running up these massive deficits, 
and the Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors went 
before a group of Republican-leaning businessmen last week and said, 
you know what, it doesn't even matter. Deficits are just things that 
the statisticians worry about.
  I want all of the conservative people who are listening tonight, 
again, many of whom are in my great State of Alabama, to know that, 
well, you may be a conservative, I bet you care about the security of 
your border. One of the reasons we cannot put enough money around 
enforcing border security is because of these debts and deficits your 
government is running up.
  To all of the conservatives who are listening tonight, you may be a 
conservative, but I will bet you would love the see the veterans of 
this country given adequate health care. Well, the government that you 
value so much, the government to which you have given your votes the 
last several cycles cannot do it because they cannot afford it.
  We had a debate on this floor, Mr. Speaker, just 1 year ago, 
September of 2005. The subject was whether we were going to provide 
full funding for health care for Guards and reservists. And our 
esteemed colleagues on the other side of the aisle rose in the Chamber 
and said, we just cannot afford it; it has got to be health care for 
veterans and reservists, or it has got to be helicopters. We cannot 
afford to do both. In part, that is because of the debt and the 
deficits that we have.
  I want to say finally to these conservatives, Mr. Speaker, before you 
go back home so easily, before you go back to your base, understand 
what your party has become, a conservative party that says the debt 
does not matter, a conservative party that says that red ink is not 
important, and a conservative party that cannot find enough money to 
secure the border or provide benefits for veterans. It is enough to 
prevent you from going home. It is enough to make you look at an 
alternative.
  Now, my colleagues will talk tonight, Mr. Speaker, about a lot of 
other lost opportunities. They will talk about the fact that if we 
could get our fiscal house in order, we could do all kinds of things 
that we thought we could do just a short time ago. You remember the 
debates, Mr. Speaker, when there was a $236 billion surplus. 
Republicans had ideas on what they could do. They talked about middle-
class tax cuts instead of upper-end tax cuts. People on my side of the 
aisle talked about a refurbished commitment to veterans and the health 
care and education. We cannot debate any of those things right now 
because of this debt and these deficits.
  So I end with that point. The conservatism that is on the ballot on 
November 7 is a conservatism of missed opportunities. It is a 
conservatism that has totally changed the notion of what it means to be 
fiscally responsible. It is a conservatism that is fading and failing 
for a reason.
  I think a lot of people will come home on November 7, Mr. Speaker, 
but it will not be to a party that used to call itself conservative, it 
will be to common sense, it will be to a notion of reasonable sacrifice 
in this country, of shared sacrifice. And that is why I think the ranks 
will change so much on November 7.




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