[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 4 (Tuesday, January 9, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H232-H238]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 2030
BLUE DOG COALITION
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Ross) is
recognized for 60 minutes.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening on behalf of the 44 member
strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. We are a
group of fiscally conservative Democrats that are committed to
restoring common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's
government. During the 109th session of Congress, we had 37 members; in
the 110th session of Congress, we have grown to 44 members, 44 fiscally
conservative Democrats that share my vision of putting America on a
path toward fiscal responsibility, putting America on a path toward
accountability, and putting America on a path that will restore common
sense to our national government.
As you walk the Halls of Congress, as you walk the Cannon House
Office Building, the Longworth House Office Building, as you walk the
Rayburn House Office Building, you will see this poster, Mr. Speaker;
and as you see this poster, it will be a symbol that you are walking by
an office that houses a Blue Dog member. You will find 44 of these
posters in the Halls of Congress to remind the American people and to
remind the Members of Congress and to remind all of us as we walk these
Halls that our Nation is one that is tragically in debt.
The current national debt of these United States of America is
$8,690,905,471,722, and actually 43 cents. I just didn't have room to
put it on the poster. I ran out of room. And for every man, woman, and
child in America, your share of the national debt is $29,005.60. It is
what we have coined in the Blue Dog Coalition as the debt tax, D-E-B-T
tax. It is one tax that cannot be cut, that cannot be repealed until we
get our Nation's fiscal house in order.
Mr. Speaker, you might be thinking, Now, didn't President Clinton
leave us with a balanced budget, the first one in some 40 years? Didn't
we have a balanced budget from 1998 through 2001? Yes, Mr. Speaker, we
did. But in the past 6 years, this Republican President and this
Republican Congress has given us record budget deficit after record
budget deficit.
On this chart you will see the four largest deficits ever in our
Nation's history. The first rank was 2004 when our Nation wrote $413
billion worth of hot checks. The second largest deficit
[[Page H233]]
ever in our Nation's history was in 2003 when our Nation wrote $378
billion in hot checks. In 2005, it was $318 billion. And in 2006, the
President actually had a press conference to brag on the fact that he
came in under projection and only wrote $296 billion worth of hot
checks, the largest deficit year after year after year under this
Republican-controlled Congress that has given us the largest debt ever
in our Nation's history.
As members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog
Coalition, we believe that the American people have given us the
majority in this Congress because they want us to do something about
it; and, Mr. Speaker, we have a plan. We have a 12-point plan to
restore budget discipline and common sense to our national government.
Why is this important? It is important because if you think with me,
Mr. Speaker, the total national debt from 1789 to 2000 was $5.67
trillion; but by 2010, the total national debt will have increased to
$10.88 trillion. That is a doubling, a doubling of the 211-year debt in
just 10 years.
Interest payments on this debt are one of the fastest growing parts
of the Federal budget, and the debt tax, D-E-B-T tax, is one that
cannot be repealed.
Mr. Speaker, the reason this should matter to every man, woman, and
child in America is quite simple: deficits do matter. Deficits reduce
economic growth; they burden our children and grandchildren with
liabilities; they increase our reliance on foreign lenders who now own
40 percent of our debt. Let me repeat that: foreign lenders now own 40
percent of our debt.
Put another way, this administration and this Republican Congress
over the past 6 years have borrowed more money from foreign central
banks and foreign investors than the previous 42 Presidents combined.
It is time to restore some common sense and fiscal discipline to our
Nation's government.
Why? Why does it matter to the working families and seniors to this
country? It is quite simple. Our Nation is borrowing some $1 billion a
day. We are spending one-half billion dollars each day paying interest
on the debt we have already got before we increase it another $1
billion today. And as you can see, the red graph is the increase we
spend on your tax money paying interest on the national debt. The blue
is how much we spend on education. Look at the difference. The red
graph illustrates the amount of your tax money that is going not to pay
principle but to pay interest on the national debt. The blue represents
how much we are investing in our young people, how much we are spending
on education. The green represents how much we are spending on homeland
security. Tragically, the dark blue illustrates how much we are
spending taking care of our veterans.
It is time this country gets its priorities in order, and I believe
the American people on November 7 spoke loud and clear in giving us a
chance to lead in this Chamber, and we are ready to lead, and we are
ready to lead with the Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget
reform.
Mr. Speaker, I mentioned that we have grown to 44 members in the
fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, and one of those
members that has joined our ranks is the gentleman from Ohio, and at
this time I would yield to my friend from Ohio, Charlie Wilson, for as
much time as he would like to take.
Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, as Congressman Ross said, I am a new
Member, Mr. Speaker, and it is a pleasure to be here from Ohio. And one
of the major concerns is the amount of debt that we have created in
this country.
One of the reasons that I have joined the Blue Dogs is I like the
idea of us having a balanced budget. I truly believe, Mr. Speaker, that
Congress cannot buy on credit without being responsible for the credit
card.
This is not the principle that I have lived by all my life as a
successful businessman and these are not the principles that our
government can run by. We need to be accountable. We need to be able to
step forward and show what our money is being used for, and not to
spend more than we have.
Each and every one of us has budgets within our home, we have budgets
within our life that we use every day. We know that we have to live
within our budget or we have bad consequences. Ladies and gentlemen,
Mr. Speaker, there is no difference for us as a government. We have to
live within our means. And to see the transformation that has happened
in the last 6 years in going from a large surplus of $400 billion to
now a nearly $9 trillion balance of debt, D-E-B-T as Congressman Ross
says, in our government.
It is time that we start saying to the Congress and to the
administration we must live within our means. We have to know that the
Blue Dogs are going to be watching and are going to be concerned, and
one of the plans that has been set forth by the Blue Dogs is what we
call PAYGO. That means that you don't buy anything that you are going
to pay for to go forward until you decide what you are going to
eliminate. It is just like each and every one of us does in our lives
every day. We know that we can't just go out and buy anything, that we
have to budget for it, we have to make an opportunity so that we are
able to pay for it.
And so one of the new plans that you are going to be hearing coming
out of this 110th Congress is going to be the PAYGO, that means that
our spending must be paid for before we go forward. This is just one of
the plans that the Blue Dogs are taking responsibility for to help us
put a lid on the spending that is going on within our country.
I am so proud to join these other 43 people and now 44 of us in the
Blue Dogs in bringing about accountability and helping us to put
spending caps on what is going on in our government. I am delighted to
be one of the speakers today that is concerned about what is going on
in our country and look forward to working to bring fiscal
responsibility to this government.
Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wilson) for joining us
on the floor this evening for the Blue Dog Special Order as we talk
about restoring common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's
government. And the gentleman from Ohio, a new member of the fiscally
conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, he mentioned that one of
the things that we have done already in this 110th Congress under the
Democratic leadership is reinstitute the PAYGO rules. That means pay-
as-you-go. And on the very first day in the first 24 hours of the 110th
session of Congress, we are very pleased as members of the Blue Dog
Coalition that the leadership of this House under Democratic control
chose to include in their rules package reinstituting the PAYGO rule,
because that rule was in place from 1998 through 2001 when we saw a
balanced budget in this country. It makes sense to me.
You know, 49 States require a balanced budget. Holly Ross requires a
balanced budget at the Ross family in Prescott, Arkansas. We own a
small business; we are required to balance the books there. And in our
opinion, it is not asking our Nation too much to balance its books. And
one of the ways that you begin the process of doing that is instituting
the PAYGO rule, which means pay-as-you-go. If you have got a wonderful
program, then show us what program you are going to cut to pay for it.
Now, I got a big kick last week during the debate on this very floor
when Republicans jumped up and down opposed to reinstituting the PAYGO
rule. When I was a small child growing up, I always heard it was the
Democrats that tax and spend, and yet it was the Republicans over the
last 6 years that has given us record deficit after record deficit, the
largest debt ever in our Nation's history. And last week they said they
were opposed, many of them said they were opposed to the PAYGO rule
because it meant to pay for a new program raising taxes. They don't get
it, Mr. Speaker. It is not about raising taxes; it is about cutting
spending. It is about reducing the size of our government. It is about
paying as you go. If you want to create a new program, show us which
program you are going to cut to pay for it.
As members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition
we are sick and tired of the games; we are sick and tired of the
partisan bickering that goes on at our Nation's Capitol. I don't care
if it is a Democrat or Republican idea. All I care about is, is it a
commonsense idea? Does it restore accountability and fiscal
responsibility
[[Page H234]]
and discipline to our Nation's government?
{time} 2045
At this time I yield to Joe Donnelly, a Member of Indiana, a member
of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition.
Mr. DONNELLY. Thank you, Congressman Ross, for yielding.
I want to talk for a minute or 2 about what Congressman Ross had
mentioned. The foreign debt that we have now has doubled in the last 5
years to over $2 trillion at this point. And you think of our country,
and our country has been there to help and to finance so many others
over the years. You think after World War II we helped put Japan back
on its feet. We helped in Europe. And the sad fact is that right now
Japan is helping us, that we are having to sell to Japan to help pay
for our debt, selling our Treasury notes. And it is a sad fact that
China has become one of the largest lenders to our country. And it is
simply because we have not covered those costs that we have been
running in our government.
I have two children, and I do not want to pass on to them the debts
that we have been running up. I am proud to be a member of the Blue
Dogs to try to change this direction.
You think of our small businesses in this country, and those small
businesses are having to pay part of the fare for this debt that we
continue to run up. The interest rates that we are paying on that are
funds that could have been used to help small businesses. Back home in
South Bend, Indiana, or in Rochester, Indiana, where I come from, those
funds could have been used to help with the education of children in
Michigan City or down in Logansport, Indiana. But instead those funds
are used today to help pay the interest on the debts that we have run
up. But with the Blue Dogs' help and with the Democrats' help, that is
going to end.
What the people of this country are beginning to understand and what
the folks back home in Indiana do understand is that we bring Hoosier
common sense to this issue, Mr. Ross. Congressman, what we are trying
to do is make sure that we do the same things here in Washington that
we do back home in Mishawaka, Indiana, and in our beloved State. We are
going to stop the increase in the debt. We are going to see it lowered,
and we are going to see those funds used to take care of our veterans,
who need more help than ever. More come home every day with various
issues. Our beloved troops that come home from Iraq, Afghanistan and
all over the world, our funds need to be used for them, not to continue
covering a debt that we continue to run up. We will end that debt. We
will lower those interest payments, and they will be used to educate
our children, take care of our veterans down in Delphi, Indiana, and
throughout our country, and to set our country back on the right
course. That is what Democrat common sense will bring, and that is what
the Blue Dogs promise to bring with us.
Congressman Ross, thank you so much for this opportunity.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana, a new
member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, for
joining us on the floor this evening as we talk about our plan to
restore fiscal discipline to our Nation's government.
Mr. Speaker, on November 7, the American people spoke, and they said
they wanted a new direction for this country both here at home and
abroad. And in speaking, they gave us, as Democrats, a chance to lead
in this 110th Congress. And Mr. Speaker, we are ready, willing and able
and prepared to do so.
And part of the way that we believe we can restore fiscal sanity to
our National Government, it took 6 years to create this mess, and we
can't fix it overnight, but we have a plan to begin to restore some
fiscal discipline to our Nation's Government. And it is what we call
the Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget reform. And I am
pleased to be joined this evening by the gentlewoman from Illinois, Ms.
Bean, who is going to join me in talking about some of these 12 points,
and I now yield to Ms. Bean.
Ms. BEAN. Thank you for yielding, Mr. Ross from Arkansas. It is such
a pleasure to be part of the Blue Dog Coalition. And our 12-point plan
for budget reform is so important to get this country back on the right
fiscal track. Fiscal responsibility is what our constituents, as
taxpayers, expect from us and particularly what our children and our
grandchildren expect from us as well. Their future depends on our
making better decisions than we have been making.
I know just to the right of Mr. Ross there is a little chart that he
has probably already referred to before I joined him here on the floor.
Have you already put up the actual total of the national debt?
That is an important chart to look at because it is a staggering
reality, as we have added trillions of dollars in recent years to our
national debt. And when I meet with children in my district, when I go
to elementary schools, middle schools and high schools, and I talk to
kids a little bit about financial literacy and fiscal responsibility, I
am embarrassed to admit that we haven't been demonstrating much of it
here at a congressional level. And I share with these kids that their
share of the national debt is, as you can see, over $29,000. We are
approaching $30,000, each individual American's share of the national
debt. It is just a gross irresponsibility that we have demonstrated,
and we need to rectify that.
So I am proud of the leadership that the Blue Dogs has brought to our
caucus and to this Congress to get back to pay-as-you-go budget rules
because pay-as-you-go budget rules have worked in the past on a
bipartisan basis to force fiscal discipline amongst a body that
includes 435 Members with different interests. It forces us to make the
tough decisions so we can stay within our budget and work back towards
a balanced budget.
Our 12-point plan includes, number one, requiring a balanced budget;
number two, not allowing Congress to buy on credit; number three,
putting a lid on spending; number four, requiring agencies to put their
fiscal houses in order. Too many of our agencies, according to the GAO,
16 of the 23 major Federal agencies, can't even issue a simple audit of
their books, and that is just unacceptable. You can't run a business
that way. We can't run our personal household finances that way. How
can we allow agencies to continue to not demonstrate exactly how they
are spending our tax dollars?
Number five, make Congress tell taxpayers how much they are spending.
Create a greater degree of transparency. Number six, set aside a rainy
day fund. Number seven, do not hide your votes to raise the debt limit.
There has been too much of that dishonesty in what we say we are doing
and what we are really doing as far as how it shakes out in the overall
national debt. Number eight, justify spending for pet projects. We have
just moved forward on that in what we introduced recently in our rules
to require Members to list any projects that they have put into a bill
for their districts and to justify that on the merits of those
expenditures.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I think it is very
important that we point out that not only the PAYGO rule, which means
pay-as-you-go, no more borrowing money from China to fund some project
and let our children and grandchildren worry about it, but pay-as-you-
go is one of the rules implemented during the first 24 hours of the
110th Congress under this new Democratic leadership. It is very
significant because it is one of the 12 points of the Blue Dogs
Coalition's plan for budget reform. But also another one of our 12
points that was included in those first 24 hours in the rules package
is adding a level of transparency, justifying, if you will, pet
projects or earmarks. I think it is very significant that, of these 12
points that you are reading off, two of them we have tried for years to
get the Republican leadership to work with us in a bipartisan manner on
this. And two of these 12 were included in the first 24 hours of the
Democratic-controlled Congress. I think that is very significant, and I
want to thank the leadership for including those.
Ms. BEAN. Mr. Speaker, it is very exciting to see us move forward on
part of the 12-point plan, and I know we are going to continue to work
hard to get even more.
And our next one I know we are also including is ensuring that
Congress has
[[Page H235]]
an opportunity to read the bills that they are voting on, and we have
also changed in our rules where things are getting rammed through and
people didn't have X amount of hours to look at those bills so they
knew what they were voting on. That is number nine.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, that reminds me that back
when we were voting on the Medicare Part D prescription drug bill, now
estimated to cost billions and billions and billions of dollars over
the next 10 years, it went to a vote barely a day after the final
version of the 500-plus-page bill was made to Members of Congress. We
are putting an end to that. We are giving Members of Congress an
opportunity to know what they are voting on.
Ms. BEAN. Absolutely. Number 10 is requiring an honest cost estimate
for every bill that Congress votes on as well. The Congressional Budget
Office can and should be providing that prior to voting on any
expenditure so we know exactly what the long-term ramifications of that
expenditure are going to be at least from an estimate perspective.
Number 11 is making sure that the new bills do fit within the budget.
And number 12 is making Congress do a better job of keeping tabs on
government programs and creating a higher degree of accountability and
reports back to Congress on whether we are actually accomplishing what
we say we are supposed to be accomplishing with those programs.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Illinois for
sharing with us the Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget
reform. And if time permits, Mr. Speaker, we will go into more detail
on each of these 12 points. And the ones we do not get to tonight, you
can expect us back next Tuesday night for this Blue Dog Special Order
where we will continue to talk about these 12 points for budget reform
because if we are going to clean up the mess in Washington, if we are
going to put an end to the deficit spending, if we are going to begin
to pay down the debt, we have got to have this 12-point plan in place.
You give us this 12-point plan, Mr. Speaker, and we can give you a
balanced budget once again in this country.
And, Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns
for us, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. Again, Mr.
Speaker, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns for us, you
can e-mail us at [email protected].
At this time, it gives me great pleasure to yield to the gentleman
from Georgia (Mr. Scott).
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Thank you very much, Mr. Ross, for yielding.
And to my fellow colleagues, it is such a pleasure to join you once
again.
When we were here last, we were in the minority, and we said some
things. We said what we wanted to do. We said some of the first things
we would do when we got here, and one of those was to address this
serious problem of financial and fiscal responsibility.
I had some time to reflect on our history, and as we looked at the
very first move that we made when we came back last week, one of our
first measures was to establish pay-as-you-go, PAYGO. It is very
interesting that this is not a new phenomenon. Not only did we have it
in store when we had the Clinton administration and prior to that, but
from the very foundation of our country, it was Thomas Jefferson.
First, Thomas Jefferson was so against government debt and its inherent
dangers that, back in 1789, in a letter that he wrote to James Madison
and Alexander Hamilton, Framers of our Constitution, in that letter,
Thomas Jefferson wondered in the letter as he wrote to Madison and
Hamilton, he wondered this, whether, quote, ``one generation of men has
a right to bind another.'' And he came to his answer with an
exclamation point in the letter: ``No.'' He said that ``the Earth
belongs in usufruct to the living.''
{time} 2100
Jefferson concluded in this letter with these words. He said no
generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the
course of its own existence. In other words, financial responsibility.
Fiscal responsibility was at the cornerstone of this great Republic, of
this great Nation, the cornerstone of a lasting and free Nation.
One generation of consumers borrowing and spending then hands that
bill to the next generation, that get the benefits of spending the
money in the present while passing on the debt to future generations,
that is not what the Founding Fathers had in mind. And each generation
as we move through our history paid down its debt before it moved on,
oftentimes marked by war. In 1812, the debt was paid down. The Civil
War, borrowed money, the debt was paid down. And into World War I and
World War II when the debt really amassed up to $62 billion, and yet
over time and those generations those debts were paid down. All of the
way up through the Cold War, even into the Reagan years, and up to
Clinton, up to the year 2001.
But then after 2001 when this Republican administration took hold, in
the 5 years that ensued, this President and the preceding Congress,
controlled by Republicans, borrowed more money from foreign governments
and foreign nations than the entire preceding 218 years of this
country. From 1789, the year Thomas Jefferson wrote these words to
caution us and set the pattern to pay as we go, here we are now with
that big situation hanging over us of the borrowing from our debt.
And I mention that because we are now faced with that situation where
we are borrowing this money, over $1.5 trillion over the last 5 years,
from countries in the most unstable regions of the world: $310 billion
from Communist China; nearly $700 billion from Japan; and nearly $300
billion from the unstable OPEC countries in the Middle East which we
are dealing with now. This is the background which we are having to
deal with today.
Mr. ROSS. The gentleman makes an excellent point. You want to talk
about something that is critical to our national security, it is this
business that over the past 6 years we continue to cut taxes on folks
earning over $400,000 a year with money that we borrowed from foreign
central banks and foreign investors, and left our children and
grandchildren with the bill to pay.
The gentleman was ticking some of these off, but if I may, it is kind
of like David Letterman and his top 10 list, the top 10 current
lenders: Japan, $640.1 billion; China, $321.4 billion; the United
Kingdom, $179.5 billion. This is the amount of money the United States
of America has borrowed from foreign countries to fund tax cuts in this
country for folks earning over $400,000 a year.
The voters on November 7 said it is time for a new direction and new
priorities in this country, and we are going to give them to the
American people. But to continue the list: OPEC, $98 billion, and we
wonder why gasoline was approaching $3 a gallon in August; Korea, $72.4
billion; Taiwan, $68.9 billion; the Caribbean banking centers, $61.7
billion; Hong Kong, $46.6 billion; and Germany, $46.5 billion; and to
round out the top 10 current lenders to the United States of America,
and you are not going to believe this, Mexico, $40.1 billion.
This administration over the past 6 years has borrowed more money
from foreign central banks and foreign investors than the previous 42
Presidents combined, and that is why we rise tonight as members of the
fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition to talk about
leading America in a new direction, a direction that will restore
fiscal discipline to our government; and the way we achieve that is
through our Blue Dog Coalition 12-point plan for budget reform.
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is important that we remind
people that not only are we talking about the billions of dollars that
we just articulated we are borrowing from these foreign governments,
more than we borrowed over the last 218 years, but the interest, the
money that these folks are making off of us now constitutes the fastest
growing part of our budget. We are spending more just paying for the
money on the interest that is being charged than we are spending on
education, the environment, and veterans at a time when our veterans
are making such fantastic contributions and at a time when there needs
to be a greater emphasis placed on those who have been on the
battlefield and are coming home, and we are spending more on the
interest there.
[[Page H236]]
Let me just finalize this for a moment, and I just want to mention
because we are here and we talked about what we wanted to do. Pay-as-
you-go was one of the deals we made. We passed earlier today the 9/11
Commission recommendations. We have worked on so many other things, but
I do want to just mention the earmark reform legislation that we
passed, and just to share with the American people what we have already
passed in our earmark reform.
It will require committees to disclose the sponsors of any earmarks
included in appropriations authorizing measures such as the highway
bill and the tax or trade legislation that benefits 10 or fewer. We
will have new rules that will prohibit trading earmarks for votes and
require Members to disclose their earmark request and certify that they
and their spouses have no personal financial interest in the requests.
These provisions comprehensively require committees of jurisdiction and
conference committees to publish lists of the earmarks, limit tax
benefits, and limit tariff benefits, along with their sponsors
contained in the reported bills and the managers' amendments and
conference reports brought to the House floor for consideration.
A Member may make a point of order against consideration of any rule
that waives this requirement. The rule defines an earmark as any
Member-requested project that is targeted to a specific place and falls
outside of a formally driven competitive process. Transparency,
clearness: this is what the American people want. And I am proud to see
us in our first week of action be able to pass these important measures
that bring about good strong stewardship of the taxpayer money.
Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Georgia, a real leader within
the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition for joining us
this evening on the House floor as we talk about this new direction for
America.
The American people have spoken, and they have told us that it is
time for a change. They have given us Democrats an opportunity to lead
them in a new direction. I am proud of what we have accomplished in the
first few hours of the 110th Congress. We have instituted the PAYGO
rules, the rules that say if you are going to spend money, you have to
show us how you are going to pay for it, the rules we had in place when
we had a balanced budget in this country from 1998 until 2001.
You are seeing us put in place earmark reform, a greater level of
transparency and knowing clearly who is asking for the money and where
it is going and who is benefiting from it.
Second in our Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget reform,
in the first 24 hours of this new Congress, we are making progress. We
have heard the American people. They have given us an opportunity to
lead, and we are demonstrating we can do that. In the first 100
legislative hours, we are passing the 9/11 Commission recommendations
that were not implemented in the 109th Congress under the Republican
leadership. We are raising the minimum wage, which is something I am
very excited about.
Mr. Speaker, if we are serious about moving people from welfare to
work, we have to pay them more than $10,712 a year. That is what the
Federal minimum wage in this country represents if you work 40 hours a
week, 52 weeks a year, never get sick and don't take a single day off
for vacation. We can do better than that by America's working families,
and we will. We will this week, the first full week of the 110th
session of Congress.
We will pass legislation on the floor this week that tells our
government that, yes, it can negotiate on behalf of 40 million seniors
with the big drug manufacturers to bring down the high cost of
medicine. The American people on November 7 gave us an opportunity to
lead. And in these early hours of the 110th Congress, and as members of
the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, we are
demonstrating that we are ready to lead and that we are leading America
in a new direction.
Again, Mr. Speaker, the national debt, $8,690,905,471,722. Let's
think about this. $8,690,905,471,722.43. The 43 cents wouldn't fit on
the poster. For every man, woman and child in America, to get us out of
this mess, everybody in America would have to write a check for
$29,005.60. That is why we must restore common sense and fiscal
discipline to our Nation's government.
Mr. Speaker, as you walk the Halls of Congress, you will know when
you are walking past the door of a Blue Dog Coalition member because
you will see this poster; and, unfortunately, you will see this number
change each day. We are going to do our part to hopefully see this
number go down as we push for a balanced budget in this country, as we
push for the day when we can see a balanced budget in this country, as
we push to restore fiscal discipline and common sense to our national
government and its budgeting process.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce another new member of the 44
member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, the
Congressman from Florida, Mr. Mahoney.
Mr. MAHONEY of Florida. I thank my good friend from Arkansas.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of Florida's 16th Congressional
District and am a proud voice in support of restoring fiscal discipline
to Congress. I am very proud to be a Blue Dog.
When I was thinking about what I wanted to talk to the American
people about tonight, I decided that the best way to share my feelings,
my views in terms of fiscal discipline and why I am a Blue Dog, gets
back to something that is near and dear to me.
Just a week and a half ago, I was a businessman. I had never held an
elected office. And the reason I decided to leave private life and come
to Congress is because I was worried about government's out-of-control
spending that was hurting our economy. More importantly, that was
hurting our innovative economy, and to make it very simple for all, was
hurting the future of my daughter and all of the children of this
country if we don't get our fiscal house in order.
When I take a look at the Blue Dog plan, the 12-point plan for budget
reform, I look at the points and I think back to my experience as a
businessman. There are several things that I would like to highlight
tonight that I can relate to, and every American involved in a business
can relate to.
The first point is point number one on the plan which requires a
balanced budget. In business it is requiring a profit. A balanced
budget is something that makes sense for government, it makes sense for
business, and the Blue Dogs are proposing that we make a balanced
budget a constitutional amendment requiring that this House, that this
Congress, balance the books.
The second thing I would like to talk about is point number four
which requires agencies to put their fiscal house in order. That is
really getting into financial control. As my colleague from Illinois,
Congressperson Bean, pointed out, 16 of 23 major Federal agencies can't
issue a simple audit of the books. That is unacceptable in business,
and that should be unacceptable here in Congress.
What the Blue Dogs propose is that we would propose legislation that
would freeze any Federal agency that can't properly balance their
books. We would not allow it in business, and we shouldn't allow it
here in Congress.
Point five, we want to make Congress tell taxpayers how much they are
spending. This gets to a concept in business called management
accountability. What the Blue Dogs are proposing is that any bill that
calls for more than $50 million in new spending must be put to a roll
call vote. By putting it to a roll call vote, what that does is it
forces every Member of Congress to stand up and go on record for their
constituents to see how fiscally responsible they are.
The next point I would like to highlight is point number ten which
requires honest cost estimates for every bill that Congress votes on.
In business, we call this a business plan. Prior to undertaking any
new endeavor, what a competent manager would ask for is a plan that
sets out the goals and objectives of the proposed venture, in this case
a proposed piece of legislation.
And then as part of that plan, he would ask to have a cost estimate
of what the investment would be. That is a very important issue.
What the Blue Dogs propose is that every conference report and bill
that comes to the floor of the House be accompanied by a cost estimate
prepared
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by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
{time} 2115
These are just a few of the points, a few of the agenda points that
the Blue Dog coalition is working on.
Let me reiterate what many of my colleagues have said. Fiscal
responsibility is a critical issue. It is an issue of competitiveness.
It is an issue of making sure that our children are not being taxed
with runaway budget deficits. People that say it doesn't matter or it
is not as important as a percentage of GDP are wrong, and I am proud to
be part of a group, the Blue Dog Coalition, that is committed, Mr.
Speaker, to addressing these issues in the 110th Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back to my good friend from Arkansas.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Florida, Mr.
Mahoney, for his leadership on these issues and his experience as a
business person that he brings to this Congress. I appreciate his
perspective and I appreciate his membership in the fiscally
conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition.
Mr. Speaker, in the time we have remaining, I want to spend some time
talking more about the 12 point plan for budget reform, about our
vision to restore fiscal discipline to our Nation's government.
Again, Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments, questions or concerns
for us, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. That is
[email protected].
I am delighted to be joined tonight by a number of our 44 member
strong, fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition Members. At this time
I believe we are going to open it up for a colloquy, and I yield to the
gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Donnelly.
Mr. DONNELLY. Thank you, Congressman Ross.
Mr. Speaker, the question that came to mind while I was sitting here
with my colleagues is this: What do you think our moms and dads would
think if they were here today and we said to them, we owe money to
Mexico, we owe money to China, we owe money to Japan, we owe money to
all these countries. Your grandchildren will owe $29,005 each to help
cover the national debt.
My wife's folks, her dad fought in World War II, Bougainville and
Guadalcanal, to help preserve freedom in this world. Her mom was in the
WAVES. My dad was in the Navy. When they came home, they thought
America's role was to help build others. They wouldn't believe what
they see today here in our country.
I was wondering what some of my colleagues think, and you,
Congressman Ross, your comments on that.
Mr. ROSS. I want to thank the gentleman from Indiana for his
commitment to putting an end to these record deficits in our Federal
Government.
The gentleman is absolutely right. I grew up in a small Methodist
Church outside of Prescott and Hope, Arkansas, Midway United Methodist
Church, and I can remember Sunday after Sunday after Sunday growing up
where the preacher would talk about being a good steward, that was
always before he passed the plate, and the preacher would talk about
being a good steward.
Well, the American people have sent us here and had us raise our
right hand and put our left hand on the Bible and take the oath of
office and pledge, swear to uphold the Constitution, and, yes, be good
stewards of the American people's tax money. That is really what this
is all about.
I think it is very important, the work that we are doing as members
of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, and trying
to be good stewards of the tax money of the people back home and to
make sure it is spent wisely and to make sure it is accounted for.
I yield to the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Wilson.
Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Thank you, Congressman Ross.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to just speak for a moment, if I could, in
regard to putting the lid on the spending. One of the things that we
all know we came here to do is to stop the runaway inflation and debt
that is just climbing up in our country on a regular basis.
The thought that spending from the year 2001 to 2003, total
government spending, Mr. Speaker, increased by 16 percent, these types
of raises and just continual going into debt is what has put our
country where every man, woman and child now is at the level of
$29,005.
We need to have the right kind of controls, and I believe in Ohio,
Indiana, Florida, certainly please speak out as to what you feel the
issues are in your State and what we can do about it.
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. If the gentleman will yield for a moment, I
would like to respond to your point, because we owe it to those
generations. That is one of the reasons why I spoke out and set the
stage for my remarks, to go back to the beginning of this country, when
the foundation of this country was laid out. That is what has made us
great. We honor our debts. That is what Hamilton and that is what
Jefferson and that is what Madison were all about.
You talk about your parents and your grandparents. What would they
say? What would my grandparents say? They would say, by George, we love
this country. This is our country. We are hoping and we are praying
that the Congress will stand and get it right.
As I looked at the polls in Georgia, we had a rainy day in the
election down in Georgia, but when I looked over the precincts, I could
see that it wasn't 25 or 30 percent turnout, in that rain there was 50
and 60 and 70 percent turnout. The people in this country love this
country, and they know that we need a new direction, and the first
order of this new direction is to get our finances in order.
Your parents brought you up, my parents brought me up saying watch
your money, son. Work hard. Save it. Invest it. Make sure you honor
your debt. That is what they would want us to do.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Mahoney).
Mr. MAHONEY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I also would like to address the
question, but from a slightly different perspective, and that has to do
with again one of the reasons I think the Democrats are now in control
of the House and the Blue Dogs have such a great opportunity, and it
gets back to a fundamental issue of ethics, it gets back to a
fundamental issue of values.
It is very clear that this House for the last 6 years has been
operating under a different set of standards and ethics than the
American people. It is very clear that this House does not take
responsibility for its work in terms of the bills and the cost of the
bills and the budget. These are not our values.
What I would say to my parents tonight is this, and that is this
Congress is committed to fiscal responsibility and this coalition is
committed to fiscal responsibility. It is very important that the
American people understand that their elected officials have to operate
under the same rules that they have to operate under when they balance
their checkbook every month around the kitchen table. That is
important, that we achieve that kind of fiscal discipline. It is
important that the American people understand that this Congress is
committed to it.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Florida for
that perspective as we discuss something that is very important to our
Nation, and that is how we get our fiscal house back in order after 6
years of reckless spending. We believe we have a plan to do it. That
plan is now being implemented.
In the first 24 hours of the 110th Session of Congress we saw the
PAYGO rule implemented, which can give us a balanced budget again. It
worked before. It can work again. And we saw transparency, a new level
of transparency added to earmark reform.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Bean).
Ms. BEAN. Thank you so much, Mr. Ross. It is a pleasure to be here
with my colleagues. Colloquy is always a fun way to communicate on
things that we have common concerns about.
I thought Mr. Scott led this conversation so well when he talked
about Jefferson's quote about our responsibility to future generations.
He knew that as a founder of this great Nation, and we still have that
responsibility to future generations.
We teach our children that if they make a mess, they ought to clean
it up.
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Yet we have made a mess of this Nation's finances, and we need to start
now, and we have started in this first 100 hours in the Democratic
majority to address that mess and clean it up. The expression is ``pass
the buck,'' but what we have instead been doing is passing the debt. We
should not be passing trillions of dollars to future generations with
``borrow and spend.'' Instead, we should pay as we go.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Illinois for that
perspective.
It is wonderful to be joined this evening during the Blue Dog special
order by a number of new members of the fiscally conservative
Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. I believe we have had three, and this
will be make four new members join us for this discussion and this
debate here on the House floor this evening.
I am pleased at this time to yield to the gentleman from
Pennsylvania, Patrick Murphy.
Mr. PATRICK MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Thank you, sir. I appreciate the
opportunity to speak here tonight amongst my colleagues here in the
Blue Dogs.
When you come down to Washington, you align yourself with people that
are just like you, people that represent not just you personally, but
your district back at home and your interests in your district back at
home.
When Congresswoman Bean talked about Thomas Jefferson and the future
generations, I couldn't help but think that I kissed this morning when
I came to work my baby daughter goodbye for the day, Maggie Murphy. I
mentioned earlier she was born 6 weeks ago.
When you look at that bottom number there that the Blue Dogs fight
for, that $29,000, every newborn in America is born into that debt,
that $29,000 apiece, they are born into that debt, and this Congress
previously just let it keep rolling and rolling and growing and
growing.
Finally the Blue Dogs have arrived now, and the Blue Dogs are saying,
listen, we are not going to take it anymore. We are putting our foot
down. We are going to be disciplined.
That discipline is something I learned personally in the military,
that families in my district in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, know about,
because in my district we have Washington's Crossing, where those
soldiers that started the Revolution, that really earned our
independence, showed the discipline when they didn't have the best
uniforms. They didn't have the best equipment, but they had a belief,
and they stood by their beliefs.
That is exactly what the Blue Dogs do, and they keep it simple. They
say we stand for two things: Fiscal discipline, fiscal responsibility;
and, number two, a strong national defense.
That is why it is an honor that the families in the Eighth
Congressional District, they know that their congressman, in myself, in
Patrick Murphy, and our colleagues of the Blue Dogs, that we stand for
something, and that we will fight every single day to bring down that
number, so that when people like Maggie Murphy and other newborns in
Lower Bucks Hospital and all over America, when they are born into our
great country, and it is a great country, they are not born $29,000 in
debt.
Mr. DONNELLY. Mr. Speaker, if I could say one other thing to the
American people, and that is the gentleman you just heard from from
Pennsylvania is also an Iraqi war veteran, a member of the 82nd
Airborne, and the folks of Pennsylvania and this country can be very,
very proud that Patrick Murphy is here in Congress with us today.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana, and I
yield to the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Scott.
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Thank you very much, Mr. Ross. It is indeed a
pleasure to be here with everyone, as I said earlier.
I think in conclusion tonight it is very important that we let the
American people know that we very soberly understand this charge that
has been handed to us as Democrats to lead in this Congress, and we
also understand why and we handle that responsibility with great care.
One of the things that it is important for us to point out, when they
ask what can we do and what is expected of us, is to stand up for the
American people finally at last and lift up our way of life.
We have two duties to do under the Constitution as Members of
Congress and they are expecting us to use these tools and do them well,
and these tools are, one, oversight. Through our ability to oversee
this government we can make these changes happen. The other is
appropriations, to handle their money as good stewards. These are the
things that we are committed to do, and this is how we will get to the
new direction that the American people expect us to get to.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the many members of the
fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition for coming to the
floor of the House of Representatives this evening and joining me for a
discussion on how we can restore fiscal discipline and common sense to
our national government, how we can bring this number down, Mr.
Speaker. As we conclude, I will remind you in that this number actually
went up by some $40 million during the hour that we have been here on
the floor this evening.
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