[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 138 (Tuesday, September 18, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H10499-H10505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
OFFICIAL TRUTH SQUAD
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, what a great opportunity it is to
come back to the floor of the House as the designee of the minority
leader, the Republican leader, and bring some issues hopefully into a
little greater perspective.
We come here often and try to shed a little light as a group that we
call the Official Truth Squad. The Official Truth Squad is a group that
got started a little over 2 years ago, because, Mr. Speaker, as you
well know, when folks tend to speak on the floor of the House,
sometimes they exaggerate a little bit. I know that is hard to believe,
but in fact that is the case. In fact, what we just heard, I would
suggest, Mr. Speaker, is a bit of an exaggeration, and maybe a
distortion of the facts.
What we would like to do tonight is to talk about a number of issues,
primarily monetary issues, taxing and spending and those kinds of
things. But before we get started, we want to bring a couple of issues
together that have as their common core and their common theme truth.
Our desire is to try to bring into perspective some of those areas
that oftentimes don't have the light of day given to them, if you will,
Mr. Speaker. We have a favorite phrase or quote that we use in the
Official Truth Squad, and it comes from a gentleman who was revered in
this Capitol, and truly across this Nation, a former Senator from New
York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He is quoted, and a number of folks have
said something like this, but he has my favorite quote that
crystallizes this issue, and that is that everyone is entitled to their
opinion, but they are not entitled to their own facts. Everyone is
entitled to their own opinion, but they are not entitled to their own
facts.
Before I begin and talk about some of the fiscal matters, the
monetary matters, that we have confronting us in this Nation and that
this Congress has already dealt with in ways that I think would benefit
from a little light, and certainly issues that we will be dealing with
further as we go on into this fall and winter, I want to talk about two
very specific issues that have come to this Congress within the last
week.
The first is something that the American people are well aware of,
and that is that General Petraeus, who was the commanding officer of
the coalition forces in Iraq, came last week after much fanfare in the
media to present to Congress his perspective on what was going on in
Iraq, and only in Iraq. Leading up to that, we had a remarkable display
by Members of the other side of the aisle, the majority party, that did
their best, their dead level best, to discredit this incredible hero
and this incredible patriot and this incredible man of service to this
Nation.
All the while you hear them say over and over and over, ``we support
the troops.'' ``We don't like the war, but we support the troops.''
Well, nobody likes the war. But some people back up their statement
that they indeed support the troops with action, and the action that
occurred leading up to last week's presentation before a joint
committee in the House and a committee in the Senate by General
Petraeus, a true hero and a true patriot, the action that led up to
that by Members of the majority party, the Democrat majority party, I
found to be disconcerting. When I was home last week for our extended
recess, folks at home found it to be disconcerting.
But then what we heard after a remarkable ad was taken out by a left-
wing advocacy group that questioned the patriotism and that questioned
the honor and that questioned the veracity of what General Petraeus was
going to present to the committee, what we heard from the other side
after that was remarkable silence, a remarkable silence.
So when you hear Members on the other side of the aisle, as we just
did within the last 15 minutes, say, Mr. Speaker, I support the troops,
but I don't support the mission, well, it is clear, Mr. Speaker, that
you can't do that and be true to our men and women on the ground. You
can't do that. Because what we heard after the ad that was put in The
New York Times, at a discount rate, I might add, the ad that was put in
The New York Times, when it questioned the honesty of one of our
bravest heroes, military heroes, what we heard from the other side was
virtually nothing, which put it all into perspective.
That is the truth that Senator Moynihan was talking about. You can
have your opinion, but you can't have your own facts. And the fact of
the matter is in that instance, when there was an attack on one of our
leaders in the military, one of our heroes, when there was an attack,
where were the Americans in the majority party, who represent the
majority party? Where were they?
I know where their constituents were, because I represent many of
them, and they were as disgusted as I with the actions of MoveOn.org.
They were as disgusted as I with the remarkable, remarkable betrayal of
the public trust that anybody in the public arena has. And it was
distressing. I found it distressing and saddening that in fact we heard
virtually nothing from folks on the other side of the aisle.
So that is a bit of truth that the American people are paying
attention to. When I go home, that is what I hear. I hear folks ask me
all the time, why is it that our Congress, the majority party now in
our Congress, cannot stand up proudly and say that they match their
words with action when it comes to our brave men and women in the
military? So that is a bit of truth that I wanted to highlight, to
bring a little light to in this House of Representatives.
[[Page H10500]]
The other is an issue that again doesn't have anything to do with
that, except we are trying to shed some light of truth on it. It
happened just a couple of hours ago, Mr. Speaker, on the floor of this
House.
The majority party has bent over backwards in their efforts to try to
make certain that individuals who are in this Nation illegally are able
to access certain benefit that are paid for with hard-earned taxpayer
money. Now, I don't know why that is. I can't answer the question I get
at home, why on Earth would they do those sorts of things? I can't
answer that. But they bend over backwards to make certain that
individuals who have come into this Nation illegally are able to get
access to housing, get access to all sorts of things that in fact my
constituents, your constituents, I suspect, Mr. Speaker, don't believe
is appropriate.
They believe that we ought to make certain that our borders are
secure and that individuals come into this Nation correctly, legally. I
don't know of anybody that opposes legal immigration. What many of us,
especially on the minority side, the Republican side, oppose is illegal
immigration and the consequences of attempting to take care of or
provide services for those folks that are here illegally. The problem
is, those services, all of the services that we address here, are paid
for by hard-earned American taxpayer money.
So what we had on the floor of the House here today was a bill that
should have gotten broad support, the reauthorization of the Federal
Housing Act. It is a bill that in its original intent was supposed to
try to provide assistance for people who were kind of at the margins.
They weren't able to make certain that they were able to afford some
kind of housing, and this bill was an attempt to try to provide in a
very generous and positive way some assistance to those that needed it.
Over time, that mission has become a bit distorted. In this instance
today, it has not only become distorted; it has become abused, abused
in a way that, again, my constituents at home, they just shake their
head when they hear these kinds of stories.
What happened is what the bill included, at the direction of the
chairman of the committee and of the Democrat majority. What it
included was up to a $5 billion slush fund.
Mr. Speaker, remember, that is $5 billion of hard-earned American
taxpayer money, $5 billion to go into what is euphemistically called an
Affordable Housing Fund. But in fact what that money can be used for is
virtually anything that the majority party believes is appropriate in
terms of giving money to organizations that have something to do with
housing.
Now, how is that something defined? Well, it isn't, which means that
that money can be used for an organization that simply advertises that
if you are having difficulty with housing, then we would like to assist
you and move you and get you to talk to the people who truly have the
answers.
{time} 1730
That may be 1 percent of their mission, and the other 99 percent of
their mission is advocacy for left-leaning organizations all across
this Nation. And advocacy for individuals on the other side of the
aisle to get elected, and advocacy in ways that the vast majority of
the American people would say we ought not be doing that. We ought not
be spending hard-earned American taxpayer money that way. Yet this is a
$5 billion slush fund for individuals to be able to use it kind of as
their own little pet project.
If that weren't bad enough, on our side of the aisle we get one
opportunity to truly affect and change the course or the description,
the content of a bill. It is called a motion to recommit, as you know,
Mr. Speaker. In that motion to recommit that we offered today, it was
very simple. It said, if you are going to allow individuals to have
access to that $5 billion of hard-earned taxpayer money, you ought to
make certain that the people receiving that money are either U.S.
citizens or here legally. Kind of a simple, commonsense amendment.
What we heard from the other side was oh, no, you can't do that. That
would limit the ability of us to do, to accomplish our mission. That
would make it so we are not able to do the kinds of things that we want
to do.
Remember, the kinds of things that they want to do is to support
organizations that are not consistent with mainstream America. So we
offered that amendment that would have provided that you had to be
legal in this Nation, that you had appropriate documentation of your
legality. You had to be a U.S. citizen or here legally. The other side
strenuously objected and defeated it. So 216 or 217 Members of the
Democrat Party said no, we don't believe that you ought to be here
legally and get those kinds of moneys. We believe those moneys ought to
be able to go to those folks here illegally.
Mr. Speaker, when I go home and try to explain that to my
constituents, there is no way I can do that. They stand in front of me
just dumbfounded that the majority party that we have right now is
intent on providing taxpayer benefits, taxpayer-funded benefits, to
individuals here illegally. That is a bit of a truth that I am trying
to weave through and make certain that Members of this body, Mr.
Speaker, understand and appreciate that some of these votes actually do
matter. Some of these votes matter. That vote today mattered.
I am attempting to shed some light on issues that in fact matter, and
the issue of the ad that denigrated and criticized and brought into
question the honesty and truthfulness of one of our military heroes
about which we heard nothing, virtually nothing from the other side,
that is truth. That's truth. And the American people are watching. The
American people are watching.
I mentioned, Mr. Speaker, when I go home I often get some questions
from folks who are concerned about what is going on here in Washington.
I was reminded by a friend here on the floor of the House today that it
is striking that so often what seems to matter at home doesn't matter
here, and what matters here doesn't matter at home. So we get the kind
of remarkable back-and-forth that goes on here on the floor of the
House that oftentimes is not full of the kind of substance that the
American people are concerned about, and the issues about which they
are concerned we often get very little attention paid to those things
here in Washington.
We are going to talk about one of those that I hear about all the
time from my constituents back home. We are going to talk about the
issue of taxes and the issue of spending and the issue of entitlements.
``Entitlements'' is a word I am not very fond of because it is not an
appropriate description. Entitlements have come to en capture the
Social Security program, Medicare program and Medicaid program. They
are called entitlements, because in order to receive the benefits from
those three programs, and other entitlements, there are other
entitlements, all you have to do is meet certain parameters. So if you
are a certain age, for example, you are eligible for Medicare,
regardless of anything else. If you are below a certain income and you
have a certain family situation, then you are eligible for Medicaid.
Once you reach a certain age, you are eligible for Social Security. The
proceeds or the benefits that are in those programs are automatic. So I
prefer to call them automatic spending as opposed to entitlements. And
instead of mandatory spending, I like to call them automatic spending
because the spending is on autopilot. It just goes and goes.
Regardless of what happens in this Chamber and in the Senate, the
spending continues and continues and continues. The inertia here in
Washington about these programs is to do nothing. It is to do
absolutely nothing because they are automatic. They are entitlements.
Why would we want to do anything. We would want to do something because
of the changing demographics of our society. We are on a collision
course with a fiscal disaster. A collision course with a fiscal
disaster. That is not my opinion, that is a fact, to quote Senator
Moynihan.
If you go to other folks who are much more knowledgeable about this
situation, they will tell you the same thing. The chairman of the
Federal Reserve, Chairman Bernanke said in February 2007, ``Without
early and meaningful action to address the rapid growth of entitlement,
the U.S. economy could be seriously weakened with future generations
bearing much of the cost.'' That is the Federal Reserve chairman saying
if something isn't done, the economy
[[Page H10501]]
could be seriously weakened. What that means is fewer jobs, decreasing
income, higher taxes, decreasing opportunity, a shadow coming across
the dreams of the American people. That's what that means.
The comptroller general, David Walker, who has been working as hard
as he can for literally years to get the American people and this
Congress to wake up to this impending crisis, David Walker said in
March of this year, ``The rising cost of government entitlements are `a
fiscal cancer' that threatens catastrophic consequences for our country
and could `bankrupt America.' ''
Mr. Speaker, that's not Representative Price talking. That's not
somebody who is talking willy-nilly about the sky falling for no reason
at all. That is the comptroller general of the United States of America
who looks at the numbers and looks into the projections of spending in
these entitlement programs and says that there are catastrophic
consequences for our country if nothing is done.
I am fond of saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, and
graphs are oftentimes worth more than that. This graph demonstrates
clearly the course we are on. These are pie charts that identify the
amount of the portion, the percentage of the Federal budget, that goes
to mandatory or automatic spending, the entitlement programs, Medicare,
Medicaid, and Social Security.
In 1995, these programs, the entitlement programs, automatic spending
programs, comprised about 48.7 percent of the Federal budget. And the
prediction then in 2005 was that they would comprise about 54 percent
of the Federal budget. That was the prediction back in 1995. And what
happened? Well, it was right on track. Right on track. 53.4 percent of
the Federal budget went to automatic spending in the area of
entitlements.
Now what's the prediction for 2017? It is 62.2 percent. This yellow
portion of the pie continues to get larger and larger and larger.
That's the spending in the automatic spending area, the entitlement
area: Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. That is a course, Mr.
Speaker, that we as a Nation are not able to sustain. It is crying out
for reform. It is crying out for improvement and programs that will be
more responsive to the individuals receiving it. It is crying out to
make certain that as the baby boomers of our Nation retire, as they
age, and as we have individuals who are at the lower end of the
economic spectrum, it is crying out for programs that are more
responsive to them, that answer their concerns, that listen to them.
These programs will not be able to do that because they will not be
able to be funded. And to sit here in 2007 and act as a Congress and
not address these issues is irresponsible. It is irresponsible.
This chart, Mr. Speaker, talks about this looming entitlement or
automatic spending crisis. In 2007, Federal spending as a percentage of
GDP, that's the gross domestic product, is about 20 percent. That means
about 20 percent, about two dimes out of every dollar that every
American earns, goes towards taxes in order to cover the programs that
the Federal Government provides. And the bulk of this, remember, the
bulk of this yellow bar here is entitlement spending: Medicare,
Medicaid, Social Security.
If we remain on our current course, if we do nothing at all, and
remember, we have done nothing. If we continue to do nothing, what
happens is that in relatively short order, 2020, we go to 23, 24
percent. In 2030 we go over 30 percent. In 2040, we go to 40 percent.
In 2050, we exceed 50 percent of the gross domestic product.
It's important to remember that, and I have another chart which I
don't have with me, but it is important to remember that the average
level of Federal budget, taxation to the American people is 18 to 20
percent and has been for decades. It is also important to note that
amount of spending, that amount of taxation, that amount of Federal
spending, a Nation spending at about 20 percent, is about the maximum
that any Nation can sustain for any period of time and remain
financially viable. Once you get up into these areas here, Mr. Speaker,
you can't sustain that. The economy won't sustain it. People won't have
jobs. You begin to lose companies and jobs. You begin to lose the
infrastructure that makes it so that individuals can go to work and
send their money to Uncle Sam.
There is a balance, and that's what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke knows. That is what Comptroller General David Walker knows,
and that is why they are sounding these alarms.
So you would think that this Congress that is charged with making
certain that our financial stake, that our financial future, is
positive and optimistic and that my son, our son and children all
across this Nation can grow up and be able to have the wonderful
opportunities that so many of us have had. You would think that this
majority would want to continue or want to make reforms so that those
kinds of dreams and visions and entrepreneurship and excitement about
America's future would continue. You would think that the current
leadership would listen to what they hear if they take that shell and
they put it up to their ear or they read the tea leaves or they listen
to the people that truly know like David Bernanke and like David
Walker. You would think that they would reform these programs or put a
proposal on the table to reform these programs.
{time} 1745
You would think, Mr. Speaker, that there would be no expansion of
entitlements, there would be no more additions to the automatic
spending that is going on here in Washington. Well, Mr. Speaker, as you
know, that is not the case.
We have had a number of bills that have come through the floor of
this House that have in fact expanded entitlements. The most recent one
was terribly discomforting to me. It was the State Children's Health
Insurance Program.
Before I came to Congress, Mr. Speaker, I was a physician. I spent
over 20 years, 25 years taking care of people, trying to get them well,
trying to heal them, trying to make certain that in spite of all the
remarkable rules and regulations that are put on the backs of every
single physician across this here Nation, that we could actually take
care of patients.
One of the things that became much more onerous than it ought to be
is the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which actually
provided greater rules to how to care for individuals than otherwise.
It also ultimately didn't fit the original definition.
The State Children's Health Insurance Program began in 1997. Its
mission was to make certain that those individuals, those children in
families where their family made too much money to qualify for Medicaid
but they didn't make enough money to be able to readily afford health
insurance were given some help; that those families were able to
provide some type of health insurance that was truly quality for their
children.
It is a good mission. It is a bipartisan program, a program that
passed through this House in Congress in 1997 in a bipartisan manner
because it had an appropriate ideal; it was an appropriate compromise
between some Federal program, a State program, and a lot of private
input. That program was to run for 10 years. So it is about to expire.
So what has happened in this House is that the Democrat majority
decided that they weren't interested in working in a bipartisan way,
contrary to so much of what they talk about. They weren't interested in
working in a bipartisan way. It was their way or the highway.
Their way was a remarkable expansion of an entitlement. Remember, the
State Children's Health Insurance Program was a discretionary program,
which means that the Federal Government determines what resources it
has available to provide that kind of care, and it works with the
States to make certain that the amount of money is there but that it is
not on one of those automatic trajectories to the sky in terms of
spending. It is not one of those programs that will assist in
bankrupting the Nation, as David Walker talks about.
But what does this majority do, this new majority, this Democrat
majority that talks all the time about being fiscally responsible? It
takes that program and instead of keeping it in the discretionary side,
that side where
[[Page H10502]]
folks at home can be able to appreciate that it is that side of the
budget where if they are able to afford it, they utilize the money in
that area, and it puts it in the entitlement side.
Instead of these bar graphs and those pie charts being accurate in
their prediction, that will be significantly off. In fact, they will be
off so much that we will reach this position of not being able to
sustain those programs and of decreasing economic activity in this
Nation and of lowering wages and of losing jobs in this Nation sooner
because of the recent actions of this Democrat majority.
They made it an entitlement. They did all sorts of other things which
I thought were egregious, as well as they pitted seniors against
children in their effort to try to pay for it. You don't see the kind
of reform that is so necessary.
So, again, Mr. Speaker, you would think that this new majority would
say, well, it looks like when we look into the future that we have got
a problem on our hands. We have got a problem, financial problem. It is
our responsibility as elected representatives of the people of the
United States that we need to be responsible, that we need to be
responsive to the concerns of our constituents, that we need to make
certain that the programs that we put in place will allow Americans to
continue to dream and continue to have that great opportunity for
success.
We need to make certain that we don't allow the entitlement programs
to consume an ever greater portion of the Federal budget so that that
discretionary side, which, Mr. Speaker, as you know, is not just the
military, it is roads, it is highways, it is all transportation, it is
all funding for the aviation, it is all of the other kinds of programs.
It is jobs, housing. It is the wonderful housing bill that we worked on
today.
It is all those kinds of things. It is everything that you think of
when you think of the Federal Government having activity, everything is
all of the discretionary side, and it will be consumed by the
entitlements, which means all of the things that folks think about
other than those three programs will not be able to take place.
So you would think that this new majority would say, well, we better
get our act in order, get our House in order, better work together in a
collegial and a positive and a bipartisan way to be able to solve this
problem. It is what we have been trying to do, what we have been
talking about, what we have proposed.
In fact, we did so in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. That act
reformed entitlements, about $130 billion of reform. That is one of the
big things that resulted in the ability to balance the budget, to have
a surplus. That was done with a Republican Congress and a Democrat
President. In fact, in 2005, in spite of all the kicking and screaming
from the other side, another $40 billion in appropriate entitlement
reform.
What has happened with the budget for this year among this majority,
who clearly can read the same charts, who get the same information from
the Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, and Comptroller David
Walker, who can look at the same projections? What have they done in
terms of entitlement reform? Nothing. Nothing, Mr. Speaker.
That is an abrogation of duty; that is irresponsible out of this
majority. The American people are paying attention because, again, when
I go home, they want these problems solved. They want them solved. They
ask why can't you work together and get these problems solved. Mr.
Speaker, we stand ready, willing and able to work together to get these
problems solved.
We are going to talk a little more about entitlements, but we want to
talk a fair amount about the taxing that has been hoisted upon the
American public by this current majority. We will talk about spending.
There are a number of ways you can increase revenue to the Federal
Government and cover the programs that are so vital and necessary to
the American people.
I would suggest, Mr. Speaker, that increasing taxes and increasing
spending together are not two of them. I believe that we ought to be
decreasing taxes and decreasing spending and being fiscally responsible
as a Congress.
I am pleased to be joined by my good friend, the gentleman from New
Jersey (Mr. Garrett), who is a fiscal hawk, an individual who
recognizes and appreciates the importance of balancing budgets and
making certain that we don't spend beyond our means at the Federal
level. I look forward to your comments. I am happy to yield to you.
Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the good work of
the gentleman from Georgia on so many areas that I work with you on,
Financial Services and otherwise; but here tonight most specifically
what is important to the American public and American taxpayer, and
that is just how much money is coming out of their wallet, out of their
pocket here and being sent down to Washington, where those dollars are
going and whether are being held responsibly.
I am not sure whether you were on the floor at the moment, but prior
to your speaking we had a Member from the other side of the aisle on
the floor giving their comments, and the gentleman from the other side
of the aisle, the Democratic Caucus Chair, who was speaking for a
little bit about the new book that is out there on Federal
responsibility and issues of such. Alan Greenspan just did the book.
If you listen to his comments, it almost harkens back to prior to the
elections and the exact same rhetoric we heard at that time as we did
just 35 minutes ago from the other side of the aisle. He was lambasting
and had been lambasting this administration and the past Congresses,
saying that they have spent too much money, that the past leadership in
this House was being fiscally irresponsible, that they were passing
bill after bill, spending increase after spending increase.
On and on the rhetoric went, just 35 minutes ago, the same rhetoric
that we heard during the last election about looking towards the past
and all the mistakes that were made in the past.
Now if you listen to that, you would always assume that the next
words out of their mouth were going to be: but this is what we are
going to do when we get into the majority. We are going to reverse
those trends. If spending was too high, we are going to go in the other
direction.
That is what you think would be the next words out of their mouth,
but of course they can't be. Here we are in September, 9 months into
this new 110th Congress, under the leadership now of the Democrat
majority, both in this House and the Senate, and we have their track
record to look at to see what course do they take. They lambasted,
attacked the path of too much spending.
Did they reduce spending? They did not. Instead, they have piled onto
that spending. Increased spending in the past was bad. Well, they
exacerbated that problem by spending even more.
There was a study recently that goes to this point, taking a look now
at this new 110th Congress. The National Taxpayers Union, basically a
nonpartisan organization, looking at both sides of the aisle fairly
recently did a study that shows that the 110th Congress, both Senate
and House, have introduced far more bills for budget savings than they
have in previous administrations, previous Congresses.
On first blush, that would be a positive thing until, again, you
think of what the record has been over the last 9 months. Has anyone
seen any of those savings bills passed through this House and passed
through the Senate and get signed into law? I can't think of any.
It's one thing to talk the rhetoric, which they have been doing. It
is another thing to drop in the savings bills, which some of them may
have been doing. But when we see the leadership will not post any of
those savings bills, that is the problem. For each bill introduced in
this House that would reduce Federal spending, and this makes the
point, there have been over 20 bills, a 20 to 1 ratio increasing the
size and amount of spending in Congress.
If you additionally listened to the other side, they will talk about
and applaud themselves and pat themselves on the back about PAYGO,
which you have already discussed, which is a good term described in a
very elementary way to say pay-as-you-go, something that all families
have to do in this country, and we wish Congress could live by that as
well.
Well, there are two aspects to PAYGO. One is the spending side of the
[[Page H10503]]
equation. Let's talk about that for a minute. I don't know whether you
have this chart up there. I know you have a number of charts. One of
the charts is headed ``New Majority's Fiscal Irresponsibility.'' I
don't want to make you go through all your charts.
One of the ways you can deal with PAYGO is this, and this is exactly
what every family does as well. When the family sits down and looks at
their budget for that week or that month as far as paying their bills,
they have to prioritize and say we may have a new expense here that we
would like or need to pay, but we don't have enough money in the
checkbook. So what are we going to do, we are going to reduce spending
elsewhere.
Good idea. American families should do it; Congress should do it.
This side tried to reduce spending by 2 percent. That didn't get
anywhere. How about 1 percent? Can we agree there is 1 percent of
waste, fraud, and abuse in Congress? You would think we could agree to
that.
But if we could look to the chart right next to you right now, what
that chart says is as follows: when that 1 percent reduction
legislation was proposed to this House, who voted for it and who was
against it.
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I appreciate you pointing that out. What this
chart demonstrates is that the rhetoric that we hear from the other
side doesn't match the action. It happens in so many different areas;
it is hard to keep up with. I call it Orwellian democracy, which is
that the words don't match the actions.
This chart demonstrates the seven appropriations bills. A number of
us, and you were so very, very supportive of these efforts, attempted
to say the Federal Government is spending too much, we ought to
decrease that. If you don't want to decrease it in certain specific
programs, then let's just decrease it by a certain percent.
In this instance, I promoted amendments that would decrease it by 1
percent. Decrease these seven appropriations bills by 1 percent. That
is one penny out of every dollar. That reduction would have saved $3.9
billion. Yet the individuals who so often say over and over and over
that they are champions of fiscal responsibility, that they certainly
don't want to see us overspend, and you see on the far right there the
number of times that they voted for and then against this type of
amendment, overwhelmingly voted against it, 95 percent almost all the
time.
I am happy to yield to my friend.
Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. I will leave you to make that point in
greater detail because I think it is a significant point.
I will leave you on this note as well, that the other side of the
ledger sheet, if you are not going to cut spending, the other side is
increased revenue. I believe you will probably show a chart that you
will have later on with regard to how they have been doing it. But the
American public must know this in a larger sense, that since the
Democrats have been in power, they have given us the largest tax
increase in America's history. The last time we had such a large tax
increase was back when the Democrats were in charge 12 years ago.
It was just a week ago, a couple of weeks ago when they wanted to
raise taxes by $53 billion with regard to a piece of legislation that
they had no offsets for. Additionally, just yesterday, or the day
before, they wanted to raise taxes again by another billion dollars on
redundant programs.
So as you pointed out, there are two ways to do this, either cut
spending, which they are not agreeable to do, or raise taxes; and of
course we have seen the history over the last month: every time they
get a chance, they do that.
{time} 1800
Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I thank my good friend for coming and helping
out and participating and trying to shed light, trying to put a little
fact on the table when we talk about the issue of taxing and spending.
I do, Mr. Speaker, want to talk fairly specifically about taxes
because, as you know, Mr. Speaker, the general consensus out in America
is that the majority party, the Democrats, are the party of tax and
spend. I grew up believing that, I grew up thinking that, and that is
one of the reasons that I was so staunchly a Republican as I entered my
political career, because I thought it was most appropriate to decrease
taxes and to decrease spending at the State and the Federal level,
because I believe firmly, as I believe most Americans believe, that the
American people are better able to decide how to spend their hard-
earned money, not the Federal Government, not the State government.
Our friends on the other side of the aisle tend to believe by and
large that the Federal Government knows best; that the choices that the
Federal Government makes with how to spend individuals' money, those
are better choices than that person could make for themselves. I simply
don't believe it and I don't think the American people believe that.
But what has happened in a relatively short period of time, Mr.
Speaker, we have been in this 110th Congress now a little over 9
months, right about 9 months, in a relatively short period of time the
bills that have been passed would increase taxes on the American
people, and truly across the board, not just a small focal area. They
will talk about increasing taxes on the rich, and we will talk about
that a little bit, but in fact what they have passed through this House
are bills repeatedly that increase taxes on virtually every single
American. And why do I say that? Well, they passed a budget that
includes this portion, these parameters laid out in terms of increasing
taxes.
When you talk about ordinary income, the highest rate would go from
35 percent to 39.6 percent. When you talk about capital gains, it would
go from 15 percent to 20 percent. Dividends, 15 percent to 39.6
percent. Those are all increases, Mr. Speaker. They are also facts, not
opinions. They are facts.
The estate tax in 2010 will be zero. That is the death tax. That
means that if you are unfortunate enough to have somebody in your
family that dies, that their estate on that day that they die, you
don't have to write a check to the Federal Government. But on January
1, 2011, with the budget that the new majority passed, that amount,
that death tax goes right back up to 55 percent, which is where it was
when we have been trying to get it down, 55 percent. That is an
increase, Mr. Speaker.
The child tax credit, the amount of money that you are given from the
Federal Government as a credit to assist in raising your child, $1,000,
in 2010, 2011 down to $500, cut in half, slashed in half.
The lowest tax bracket, curiously enough, those at the lowest end of
the economic spectrum in 2010 would have a taxable income tax at 10
percent, and then in 2011 at 15 percent.
What does that mean, Mr. Speaker? What does that mean to people? The
other side is fond of saying that all they are going to do is tax the
rich. They demonize the rich, because there is a tried-and-true method
in politics which is to divide people. We believe, I believe that it is
important to bring people together to work together in a positive way
to solve problems, to solve the challenges that we have as the American
people. And so they say, well, all we are going to do is increase taxes
on the rich.
In fact, with these tax rates here, one in five people who benefit
from the lower rate on capital gains that was passed earlier in this
decade have incomes below $50,000. That is 20 percent have incomes
below $50,000. So I guess that all we can conclude from that is that
our friends on the other side, the majority party, believe that anybody
who makes less than $50,000 is rich, the only conclusion that we could
reach given their rhetoric, given what they say. One in four people who
benefit from the lowered rate on dividends, one in four, 25 percent
have an income less than $50,000. Again, are those people rich, Mr.
Speaker? Are those people rich? When you pit people against each other,
it doesn't do well or a service to our Nation in terms of the
discussion as we move forward.
How many folks is that? 2.4 million people earning less than $50,000
benefit from the capital gains tax relief, 2.4 million Americans; 5.4
million Americans who earn less than $50,000 benefit from the dividend
tax relief, 5.4 million. In fact, 58 percent of the people who have
benefited, Americans who have benefited from the capital gains tax cuts
earn less than $100,000 a year.
[[Page H10504]]
Over half of the individuals earn less than $100,000 a year. So I guess
all those people, Mr. Speaker, by the definition of our friends on the
other side, are rich.
Mr. Speaker, we are talking a bit about taxes and about the Orwellian
nature of the rhetoric that we hear from folks on the other side of the
aisle as they continually say, well, we will only tax the rich and we
will only tax corporations, as if corporations are this inanimate
object that don't relate at all to the American people, that there is
no nexus between the American people's jobs and businesses. In fact,
when they tax at the rate that they do or that they propose, it affects
virtually every single individual in this Nation who has a job. And,
Mr. Speaker, that is personal. That is personal to those folks.
So we have talked about the $392.5 billion tax increase that was
incorporated in the budget that our friends adopted on the other side.
We have talked about that, and we outlined where that came from with
all of the increases in income taxes, capital gains taxes, the death
tax coming back. But what else have they done? Virtually a new tax at
every single turn. A new bill comes through here, and it is a new tax
or it is a new fee. $15 billion in the energy bill that was passed, $15
billion in new taxes on American corporations, American oil
corporations. And I know it is popular to beat up on the oil companies.
But, Mr. Speaker, if you tax them more, who is going to pay those
taxes? The American people are going to pay those taxes. Corporations
don't make any money, they don't mint any money. What they do is
American people purchase their products. And if they are taxed more,
the American people will pay more for those taxes.
In addition to what that means is that we are penalizing American
corporations. And they didn't tax foreign oil companies. That is not
what they did. They taxed American oil companies $15 billion; $5.8
billion in new tobacco taxes. That might be appropriate. In fact, as a
physician I strongly believe that individuals ought not smoke. Ought
not smoke. But what they have done is incorporate new tobacco taxes in
a children's health insurance bill, so that as you decrease the number
of folks that are smoking, you will have to find that money elsewhere.
And then where does that come from? Yes, Mr. Speaker, you guessed it,
new taxes.
$7.5 billion in new taxes in the farm bill. Remember, Mr. Speaker, at
every single turn, virtually every single turn, every new bill, this
new majority has seen to find an opportunity to raise taxes on the
American people.
Five-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax increase for infrastructure. That
infrastructure is an appropriate thing to pay for. But, Mr. Speaker, as
you know, when you set a budget, you ought to set priorities. And one
of the priorities of this Nation ought to be infrastructure
improvement, but we have got enough money to be able to do that if we
would set those priorities. We ought not be increasing the taxes on the
American people.
A 50-cent-per-gallon, 50-cents-per-gallon tax increase to study
global warming. Now, Mr. Speaker, I believe that it is fairly well
documented that the temperature on the Earth has increased some over
the past couple of years. I don't know that that is due to human
activity, but I do believe that we ought to be studying it and looking
at it. I also believe that it ought to be a priority of our Nation and
it ought to be a priority of our budget, but I don't believe that we
need to increase taxes in order to perform that study. I believe that
those resources are certainly already there.
New taxes on homeowners by ending the mortgage deductions. That is
what has been proposed by the other side.
And in the SCHIP bill again, in the State Children's Health Insurance
Program, there was a small little portion of it that many people didn't
even know they were voting on when they voted on it that will provide,
if it becomes law, for a tax on every single personal private health
insurance policy in this Nation. Every single one. Mr. Speaker, it is
not the way that we ought to be proceeding to increase economic
development to solve the challenges that we have by taxing Americans
over and over and over.
I want to spend a few brief moments talking about taxes on
corporations, because our friends on the other side, it is one of their
favorite pinatas. They beat up on the corporations left, right, and
center, and they do so as if the corporations in America aren't paying
any tax at all, they aren't paying their fair share. You will hear them
say that, Mr. Speaker. If you look at the facts, if you look at the
facts, then we could see where the American corporations stand as it
relates to the rest of the industrialized world.
Now, one would think, given the Orwellian rhetoric that we have heard
from the other side, that American corporations are clearly not paying
their fair share. Right? They are not paying as much as they might be
in, say, oh, pick a nation. Canada? Canadian corporations pay about 22
percent. American corporations, oh, by the way, they are down there on
the far right on this chart, Mr. Speaker. They are down there on the
far right paying the greatest percentage of taxes of their income of
any other nation, tied with Spain. Granted, we are tied with Spain, 35
percent. Switzerland down here, 8 or 9 percent. Ireland is about 12
percent.
In fact, Ireland is a great case study, because Ireland used to be
way down at this end of the chart, way down at that end. In fact, what
they did was decrease their corporate taxes, decrease their taxes on
corporations and businesses. And what happened, Mr. Speaker? An
incredible economic boom, an incredible economic development occurred,
because when you allow corporations to create more jobs, more people
get jobs, more money is created in terms of revenue for the Federal
Government. And it seems counterintuitive, but when you decrease taxes
on both people and on corporations, there is more money that comes into
the Federal Government.
So, Mr. Speaker, when you look at the facts, when you look at the
facts you appreciate that the United States corporations, again, a
wonderful whipping boy and it is easy to criticize them because it is
tough for them to defend themselves, especially with the rhetoric that
we so often hear on this floor of the House. And I find that troubling
and I think that is distressing, and it ought to be to the American
people, Mr. Speaker. Because when you look at the facts, what you see
is that United States corporations are taxed more than any other
industrialized nation except for Spain, and we are tied with Spain, 35
percent. So those are the facts, Mr. Speaker.
Now, what is the solution? Well, the solution is to respect the hard-
earned money of the American taxpayer. That is the solution. We have
proposed a taxpayer bill of rights. I encourage my colleagues on the
other side to look at the bill, to cosponsor the bill. I would love to
have it passed. I would love to bring it to the floor and passed.
What does it include? It says that the Federal Government ought not
grow beyond their ability to pay for it. That is the balanced budget
portion of the bill. You ought not spend more than you take in. You
ought to make certain that you end deficit spending. We believe
taxpayers have a right to that. We believe that taxpayers have a right
to receive back each dollar that they entrust to the Federal Government
for their retirement. That is the Social Security portion. As you well
know, Mr. Speaker, we talked about entitlements earlier, entitlement
reform is imperative. If young people across this Nation are going to
be able to receive back with some benefit the resources that they have
sent to the Federal Government for their retirement, if that is going
to be able to occur, then what needs to happen is that that money needs
to be put into a fund that is not used for anything else. Social
Security trust fund money ought to be used for Social Security alone.
That is what the taxpayer bill of rights says. That is what we say in
our bill. That is what many individuals across this Chamber on both
sides of the aisle have said that they support.
{time} 1815
Well, Mr. Speaker, let's vote on that. That's a positive move to
make. In fact, that would be a bipartisan positive move to make. We
encourage that to happen. We believe that taxpayers have a right to a
balanced budget amendment without raising taxes.
As we've demonstrated already, the current majority believes that if
you
[[Page H10505]]
just tax more, you'll be able to increase the money coming to the
Federal Government to pay for all these programs, these new programs
that they want to enact.
In fact, what happens if you tax more, you decrease money coming to
the Federal Government. And every single President that has decreased
taxes recognized that. John Kennedy did when he decreased taxes, saw a
significant increase to the Federal Government in terms of revenue.
Ronald Reagan did when he decreased taxes, saw an increasing amount of
money to the Federal Government. And certainly in this administration
we've seen significant increased revenues to the Federal Government.
When you decrease taxes, money to the Federal Government increases.
Again, it sounds counterintuitive; but it's not, because what happens
is that American people get to keep more of their hard-earned money.
And you remember, Mr. Speaker, we talked about choices, who ought to
be able to choose. One of the most fundamental principles that we
believe, I believe, is that the American individual, the American
citizen ought to be the one that has the right to choose when they save
or they spend or they invest, not the Federal Government, with their
money. So many of our good friends on the other side believe that they
can make better decisions than the American people with that hard-
earned taxpayer money.
We believe that you ought to be able to get to a balanced budget
without raising taxes. We have a bill that will allow that to happen.
We strongly encourage our friends on the other side to support it.
We believe that taxpayers have a right to fundamental and fair tax
reform. Some of my friends are supporters of a flat tax, a flat income
tax. Some are supporters of a fair tax, the national retail sales tax,
which I believe to be the most appropriate way to align our form of
taxation in our Nation with our form of commerce. We would then
incentivize all the things that we say that we want, like hard work and
vision and entrepreneurship and success. Right now we punish all those
things. Our current tax system punishes people when they do more, when
they succeed, when they die. Those aren't things we ought to be taxing.
My goodness.
And we believe also that the taxpayers have a right to a
supermajority required for any tax increase. In fact, as you know, Mr.
Speaker, that was the rule of the House until this new majority took
over. When they changed the rules on the very first day that we met in
January of this year, they changed the rule to make it so that it only
took a majority to raise taxes on any bill that comes through this
House, not a supermajority, which meant 60 percent before.
So, Mr. Speaker, it's very clear. We believe, I believe, that working
together positively, productively we can solve the challenges that we
have before us.
It's an incredible honor to represent the Sixth District of Georgia
in this United States House of Representatives. It's an incredible
honor for each and every one of us to be a Member here.
But what our constituents demand of us, I believe, is responsibility
to act together and to work together in a positive way, in an uplifting
way, in a way that will make certain that we preserve the American
Dream and a system in place, an economic system in place that will
allow the majority of Americans, the vast majority of Americans, if not
every single American, the opportunity to succeed in his or her own
life.
I challenge my colleagues across the aisle to work together
positively in that direction. I know that you've got partners who will
assist you on this side.
____________________