[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 194 (Tuesday, December 18, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H16813-H16820]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FOURTH QUARTERLY REPORT OF THE FRESHMEN REPUBLICANS
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. McCARTHY of California. Mr. Speaker, tonight for the American
public, we are going to hold the fourth quarterly report of the newly
elected freshmen Republicans giving an update of what has gone on here
on the floor. As the Sun begins to set on our first year in Congress,
this is really the appropriate time to talk about it. This week we are
bringing up what they call the omnibus bill, because we have 13
appropriation bills, but this Congress has only been able to get one
through.
So what are they doing this week, at the last hour, at the last
moments because Christmas is coming and people want to go home? They
are throwing them all into one great big ball and putting them before
the American people.
Now, when we flew back here, like we do each and every week, when I
got here on Monday, I quickly found 34.4 pounds of pieces of paper of
the omnibus bill and was told that in a few short hours we were going
to go to a vote.
Well, tonight we want to tell the American people that we want to
bring a little transparency to their government. We want to show them
exactly what is going on here. And I will tell you this, the American
people should know, Mr. Speaker, that this government is not small.
This government is $2.9 trillion. Now, just think for a moment. That is
just the amount of money that this government spends. Now, if you
compare that to economies, not just to what other countries spend in
their government, but to their economy and what they produce, what
their governments spend it on, ours would be the third largest in the
world. Of course, the United States economy is the largest, and there
would be Japan, but we would be larger than Germany. We would be larger
than China with all the money they spend in government and all that
they produce as you look at the different products that they make. We
would be larger than the United Kingdom, larger than France, and larger
than Italy.
When you think about that and you think about the deficit that we
have, isn't there a place that we can find the fraud, the waste and the
abuse and eliminate it? And that is what these 13 freshmen who have
been newly elected a year ago have been about to do.
Now, tonight, we are going to start out talking with different
members of the freshman class. It is an honor to look at the different
members that we have. Our first individual that we have comes from the
State of Minnesota, the Sixth District, Representative Michele Bachmann
from Stillwater, Minnesota.
I would like to yield time to Michele.
Mrs. BACHMANN. Thank you, Representative. What an honor to be able to
be here. What an illustrious class we have, and I appreciate the
gentleman from California so much for his fine direction, for his
leadership and for our class. He is doing a wonderful and able job. He
is telling the story that the American people want to hear, and that is
where we are in this particular quarter, what is happening with our
finances, because that is what we do, after all, when we come here to
the United States Congress. We come here for a very simple purpose. We
have to deal with 11 spending bills covering various subjects, and we
have to take care of those. We have to make sure that we fully fund the
priorities that we believe in and make sure that we
[[Page H16814]]
are keeping faith with the American people and doing so in a way that
respects their property, their private property.
Because after all, what is it that each one of us has? We have our
time. We have our livelihood. And when we go out to work every day, the
money that we bring home for our families, the money that we bring home
that we hope that some day will buy us a home, put our children through
college, maybe have enough to offer us a secure retirement, that is the
result of our labor that we take every day.
And where are we at now in this country with the amount of money that
the government is consuming out of our paychecks? It seems every year
those days go a little bit longer and longer when Congress is consuming
more money. That is a real concern for a lot of Americans. I know it is
a concern for me. It is a concern for our family and for the people
that I represent back in Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District. And
I know as I have spoken with our fellow freshmen, and many will follow
me up here when I conclude my remarks, they will tell you the same
thing.
{time} 2030
They are very concerned about how the people back home are going to
be able to hold on to the fruits of their labor, the private property
that they have been able to amass and accumulate for the benefit of
their family.
Well, here's just one topic that I want to take tonight, just one
little piece, and spend a very few moments on it, and it's a concept
called the alternative minimum tax. Now, this is something that came
about in the Tax Code back in 1969. Back in 1969, there was a hue and
cry because there were about 155 multimillionaires who didn't pay taxes
that year, and rightly so. There were a lot of middle-income Americans,
lower-income Americans that were pretty upset about this. They were
paying taxes, but they saw that wealthier people, through legitimate
loopholes, you might say, or legitimate provisions in the Tax Code,
were able to completely escape taxation.
Well, this created, as you can imagine, a hue and cry right here in
this body. So the Congress decided to create a bill called the
alternative minimum tax. What this would do, essentially, is a person
would have to figure their tax once. If they didn't have a tax
liability, under the alternative minimum tax they figured their tax a
second time, and whichever tax liability was higher, that is the tax
that we get paid. In other words, whichever way that Uncle Sam did
better, that would be the final outcome of a person's tax return. So
the American citizen never was able to pay the lower amount of tax;
they always had to pay the higher amount of tax.
Well, the alternative minimum tax kind of turned into something that
you might equate with one of those 1950 science fiction movies called,
maybe, ``The Blob that Ate New York City,'' because that is what has
happened with the alternative minimum tax. It has become kind of like
``the blob that ate New York City.''
Now, remember back in 1969, 155 Americans were impacted by the
alternative minimum tax; in other words, they had to pay a higher tax.
That is what that means; 155 Americans. Well, guess what Congress
forgot to do? They forgot to index this tax for inflation. So, guess
what? Every year more and more Americans had to pay this tax, and more
and more Americans were reclassified as being wealthy or rich.
Well, guess what? Last year, 3.5 million Americans had to pay the
alternative minimum tax. One hundred fifty-five, 3.5 million. Guess
where we are today? As of today, this Congress has done nothing,
absolutely nothing to eradicate the alternative minimum tax. You know
what will happen? Twenty-three million Americans will be impacted by
this measure. That is redefining what rich means in this country.
So, do you know what the new definition of rich will be? It will be a
police officer married to a teacher. Now, think of that, a police
officer married to a teacher. We don't usually think of people in those
income tax categories as being redefined as rich. But now, under the
so-called wisdom of this Congress, that is exactly what has happened
Now this is a problem. We cannot allow this higher level of taxation
to seep down into the middle class where people are working hard. They
aren't rich by any stretch of the imagination. They are just
hardworking, decent people, trying to make a go of it; not what this
tax was intended to impact. That is something we need to consider.
There actually can be a conclusion. Sometimes the curtain needs to come
down on ill-advised measures; and if there ever was an ill-advised
measure, it's the alternative minimum tax.
I just want to give you a figure here. Historically, over the last 40
years, and we are standing here, it's a beautiful December evening in
Washington, D.C., the year 2007. For the last 40 years in this country,
the Federal Government has consumed about 18.2 percent of gross
domestic product. That is pretty much the money that is created and
generated in this country every year, gross domestic product. Well,
guess what? The Federal Government has consumed about 18.2 percent.
If this Congress continues to do nothing, and unfortunately, that is
a lot of what we have seen this year is a lot of do nothing, if
Congress continues to do nothing with the alternative minimum tax,
instead of 18.2 percent of all the money that is created in this
country, that number will rise to 24 percent. Almost one-fourth of
everything that is created, the income that is created in this country
will come where, to your pocket? Are you kidding? It will come here to
the United States Government. That is not what we want to see happen.
This is kind of a dream come true for politicians that love big
government, because they don't have to vote for this tax increase. It's
just on automatic overdrive. It's going to continue to grow. Just like
I said, ``the blob that ate New York City,'' that is the alternative
minimum tax.
That is not what those of us who are standing up here to talk to you
about tonight, with fiscal responsibility, that is not what we are
about. That is not what we want. What we are after is a clean, straight
repeal. We want this ill-advised tax to go away. People think that a
tax is here forever, that you will never get rid of it. You never get
rid of death, you never get rid of taxes. Well, it is possible to do
it. It's possible to do it if we have the will.
I believe collectively the American people would want us to get rid
of this ``blob that ate New York City,'' the alternative minimum tax,
because why should the government continue to profit from a bad law so
that you will have to continue to spend more and more and more of your
income. And pretty soon, everybody's going to be redefined as rich,
everybody will be, and pay a higher level of taxation. This is
absolutely ridiculous. There is no reason why we should continue a law
like this, and I fully believe that we need to do something about this
bill, and do it soon.
Now, here's one aspect that is being debated even this evening. There
are those on the other side of the aisle that think that we have to
``pay'' for this tax. In other words, you need to continue to be taxed
more. Here's how they plan to do it. They plan to create a bank
account, if you will. And what the other side across the aisle is
planning to do, you know what they are going to put in that bank
account? They want to put tax increases in that account. They want to
have a 1-year tax or 1-year patch, or fix. So instead of 23 million
people paying that tax this year, they just want it to be 3.5 million
people. Still too many. It's 3.5 million too many people, if you ask
me.
But what they want to do is create a bank account and put tax
increases in it. And what they are going to do, just ``take it to the
bank,'' as they say. The American people are going to be stuck with a
bill of $50 billion in tax increases that you're going to have to pay,
maybe not next year, but the year after. That bill is going to be stuck
to the American taxpayer.
We can do so much better. Do you know that we have more revenues
coming in this year into the Treasury than any other time in the
history of this country? Revenues are not the problem. We don't need
all this additional revenue. What we need is some fiscal discipline,
some fiscal responsibility. We need to get our sense about us and
realize we just can't be all things to all
[[Page H16815]]
people. We set our priorities. We do what you do every day at home in
your home and in your business. You just realize you need to spend
within your means.
So we need to get right on this. We need to not create any phony bank
accounts where we don't put money in, we put IOUs in that you the
American public are going to have to pay. We are going to get rid of
that.
We want to just do a clean repeal, do away with the alternative
minimum tax, be fiscally responsible, be good and kind to the American
people. That is a Christmas present that we need to pass and send out
to the American people tonight. That Christmas present needs to say
that we respect you, we respect your work, we understand how hard you
work, we understand that your family means the world to you, your
children mean the world to you, your parents mean the world to you,
your business could use a little bit more capital investment too. We
trust you, and we know that you can put that money to work far better
than any of us collectively ever could hope to do. There are essentials
that government has to fund, but what we don't need to do is have a
blob that eats not only New York City, but the rest of the United
States.
So I for one, Representative McCarthy, believe with you that we need
to do right by the American people, trust their judgment, be sensitive
to their family needs, and do away with the alternative minimum tax.
Mr. McCARTHY of California. I thank the gentlewoman from Minnesota,
Mrs. Bachmann, because she said it right, that this alternative minimum
tax is going to hit a lot of Americans. And it is not about a revenue
crisis here in Washington, DC.; it is really a spending crisis. We set
a new record that more money has come into this Treasury than ever
before, but more money is going out.
This Congress has a couple other historical facts with this year.
This is the longest a Congress has ever gone without approving 13
appropriation bills. This is a Congress that has not been effective
from that date. And I will tell you from the 13 freshman Republicans
that got elected all at the same time, we talked about accountability.
We talked about changing the way Congress goes about it, that we bring
transparency back home. And in that omnibus bill that was before us,
those 34 pounds of paper, there were 9,000 earmarks; 9,000 earmarks.
Think for one moment. Did the American public get to debate them? Did
they get to see them? Did the power of the idea win at the end of the
day down here?
And you wonder as you are sitting back at home, Mr. Speaker, with the
American people, maybe they don't qualify this year to pay the
alternative minimum tax. Will they be affected still? I will tell you,
if you are a taxpayer and you get a refund from the IRS and you try to
send that in early, get your taxes done early so you can get that money
back, and maybe you are going to take your kids to Disneyland, maybe
you are going to put a little money a way for a kid's college, or maybe
you are going to put money away for yourself for retirement, you know
what? You are not going to get it back very soon. The IRS has already
said because this Congress has not acted, this majority has not taken
it up and solved the problem, because of that, we are going to wait 7
extra weeks. They have to reprogram, even if an action is taken here
tomorrow on this floor, and that is the concern I have.
When you think about this budget, $2.9 trillion. People at home say,
You are talking trillion, you are talking billion, what does that mean?
Let's take it down just one step. It is 1,000 billion for every
trillion. Just think for a moment, just $1 billion. It is
Christmastime. If someone were to give you $1 billion and you went and
said, I am going to spend $1,000 a day. I am going to go on a shopping
spree each and every day. How long it will take you to spend $1
billion? 2,740 years. A billion minutes ago the year was 104 A.D. and
the Roman Empire was flourishing; yet the Federal Government spent $1
billion in the last 3\1/2\ hours. That is what is going on that the
American people need to know about.
To continue on, we have some more freshmen here with us tonight. From
eastern Tennessee, we have Representative David Davis from Johnson
City. Let me tell you a little bit about David Davis. He sits on the
Committee on Education and Labor, Homeland Security and on Small
Business, because he has been a small businessman. He knows how to run
a business, how to earn money, how to employ individuals and how to
grow the economy.
But I will tell you, he is a Representative that never loses sight of
where he represents in eastern Tennessee. Just last week he opened up
his house to all of his constituents. He welcomed them over for a
little time of cheer during the holiday season. And you had about 500
people through your house, and you said at the end of the time it was
nice, because you had the hardwood floors and you had it all cleaned
up.
But we are very proud of the representation you give and how you
reach out to your constituents, and I yield the time to David Davis.
Mr. DAVID DAVIS of Tennessee. Thank you, Kevin. Thank you for your
leadership. Thank you for your friendship.
You know, we have been here almost a year now, and as I look at my
fellow freshmen, I feel blessed to represent the American people with
some of the best people that I know, good people that are willing to
come here and work hard and try to get things done for the American
people.
I grew up in the mountains of east Tennessee. My dad has got a sixth
grade education. I was able to start a business. I was able to succeed.
I was able to serve in the Tennessee legislature. It just goes to show
that in America, you can do whatever you want to do.
Henry Ford once said, ``If you think you can or if you think you
can't, you are right.'' That is common sense. If you go out there and
you make things happen and you are willing to work hard, good things
will happen for you. Henry Ford knew it. Teachers know it all across
America, moms and dads and all across America.
We live in a blessed Nation. As a matter of fact, it even talks about
that in the Bible. In Psalms 33:12, it says ``Blessed is the nation
whose god is the Lord.'' We are a blessed people, and I feel very
blessed to represent the people of northeast Tennessee back in my
beloved mountains where common sense reigns, American values reign.
You know, we are in America today and we are in an America where we
spend too much money. Ronald Reagan understood this. When Ronald Reagan
was President, he once said, ``We don't have a trillion-dollar debt
because we don't tax enough. We have a trillion-dollar debt because we
spend too much.'' And I can tell you, Ronald Reagan would not have been
pleased with this Congress this year because we have certainly, under
the majority rule, they tried their best at every turn to find a way, a
new way, to tax the American people.
{time} 2045
There are moms and dads sitting around the kitchen table all over
this great country trying to put a budget together. They are trying to
put a budget together to decide how they are going to take care of
their kids, how they are going to buy gas for their automobile, how
they are going to pay their heating oil bill, how they are going to pay
for college for the next generation, how they are going to save for
retirement, how they are going to provide for their health care costs
that keep increasing day in and day out.
The American people are looking for leadership. And when this new
majority took over last year, they promised open, accountable,
transparent government that was going to get results for the American
people. Well, the results that this Congress has brought about,
actually, over the last week or two have started to come back to some
common sense. It took them about 50 weeks to get there, the longest in
history; but finally they are starting to come back and going to pass
some bills that cut their spending by about $20 billion. Thank goodness
we had a President that said, I am going to veto if you spend too much.
Thank goodness we had a minority party who stood up and said you are
not going to spend too much money.
Moms and dads across America can spend their money better than a
Congress. Moms and dads know the answer of how to raise their kids
better than a
[[Page H16816]]
bureaucrat in Washington that has never met those kids.
This majority has failed the American people right up to the last
week or so. The majority failed to pass 11 out of 12 appropriation
bills.
Funding for this Congress and for this government actually ended back
in October, and here we are on the eve of Christmas and we are still
waiting to put the final touches on a budget that should have been done
back in October. You couldn't do that back home in east Tennessee. You
can't do that in any city in America. You have got to use common sense
and you have got to pay your bills on time.
Michelle talked a moment ago about the majority has failed to protect
the taxpayer with the AMT fix. You see, no leadership, no results. And
that is basically where we are at. If the AMT is not fixed this week,
it will leave 23 million taxpayers owing more money and not bringing
their refunds home the way they expect. It will be a tax increase on
the middle class. No leadership, no results.
Then, you look at the energy bill that has been talked about all
year. Finally passed one this week. It is amazing, you get to the 11th
hour of the 11th month and you finally start to pass some of these
bills. But an energy bill that basically had everything in it except
energy. We had an energy bill that had regulations, we had an energy
bill that had taxes, and we had an energy bill that had no energy. No
leadership, no results. And we are certainly seeing that today.
Then we had a majority party that has tried their best to do
everything they can to make sure that the troops didn't receive the
funding that they deserve. I went over to Iraq and spent time with the
men and women in uniform, and there are young men and women over there
that the American people would be very proud of. They want to be there;
they volunteered to be there. They want to come home, but they want to
come home in success, not in failure.
We have a majority party that actually had a leadership back in the
spring that said: we failed. I can tell you, I can tell my colleagues,
we have not failed. America has not failed. Ronald Reagan also used to
say when he said tear down that wall, he said they lose, we win. I
would hate to be in a situation in this war where we have to look back
and say, we lost, they won. And we won't do that if we protect our men
and women in uniform. And we can do that. As a matter of fact, there is
a bill on the Senate floor tonight to make sure that funding is
available for our men and women in uniform across the globe, not just
part of the globe, but across the globe. See, if you have no
leadership, you have no results.
And then the majority party has talked about health care, probably
one of the most pressing issues facing the American family today. We
talk about a need to fix health care, but we have not seen it in this
Congress. The American people demand the ability to be able to go out
and afford and feel reasonably comfortable that their children,
themselves, and their moms and dads are going to receive the health
care that they need. And there are solutions to those problems, but you
have to have leadership to get results. No leadership, no results.
Then the cost of energy. When this majority party took over, it was
interesting. if you look back, they said: the Republicans have left us
in a lurch. Our cost of energy is skyrocketing. If you will give us the
opportunity to lead, we are going to lower the cost of energy. When the
Republicans gave up the majority in January, oil was $56 a barrel. Now
it is $90 a barrel or thereabouts. $56 to about $90 a barrel. That is
going in the wrong direction. Again, no leadership, no results.
The American people want us to come together, work as a team, and
work on these issues, health care, energy, funding our troops so we can
win, taking care of immigration, building the fence, making sure we
have a secure Nation, making sure that we have an education system
where our children can feel reasonably sure that they can go out and
get the education they need. That is the type of leadership we need.
That is the type of leadership that was promised for the most honest
and ethical and open Congress ever. I am still waiting.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be with you.
Mr. McCARTHY of California. I thank the gentleman from Tennessee. He
has done a tremendous job here, and I appreciate your comments. Because
when we all sat on this Chamber's floors and we listened for the first
time the pride of having the first woman elected Speaker, her comment
and her words were: partnership, not partisanship. And we looked
forward to that day that we would sit down, we would debate the ideas,
and we would actually change the way that this body works, and no
longer would congressional Members just slip something into the bill so
it would pass and no other Member was able to see it or debate it. But
we soon learned that did not change.
You know, the President of the United States stood in these Chambers
and gave the State of the Union speech, and he challenged this Congress
to cut their earmarks in half. Now, that would mean there would only be
about 6,700 earmarks inside the bill. There were 9,000. We heard the
majority side say: we had to put another 230 in from the last time you
even were able to look at these just to get Members to vote for it.
That is not the way the American people want legislation produced. They
want to see it in a committee, they want to see it debated, they want
to see the power of the idea actually win.
What are these earmarks about? Well, these earmarks are probably the
worst things you have ever seen. We used to have a former chairman of
the Ways and Means, Bill Thomas. And when he retired, he took all his
papers, it is an historical time, on what he was able to accomplish in
his 6 years as chairman and his 28 years in Congress, and he gave it to
the junior college in Bakersfield, California. We have a new chairman
of Ways and Means, and he had been there only about 6 months, now it is
almost a year. Within 1 year, he had already put $2 million into the
Health and Human Service appropriation to build a library named after
himself, to build a very nice office for himself in the style of a
Presidential library of like Bill Clinton or Jimmy Carter. Those two
libraries were built with private funds.
But, you know, I take a great deal of pride of the Republican
freshmen, because all 13 voted ``no.'' The majority in the majority
party all defended him; came down with an amendment to say, let's strip
that $2 million, we have a deficit. The college didn't even ask for it.
That individual actually came to the floor, defended it, and said he
deserved it, he worked here so long. We said, well, you named it after
yourself. Should we put something in and name it after ourselves? No,
no, you wouldn't deserve it. But that, the Building a Monument to Me?
The idea that it is not the taxpayers' money? That is what has gone on.
That is what is going wrong here. And that is why tonight we are
talking about the transparency. We are talking about what is going on.
Our next speaker tonight comes from the State of Ohio, the Fourth
District. And I will tell you, the impact that he has had on this floor
in less than a year is tremendous. If we had just taken his amendment
on each and every appropriation bill that he would put forward, the
American taxpayers would have saved $20 billion. $20 billion. But each
and every time, the majority party twisted the arms of each and every
one of their Members to make sure that it wouldn't pass. But he did not
give up, and he continues to fight that call and be able to move us
forward.
So I yield to Representative Jim Jordan, who is the only freshman
Republican who serves on the Committee of Judiciary, Committee on House
Oversight and Reform, and the Committee on Small Business. Congressman
Jordan.
Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. I thank the gentleman for yielding, Mr. Speaker.
I appreciate the chance to address the Chamber tonight and be with my
freshmen colleagues who have fought the good fight on spending. We have
heard a lot about spending and taxes.
I gave a speech last week back in the Fourth Congressional District
in the great town of Findlay, Ohio. And I said at the start of that
speech, I said 1 year in Congress has confirmed what I suspected: with
the exception of the military, with the exception of our good men and
women who wear our uniform, with that exception, the rest of the
[[Page H16817]]
Federal Government doesn't do anything well.
And I asked the audience, tell me how the Department of Commerce
improves your family's life. Tell me how the Department of Labor
improves your small business. Tell me how the Federal Department of
Education improves life in our schools. How does it really help our
teachers, our school board members? Most importantly, how does it help
our children in our schools across this country? And of course the
answer was nobody knew. Nobody knew what all this big government does.
In fact, today there was a story in our Columbus, Ohio paper. It is a
Cox News Service story written by Marilyn Geewax, and the headline is:
``Federal Finances a Mess.'' And the date line says:
``Washington. The Federal Government finances are in such a disarray
that the Nation's budget watchdog said yesterday that he was unable to
sign off on the books. Comptroller David Walker said the Treasury
Department's annual report wouldn't be acceptable in the private
sector.''
In quotes, he said this in his speech at the National Press Club:
``If the Federal Government were a private corporation and the same
report came out this morning, our stock would be dropping, and there
would be talk about whether the company's management and directors
needed a major shakeup.'' That is what our comptroller had to say about
the Federal Government.
And yet what did the majority do this first year in Congress? They
tried to tie the hands of our troops, that one area of the Federal
Government that does a great job. And in the rest of the government,
they increased spending, as my colleague from California pointed out,
over $20 billion. $20 billions in increased spending for the Federal
Government that, we all know, according to the Comptroller, is a mess.
And it is important we recognize that.
And I am proud to be associated with these members of the freshmen
class who have spent so much time this year trying to get a handle on
Federal spending and bring it back into line, because we recognize a
few facts, just a few numbers. And my colleague from California and the
previous speakers have pointed this out as well. We have a $9 trillion
national debt. Each citizen, each American citizen's share of that
national debt is $30,200. And here is the real concern: when you have
out-of-control spending like this, it inevitably leads to higher taxes.
And we have already heard from our good friend from Tennessee who
talked about the tax burden currently facing families. We heard from
the from Minnesota about the tax burden that the AMT is going to impose
on over 20 million Americans.
If we don't get a handle on spending, there is going to be real
consequences on this country, and here is why it is so critical. If we
want to make sure that we promise to our retirement systems, if we want
to make sure we leave our children a debt-free Nation, and if we want
to make sure we can compete and win in the international marketplace,
then we have to begin to control spending. And that is why, as my
colleague from California pointed out, I was proud to work with our
class this summer, and we offered a series of amendments that would do
just that.
It was interesting, during those debates, when we got up and spoke
about why it was important to hold the line on spending and begin to
save taxpayers' dollars, begin to allow families to keep more of their
money, it was interesting during that debate, the other side said: We
can't do that. We have got to increase spending. We have got to
increase spending, in some cases two and three and four times the rate
of inflation, because if we don't, the world is going to end, the sky
is going to fall. Everything terrible is going to happen. And yet, you
know what has happened, as has been pointed out already this evening?
We didn't pass those spending bills, as the law requires, by September
30.
So since that time, over the past 10 weeks, we have been functioning
under what we call a continuing resolution, which is a fancy way of
saying we are living on last year's budget, exactly what the amendments
we proposed were going to do. We are living on last year's budget. And
do you know what? The government is running. The sky hasn't fallen.
And my argument is, if we can do it for 10 weeks, we can probably do
it for 10 months, and we can probably do it for a whole year and save
my taxpayers, as my friend has pointed out, over $20 billion.
When you think about the size of government, there is a great line
that Thomas Jefferson had. He said: When the government fears the
people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is
tyranny.
Now, with that statement in mind, ask yourself a question. If
sometime tomorrow you get a knock at your door and you go and you
answer your door, and the gentleman standing there identifies himself
and says, Hello. I am Mr. Smith and I am with the IRS, is your first
response, Oh, joy. One of my public servants is here to help me today?
Of course not.
We all understand government is too big and we need to reduce it. And
the reason we need to reduce it is because we understand one
fundamental fact: moms and dads can spend the money better than we can.
Moms and dads can do a better job than the bureaucrats in this Federal
Government that the headline even says is a mess can do when it comes
to spending their money.
Think about that typical family out there. One of the reasons America
is the greatest Nation in history is because moms and dads have been
willing to sacrifice so that the next generation, so that their kids
can have life a little better than they did.
{time} 2100
If we don't get a handle on spending, it is going to be tough to
continue that great tradition that has helped make America the best.
The same comptroller who was cited in this article that is in today's
papers, the same comptroller had this statement to say: ``We are
failing in our most important stewardship responsibilities. We have a
duty to pass on a country better positioned to deal with the challenges
of the future than the one we were given.''
That is our challenge. That is what this class is about. We want to
make sure that we get a handle on spending so we can do what is right
stewardshipwise and pass on to our children and our grandchildren the
same great America that we inherited. That is what made America great,
and that is what we have to do as we move forward.
It starts by getting a handle on spending so we can keep taxes low
and we can compete in this international marketplace.
I thank the gentleman from California. His leadership continues here
in the United States Congress, and I am proud to be associated with
that in our freshman class.
Mr. McCARTHY of California. Well, I appreciate my good friend from
Ohio. The gentleman brings up a good point. The article the gentleman
cited said if the Federal Government was a public business, that our
stock would be dropping. Well, if you look at the poll ratings, that is
exactly what has taken place.
We have set a new record in this Congress with this new majority with
the lowest congressional approval rating ever. This new majority has
set a new record of being the least effective; 13 appropriation bills,
1 year to get them done, and only got one through. Twelve have not gone
through. So they compiled them all and laid them on the floor. This is
the longest any Congress has ever gone. And the only reason that the
omnibus bill is going to pass now is a deadline.
The American public does not believe that their government should
work based upon deadlines; it should work based upon ideas and
accountability. We have been in office about a year now. As that sun
begins to set, I have thought about what could improve this House. The
House really is the leader of the free world. I have come to the
conclusion there are two things this House needs. Number one, we need
accountability. Number two, we need adult supervision to get the job
done.
I will tell you that is what tonight is about. Our next speaker comes
from the Seventh District of Michigan representing Battle Creek,
Jackson and Adrian. His name is Representative Tim Walberg. He serves
on the Committees of Agriculture and Education
[[Page H16818]]
and Labor. And let me tell you how hard this individual works.
I caught him this morning. He was up working on constituent services.
He is now on the floor. There are times he is over in the hospital
visiting troops. I told him we were going to be speaking on the floor
tonight. He said, Let me see. I am going to be in my office and I am
going to put on a teletown hall to my district. He is calling thousands
of people in their home, and they are going to question their
Congressman.
So when I talk about this place needs accountability, I will tell you
that the Seventh District of Michigan is getting that accountability
from morning to night, that Tim Walberg is hard on the job, working
fast and making sure that accountability is coming back home.
I yield to my friend from the Seventh District of Michigan, Tim
Walberg.
Mr. WALBERG. Thank you, Congressman McCarthy.
Mr. Speaker, I guess I would express my desires to have Mr. McCarthy
campaign for me next time with those type of words.
And you read them very well, just as I wrote them for you.
It is, indeed, a privilege to be with Members of Congress, in this
case 13. We call ourselves the Lucky 13. But we are 13 with ideas, 13
Members who came to Congress, the only freshmen Republicans to come
from across the Nation, and every one of us came with conservative
principles that said we believe America can do it better. We believe
that individual Americans, as we have discussed already, have ideas and
abilities that if allowed to be generated and to be creative, they can
succeed. We represent them, and what a privilege it is for me
personally to represent the good people of the Seventh District of
Michigan, a State that is going through very, very difficult times
right now because of the lack of leadership, the lack of understanding
that when you take more of the resources, more of the liberty away from
individual citizens, you frustrate not only the economy which Michigan
is suffering through right now, extremely, but you also take away the
creative juices that expand the ability and opportunity to do the
things that were defined in our Declaration of Independence, promoting
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness or property.
That is something that I believe this freshman class of Republicans
want to return to, the American solutions from American people
committed to doing the best for themselves, their families, and the
future of America's wealth.
I am interested, as you might expect, my friend from California, I am
interested in a key issue to Michigan, known as the Motor Capital of
the World for many, many years with the Big Three in the auto industry,
with transportation on our mind and under our fingernails, hardworking
people of Michigan who made the world run on four wheels and sometimes
two, a great heritage that we have that pertains to energy and pertains
to how we use it.
I appreciate the words of my good friend from Tennessee on the issue
of the bill that we just passed today which could be considered the
``no energy'' energy bill. The latest shot, Mr. Speaker, in the
Democrat's war on American jobs is this so-called energy bill that was
on the floor today, this bill that we have been waiting for quite some
time, yet it has no new net energy in it. And there is no way we can
tax ourselves to energy independence. Congress can't tax our way to
providing a greater supply of energy in America, and we can't just add
more government regulations on industry and expect that we will have
more energy in the pipeline. It doesn't work that way.
Mr. Speaker, I support American energy solutions, starting with
expanding domestic supplies, and, two, lowering costs for U.S.
consumers and for U.S. manufacturers, which use one-third of our
Nation's energy.
Access to competitively priced energy helps U.S. communities and
citizens compete in the global economy and preserves high-paying jobs
here and at home.
If enacted, this bill that we passed, this bill will result in higher
energy costs, few energy supplies, a weakened domestic energy industry
and more job losses for U.S. factory workers, including my factory
workers in Michigan. U.S. manufacturers already face a 31.7 percent
cost disadvantage when compared to our major trading partners. By
increasing the cost of energy, this bill will drive the cost even
higher, putting quality American jobs at risk, and I resent that.
Mr. Speaker, I am strongly concerned about the absence of any
meaningful provisions to expand domestic energy supplies. I remain
committed to proposals that enhance U.S. energy security and production
through increased production of all types of energy: improved
conservation and efficiency, yes; more research on technology and
alternative energy; increased access to domestic sources with continued
environmental protections and improved distribution.
I support and have sponsored legislation to foster biodiesel
technology. I have cosponsored legislation that would allow us to
produce nuclear power. Other countries are doing very well right now
with limited waste products that come off of it that can't be used.
I have also supported legislative initiatives that would increase our
exploration in Alaska and the Outer Continental Shelf for clean power
through natural gas, clean coal technology and other things. And yet
today, in this piece of legislation where we had the opportunity, there
was no energy.
So let me cut to the chase here and talk about the specifics of what
this energyless energy legislation will do. In Michigan, it will kill
jobs, as well as other places in the United States. It creates a
confusing set of CAFE mandates. I don't call them standards. These are
mandates based upon just human reasoning that says let's put at 35
miles per gallon fleetwide average. These mandates have the goal of
dictating to our families, farmers, and small business owners what we
can and can't drive, what we can use for commerce and industry. Some
aspects are controlled by the National Highway Transportation Agency,
specifically fuel efficiency mandates, but this could collide with EPA
regulations, tail pipe emissions, which could create an unpredictable
set of regulatory mandates.
It gives advantages to foreign car companies such as Volkswagen and
Kia who don't make trucks, minivans or SUVs. We are not opposed to
their cars, but we are not comparing apples to apples in these CAFE
mandates.
We can do more to encourage energy conservation by allowing more
clean diesel technology in cars and trucks, which the Federal
Government has discouraged for decades. New diesel technology is clean
and efficient and it is quiet. It has been effective in Europe for a
long time, and we need to move it here.
These are issues that I am concerned with not simply because my State
has been impacted very negatively by it. It will cost jobs and it will
cost futures for my people, for my family, and it is a further
intrusion into the freedoms and creativity that American citizens so
deserve.
I appreciate the chance to espouse on some of these issues tonight. I
know my colleagues have things to say about these issues. But more
importantly, the American public needs to speak and we need to say we
are interested in American solutions, not just political posturing that
does nothing except serve political purposes that ultimately diminish
the power and the control and the liberty of our American citizens.
So thanks for this time this evening, and I look forward to
communicating further as time is available.
Mr. McCARTHY of California. I thank the gentleman from the Seventh
District of Michigan.
When we came to this floor, I like many of you sat here and dreamt
about the day we put people before politics. You watched TV, and you
didn't want a red or blue country; you wanted it red, white and blue.
When we come to this floor, we put on our American hat, not our
Republican, not our Democrat hat. But the one thing, we haven't found
the partnership here; we found the partisanship. We found bills that
were coming up for political gain, not to be debated on the floor, not
to be debated in committee. And I will tell you when you think about
that, that is not the way to run this House, and the American people
have said so when you saw the poll numbers.
Tonight is about bringing about accountability and talking to those
Members who are home in their houses and wondering about what they are
going
[[Page H16819]]
to be able to do for Christmas and what they are seeing on the floor of
this Congress. This new majority has put in the largest tax increase in
American history.
You know, the IRS Federal codes have 1.6 million words. That is 380
times the number of words in the U.S. Constitution. When our Founding
Fathers said what would it take to run this country, they were able to
do it in much fewer words and regulations.
I think tonight as we sit and talk, and we sat and debated on this
floor, I look to my good friend from eastern Tennessee to talk a little
bit about the earmarks and the abuses that have come forward that the
people back in eastern Tennessee would say that is not the way they run
their household.
Mr. DAVID DAVIS of Tennessee. If you look at the 9,000 earmarks that
are in there, special projects, the one that leaps out to me and leaps
out to the people of northeast Tennessee is over a million-dollar
hippie museum in New York. That is not the way the people of east
Tennessee want to spend their hard-earned money. There are better ways
to spend money in Tennessee and across this great land.
As I said earlier, moms and dads are really trying to figure out how
they are going to take care of their kids. They don't need Members of
Congress or bureaucrats in Washington trying to spend their money on
hippie museums in New York. They need to know they can fill up their
tank with gas and be able to afford it. Or be able to take the kids out
for a meal and be able to afford it. Or be able to afford a month's
worth of energy to keep their kids warm. Or be able to buy health care
and be able to afford it. Or know that they have a Congress that is
going to take care of illegal immigration because they are worried that
a country that is not secure is not long to be a country.
Those are the things that the American people are concerned about.
They are not concerned about trying to have special pork barrel
projects to help a Member of Congress get reelected. They are concerned
about making sure that their family is taken care of. That is what we
ought to be concerned about. That is what I think the freshmen
Republicans came here to do.
I started off tonight by saying I am blessed to be able to stand on
the House floor of the United States Congress.
{time} 2115
Come from humble beginnings back in the mountains of east Tennessee
and be able to come here and represent just some commonsense American
values, and that's what the American people want.
Mr. McCARTHY of California. You make a very good point, and I will
tell you, you talk about these earmarks. That just means the majority
party goes out and tries to raise more money, raises the taxes. And one
of the leaders to stop that, because you see how many taxes you pay and
what really comes from the leadership that continues in Ohio,
Congressman Jim Jordan.
Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. I thank the gentleman for yielding. You're
exactly right. We always hear this line, tax and spend politicians.
It's actually the opposite. It's spend and tax. Spending drives the
equation. And when Congresses spend and governments spend so much, they
do just what our friend from Tennessee described, they take money away
from families and spend it on earmarks, spend it on this big government
that as we've already figured out tonight is a mess according to
Comptroller of the Treasury. So you're exactly right.
And what the Democratic majority has proposed this year in their
budget to satisfy all their spending is the repeal of the tax cuts that
were put into place in 2001 and 2003, tax cuts that give a child tax
credit to children and dependents, great concept for families. Tax cuts
that lowered the income tax rates, those are going to go up. The child
tax credit is going to go away, the death tax is going to up and the
dividend tax is going to go up, in addition to a whole other list of
taxes they've also unveiled.
So the reason it's so critical to control spending is because high
spending inevitably leads to higher taxes. And when you tax and tax and
spend and spend, you take money away from, as our friend from Tennessee
has pointed out, the typical family out there, the moms and dad who
want to invest.
Think about the typical family that was described by our friend from
Tennessee. Typical family, they get up every day, they go to work. They
go to church on Sunday. They take their kid to soccer practice, they
take the kid to Little League. They're putting money away for college
education. All those things, and yet you have a Congress who spends
things on like, as you pointed out earlier, Congressman McCarthy, a
monument to themselves in their district. Think about that. A sitting
Member of Congress who uses taxpayer money to name a facility after
himself while he is a sitting, while he's in Congress. Unprecedented.
And yet that's what we saw with this Congress. And it's all driven
because they want to spend and spend and spend. They think they can
spend your tax dollars better than you as a family, you as an
individual taxpayer can spend it.
So again I appreciate this chance to talk about these things this
evening. More importantly, I appreciate the opportunity, as our friend
from Tennessee has pointed out, to fight for those things that I think
really matter to families and work with my colleagues in our freshman
class. And I yield back.
Mr. McCARTHY of California. Well, I appreciate that, Congressman,
because you made a very good point, because that wasn't the only Member
that sat there and put an earmark in. We had a bill come through here
talking about the Defense, went over to the Senate, came back. We had
an individual that was in the leadership of the Democratic Party, all a
sudden there was $1 million in there for a golf course in his district.
And we asked, well, why did you need to put $1 million in the Defense
bill for a golf course there? They said because all they had was tennis
courts. They needed golf as well.
Do the American people really believe they need their taxes raised so
some Member could put in a golf course and never even be debated in
committee, never even have to withstand the ability to have
accountability to look at it transparently? I mean, that's the
frustration we see.
And I know my good friend from Michigan, Mr. Walberg, when he sat
there and worked on the farm bill, he looked time and time again at
those family farms that say when they want to pass on to the next
generation, he looked at this new majority, what they did, that they
were going to raise the inheritance tax to 55 percent. You know what
would happen to those family farms back home.
Mr. WALBERG. Absolutely. I appreciate you bringing it up, and I
appreciate my good friend from Ohio for endorsing legislation that I've
offered, and to have you as co-sponsors on it as well, that would make
permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that have blessed this Nation and
its taxpayers well and have allowed this economy to grow at a steady
pace for the longest time in history.
Again, to say to the family farmer who is able to survive in this
economy, by the sound effort, good work, creativity, doing what it
takes to compete, and then to say that because they have succeeded,
when they pass on that family farm, as it is a real business, and some
of it's not a small business anymore, that they will be dinged for
their responsibility, as opposed to applauded for what they've carried
on for the family.
That again brings me back to a broken record on energy as well,
because when you're talking to the family farmers who have to use
energy to produce food, and the resources from petroleum and otherwise
producing fertilizer and all of those costs going up, we've got further
tax problems for the citizens of the United States. Bottom line, this
energy-less energy bill will not lower gas prices for American
families; it will not help American families or farmers dealing with
heating costs and drying costs in their granaries this winter.
This no-energy bill doesn't include anything to increase domestic
energy production. It does, however, and I'm sure you'll all be glad to
hear that what was left in this was a $240 tax credit, and we all like
tax credits, tax incentives. But this is a tax credit, $240 tax credit
that we're going to provide every 15 minutes for people who regularly
ride their bikes to work for the
[[Page H16820]]
purchase, repair, or storage of their bicycles.
Now, my wife and I enjoy mountain biking. We have two bikes. I have a
Harley Davidson motorcycle, two wheels, that I enjoy riding. I have a
fuel efficient 30 mile per gallon family car that I use for getting
around my district. But I also have a three-quarter ton pickup that I
use for hauling my trailer, or last Sunday, in fact, in Michigan,
hauling three people out of snow-covered ditches. That couldn't have
been done by a Prius, my motorcycle, my bicycle or even my 30-mile-per-
gallon car.
Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. Will the gentleman yield? I just wanted to bring
up a point. I represent in the Fourth Congressional District we have
Airstream, some of the finest trailers in the world that people use to
go camping. It's a wonderful, wonderful product. And you talk about the
CAFE standards in this bill which would arbitrarily, some government-
mandated standard that fleets would have to meet. It's tough. It's
difficult to pull an Airstream with a Volkswagen. I mean, you need
something bigger. And that's why we have to approach this. We all want
to do things, but we've got to approach it in a reasonable way when
we're thinking about the impact it's going to have on our economy, and
as you point out on our districts and on our ag community as well. So I
appreciate the gentleman yielding.
Mr. WALBERG. I appreciate you adding that because that's practical
advice and a good example. The American public has grown to associate
with our lifestyle all sorts of conveniences that we shouldn't feel
embarrassed about. You ought to use them appropriately. We have all
sorts of opportunities that other people in other parts of the world
would long for. But it's come as a result of ingenuity, creativity,
hard work, effort, saving, risk all of that revolved around
responsibility so that people can enjoy that Airstream trailer or can
use that pickup truck to transport goods and supplies on the farm and
to do good deeds of pulling people out of ditches and the snow-covered
roads that we had this past weekend.
Nonetheless, we, as legislators here in the U.S. Congress, have the
privileged opportunity of allowing that to expand and thus bless the
world, 25 percent of the world's population here, with over 85 percent
of charitable resources that we give to the rest of the world. That is
unique.
And for that reason, I think that true conservative effort that says
we will avoid responsibility and we encourage people to be further
responsible, and we don't let government step in the way with taxes or
energy-less energy bills that says things that don't work is the way to
go. So thank you again for giving me the opportunity.
Mr. McCARTHY of California. Well, I thank the gentleman, and I thank
all the freshmen that have been able to join us tonight, because really
tonight was about bringing accountability and maybe some adult
supervision because I think that's what the American public wants to
see here in Congress, see that we are able to provide more free time,
not take up more of your time to earn more taxes for the American
Government.
I'll tell you tonight we're probably going to turn out the lights
here in Congress in the next couple of days. But as those freshmen
coming from the Republican Party, we all pledged that we would work in
a bipartisan manner. We're eager to do that. We have a desire to do
that, not to be a red and blue State but be the red, white and blue
country. And we challenge the majority party here to change from the
last year. It doesn't have to end a year from now as poorly as it ended
this year. It doesn't have to end with the failure in setting new
records, with the approval ratings so low with the lack of bills coming
through, nothing but earmarks to try to get a bill through. It could
actually end with common sense, with pride and, really, to be able to
move it forward.
I'll tell the American people, I might get at times a little
depressed sitting on this floor, but if anyone ever comes back to
Washington, DC, I'd ask you to look up your Congresswoman or your
Congressman and have them give you a tour because the greatest city in
the world is right here and the greatest monument is this building, and
the best monument inside this building are the stairs.
I will tell you, those stairs are made of marble. When you walk on
those stairs those stairs are worn out from the feet that have walked
before. And every day that I come over I take the stairs to go up the
one flight just so I can walk on those stairs. And you know what? I get
goose bumps each and every time I do it, because I believe that
regardless of how big our challenges are, we will come together because
the people before us and the challenges before us were much greater
than we're facing today, that they came together. And if we can learn
one thing through those stairs of marble it's that each and every one
you take one step at a time. And I think we need to take one step, each
at a time to come a little closer into the middle and find some common
ground.
So I thank you for the time you have been with us tonight, and God
bless.
____________________