[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 3, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H877-H878]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THE COMING FINANCIAL STORM: BIPARTISAN SOLUTIONS HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE 
                                 URGENT

  The SPEAKER. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Wolf) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I know it sometimes takes a crisis to move 
Congress to action. We are in financial crisis mode today, and while 
there never is a convenient time to make hard decisions, the longer we 
wait, the more dramatic the required remedy will be.
  Americans everywhere understand that we are in trouble. When you wrap 
your head around the following facts and figures, it's stomach-turning 
that things have gotten this bad--over $56 trillion in unfunded 
obligation through Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid; the 
national debt nearing $11 trillion; and China, which violates human 
rights and has Catholic priests and evangelical pastors in jail, and 
has plundered Tibet, now holds the paper on 1 out of every 10 American 
dollars.
  David Walker, former U.S. Comptroller General of the Government 
Accountability Office, has said that the sum of these statistics equals 
storm off our coast that is strong enough to ``swamp our ship of 
State.''
  The narrative that accompanies the staggering statistics, I believe, 
is even more compelling. Entitlement spending is squeezing the life out 
of every discretionary dollar this committee appropriates: Math and 
science initiatives, so that our children receive the education that 
will enable them to compete in the global economy; medical research 
initiatives that will help us find the cure for cancer, autism, and 
Alzheimer's; infrastructure projects to build safe roads and bridges. 
All are at risk if Congress continues to keep its head in the sand 
while the financial tsunami moves closer to shore.
  In recent weeks, the Congressional Budget Office has projected that 
the Federal budget deficit will balloon to $1.2 trillion this fiscal 
year alone. That doesn't include the $800 billion economic stimulus 
package recently passed by the House, a package which I believe 
represents a missed opportunity for Congress to address the Nation's 
financial future in a truly bipartisan manner.
  Congressman Cooper and I have been speaking out about the dangers of 
runaway spending and the need for lawmakers to come together to tackle 
this issue. We joined together to introduce bipartisan legislation in 
the last Congress to create a commission to review Federal spending, 
with everything--entitlement and tax policy--on the table.
  The SAFE Commission, short for Securing America's Future Economy, 
will look beyond the Beltway for solutions, holding at least 12 town 
meetings, one in each of the Federal Reserve districts, over a span of 
12 months, in order to hear directly from the American people. After 
having a supermajority of the commission's members in agreement on the 
package of recommendations, the House would vote up or down on the 
commission's recommendations. Modeled after the Base Closing Commission 
process, Congress would be forced to act.
  I offered the SAFE Commission as an amendment to the House-passed 
stimulus when it came through the Appropriations Committee and, because 
it failed more in the process rather than the substance, I also 
submitted it to the Rules Committee, the ability to offer the 
amendment, and I was disappointed that the Rules Committee denied full 
debate on this measure, which is a bipartisan measure which would have 
given every single Member of the House who understands the dangers of 
runaway entitlement spending the chance to be on the record on this 
issue.
  You may ask why Congress would need a commission with teeth to 
deliver its responsibilities. Quite frankly, I worry that the Congress 
is not up to the job, and we will allow our children and our 
grandchildren to languish in a political divide. The SAFE Commission 
process gives us the necessary push to get the job done.
  One of the most compelling statements I have read about our current 
state of affairs comes from an unlikely source. Richard Fisher, 
President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, has called our 
situation ``catastrophic,'' noting that, ``doing deficit math is always 
a sobering exercise.'' He said, ``It becomes an outright painful one 
when you apply your calculator to the long-run fiscal challenge posed 
by entitlement programs.''
  It's out of the ordinary for the Federal Reserve to publicly express 
an opinion on fiscal policy matters, but these are not ordinary times.
  In closing, make no mistake. This could well be the hardest economic 
issue our Nation will ever be faced with. But we cannot afford to wait 
to act. The futures of our children and our grandchildren hang in the 
balance. This is an economic, it is a moral, and a generational issue, 
and I believe Congress, this Congress has the ability to come together 
and do what the American people want us to do. If we do not do it, if 
we do not do it, history will judge the 111th Congress in a very harsh 
manner.

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