[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 50 (Tuesday, March 24, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H3756]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   RECORD DEBT, HIGHEST DEFICIT SINCE WORLD WAR II: BIPARTISAN SAFE 
                     COMMISSION IS THE WAY FORWARD

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Wolf) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WOLF. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  Last week, the national debt topped $11 trillion for the first time 
in history. On Friday, the Congressional Budget Office reported that 
the Federal deficit will soar past $1.8 trillion this year, which would 
be the highest recorded since World War II, deficits for as far as the 
eye can see.
  By 2019 the government will be paying over $800 billion annually just 
in interest on the debt, borrowing money from China and other 
countries.
  Congressman Cooper of Tennessee and I have introduced the bipartisan 
SAFE Commission Act to create a national commission aimed at addressing 
entitlement spending and our national tax policy with everything on the 
table. It's bipartisan, with exactly 26 Republicans and 26 Democrats 
joining as original cosponsors. A similar proposal in the Senate has 
the support of Senator Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget 
Committee, and ranking member Senator Judd Gregg.
  The commission would force Congress to act on the mountains of debt 
under which we are burying our children and our grandchildren. Without 
it, we will have the same old tired process, drawing lines in the sand 
while the tsunami of debt comes crashing over our shores.
  According to a recent Peter Hart/Public Opinion Strategies survey, 56 
percent of registered voters prefer a bipartisan commission to the 
regular congressional process as the best means of tackling our growing 
budget deficit and national debt. The current process isn't working. In 
other words, the American people understand we are in trouble, yet 
Congress continues to fiddle while Rome burns. Congress is made up of 
parents and grandparents, yet we seem to be prepared to push all of the 
debt we are creating off to our children and grandchildren.
  The American people are experiencing a crisis in confidence and they 
are worried about our country. When we gain control of reckless 
spending, we will be able to rebuild the economy and see a brighter and 
stronger America, stronger for us and stronger for our children and our 
grandchildren, to bring about a renaissance.
  How will history judge the 111th Congress if it doesn't deal with 
this issue? Cosponsoring the Cooper-Wolf SAFE Commission is supporting 
the bipartisan way forward. If any Member has a better idea that can 
honestly pass this place, then they ought to put it forward. If they 
can't, we should pass the Cooper-Wolf bill.

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