[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 77 (Thursday, May 20, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H3689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               H.R. 5353, THE WAR IS MAKING YOU POOR ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Grayson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GRAYSON. Mr. Speaker, today I introduced H.R. 5353, the War is 
Making You Poor Act. The War is Making You Poor Act does three things: 
First, it requires the administration to carry out the wars in Iraq and 
Afghanistan with only--only--the $549 billion set forth in the 
President's budget for defense spending, without the additional $159 
billion the President has asked for for the sake of the so-called 
emergency war, which now stretches on to 9 years in one case and 7 
years in the other. My view is that $549 billion is enough for these 
wars or any other wars the President plans to engage in.
  What this does, secondly, is that it takes the money that is saved 
from the war separate allocation and it uses that for a very important 
purpose with our economy the way it is and people in America suffering. 
It takes that money--or 90 percent of it--and it uses that to make 
$35,000 of everyone's income in America tax-free. And $70,000 for 
married couples. Let's be clear about that. Let's be clear about what I 
said. With the money that is being saved by the War is Making You Poor 
Act, we can make $35,000 of every American's income tax-free. And 
$70,000 for married couples. And in addition to that, it takes the 
remaining money and reduces the Federal deficit and the Federal debt. I 
think those are three things, all of which need to be done. This bill 
brings them all together.
  Let's start with the fact that the administration has asked for $549 
billion to basically keep the lights on at the Pentagon, and beyond 
that, asked for another $159 billion for the wars. Let's see exactly 
how much that means. On this chart here, you can see that U.S. military 
spending is as much as the entire rest of the world combined. As much 
as the entire rest of the world combined. And in fact, the ones who 
come in second are NATO allies in Europe, who I don't expect to be 
attacking us any time soon. Beyond that, you have to go all the way 
down to China to get to any country that is conceivably ever going to 
be a military enemy. And we outspend China by over five to one. Beyond 
that, we get into our allies in East Asia and Australia, and you have 
to go all the way down to Russia, whom we outspend by almost ten to 
one, before you get to any country that could conceivably be a military 
opponent.
  Why is this necessary? If we're going to have military spending that 
amounts to this much--half of all the military spending the world--do 
we need to have on top of that--on top of that base budget--another 
$150 billion for the war? I think not, particularly when the people in 
America are suffering.
  So I believe that the thing we need to do is to take that $159 
billion that the President has set aside. We're not saying he has to 
stop the war. We're not giving a cutoff date for the war. We're simply 
saying you need to fund that out of the base budget of $549 billion. 
And we take 90 percent of that money and give it back to the American 
people.
  I think most people would be surprised to learn that that is so much 
money that we have been spending on the war in Afghanistan and the war 
in Iraq that every single taxpayer in America will be able to get his 
first or her first $35,000 of income completely tax-free. You won't see 
dollar one in tax until you make more than that. In fact, almost a 
third of Americans don't make more than that so they will simply be 
excused from the Federal income tax system. And all we need to do is to 
stop separately funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
  Now I've heard a lot of complaints from the other side and complaints 
from people on our side about the Federal debt and the Federal deficit. 
Here's something concrete that you can do. If this bill passes, we'll 
be able to reduce the Federal deficit by $16 billion. You don't have to 
take my word for it. It's already been scored by the Joint Committee on 
Taxation. The Joint Committee on Taxation staff has determined that the 
tax cut that's needed to get every single person in America $35,000 
tax-free--their first $35,000--would cost less than the wars and would 
leave over after that another $16 billion.
  Mr. Speaker, this is an idea whose time has come. It's time for the 
American people to see that there is no longer any need to go beyond 
the base, exorbitant defense budget that's presented to us by the 
President, notwithstanding the fact that there are wars in Afghanistan 
in Iraq. It's simply not necessary. You can see for yourself. Enough is 
enough. $549 billion is plenty, particularly when we're using a Chinese 
credit card to pay for it all.
  So I ask for your support, Mr. Speaker, and I hope that the Chamber 
will consider H.R. 5353, the War is Making You Poor Act.

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