[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 15 (Wednesday, February 2, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S433-S434]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        AMERICA'S FISCAL CRISIS

  Mr. PAUL. Madam President, I am honored by the privilege of serving 
in the Senate. I am both honored and humbled by the responsibility of 
defending our Constitution and our individual freedoms. I will sit at 
Henry Clay's desk. There is likely no legislator from Kentucky more 
famous than Henry Clay. He was the Speaker of the House; he was a 
leader in the Senate. He ran for President four times and nearly bested 
James Polk.
  Henry Clay was called the ``Great Compromiser.'' During my 
orientation, one of my colleagues came up to me and asked: Will you be 
a great compromiser? I have thought long and hard about that. Is 
compromise the noble position? Is compromise a sign of enlightenment? 
Will compromise allow us to avoid the looming debt crisis?
  Henry Clay's life is at best a mixed message. His compromises were 
over slavery. One could argue that he rose above sectional strife to 
keep the Union together, to preserve the Union. But one could also 
argue that he was morally wrong and that his decisions on slavery, to 
extend slavery, were decisions that actually may have even ultimately 
invited the war that came, that his compromises meant that during the 
50 years of his legislative career he not only accepted slavery but he 
accepted the slave trade.
  In the name of compromise, Henry Clay was by most accounts not a 
cruel master, but he was a master nonetheless of 48 slaves, most of 
which they did not free during his lifetime, and some of which were 
only freed belatedly 28 years after his death.
  He supported the fugitive slave law throughout his career. He 
compromised on the extension of slavery. When he was the Speaker of the 
House, there was a vote on extending slavery into Arkansas. The vote 
was 88 to 88. He came down, extraordinarily, from the Speaker's chair 
to vote in favor of extending slavery into Arkansas.
  Before we eulogize Henry Clay, we should acknowledge and appreciate 
the contrast with contemporaries who refused to compromise. William 
Lloyd Garrison toiled at a small abolitionist press for 30 years, 
refusing to compromise with Clay, with Clay's desire to send the slaves 
back to Africa. Garrison was beaten, chased by mobs, and imprisoned for 
his principled stand.
  Frederick Douglass traveled the country at the time. He was a free 
Black man, but he traveled at great personal risk throughout the 
countryside. He proved, ultimately, that he was the living, breathing 
example that intellect and leadership could come from a recently freed 
slave.
  Cassius Clay was a cousin of Henry Clay, and an abolitionist. In the 
Heidler's biography of Henry Clay they describe Cassius Clay as 
follows: A venomous pen was his first weapon, and a Bowie knife his 
second weapon. He was so effective with the first weapon that he was 
wise to have a second weapon handy.
  Cassius parted ways with his cousin Henry Clay, although they worked 
together on some things, and Henry Clay got him out of a few difficult 
times with the law. But they parted ways when Cassius Clay published a 
letter where Henry Clay seemed to be more in favor of emancipation than 
he was publicly. They never spoke again after that. Henry Clay 
disavowed the letter and condemned Cassius Clay.
  Cassius Clay was an unapologetic abolitionist. He was an agitator. He 
made people mad, particularly slave owners and slave traders. One night 
in Foxtown, he was ambushed by Squire Turner and his boys. They were 
slave traders. They came at him with cudgels and knives. They ambushed 
him from behind and stabbed him in the back repeatedly. As he fell to 
the ground, Tom Turner held his pistol to the head of Cassius Clay and 
fired. The gun misfired. He fired again and it misfired. He fired a 
third time, and as it misfired for a third time, Cassius Clay was able 
to reach into his belt and pull his Bowie knife and gutted one of the 
Turner boys, killing him.
  Cassius Clay refused to compromise. Cassius Clay was a hero, but he 
was permanently estranged from Henry Clay. Henry Clay made no room for 
true believers. Henry made no room for the abolitionists. Who are our 
heroes? Are we fascinated and enthralled by the Great Compromiser or by 
Cassius Clay?
  Henry Clay came within 38,000 votes of winning the Presidency. He 
almost beat James Polk. He lost one State. If he had won that one 
State, he would have been President. The State was New York, and he 
lost it because a small fledgling party, the Liberty Party, a precursor 
to the Republican Party, an abolitionist party, refused to vote for 
Henry Clay because of his muddled views on slavery. One could argue 
that Clay's compromises ultimately cost him the Presidency.
  Those activists who did not compromise--Garrison, Wendell Phillips, 
Frederick Douglass, Cassius Clay--are heroes because they said slavery 
is wrong and they would not compromise.
  Today we have no issues, no moral issues, that have equivalency with 
the issue of slavery. Yet we do face a fiscal nightmare, potentially a 
debt crisis in our country. Is the answer to compromise? Should we 
compromise by raising taxes and cutting spending, as the debt 
commission proposes? Is that the compromise that will save us from 
financial ruin? Several facts argue against that particular compromise.
  Government now spends more money than it ever has before. Raising 
taxes seems to only encourage more spending. Government now spends one 
in four GDP dollars. Twenty-five percent of our economy is government 
spending.
  Any compromise must shrink the government sector and expand the 
private sector. Any compromise should be where we cut Federal spending, 
not where we raise taxes. The problem we face is not a revenue problem, 
it is a spending problem. It is spending that is now swollen to nearly 
a fourth of our economy. The annual deficit is nearly $2 trillion.
  Entitlements and interest will consume the entire debt, the entire 
budget, if we do nothing. Within a decade, there will be no money left 
for defense, no money left for infrastructure, no money left for 
anything other than the entitlements and interest if we do not tackle 
this problem.
  Many ask, will the Tea Party compromise? Can the Tea Party work with 
others to find a solution? The answer is, of course there must be 
dialog and ultimately compromise. But the compromise must occur on 
where we cut spending.
  Even across the aisle, we have Democrats who are now saying, you know 
what, it is a problem. We should not raise taxes in a recession. So we 
are finding some agreement. The compromise we as conservatives must 
acknowledge is that we can cut some money from the military. The other 
side, the liberals, also must compromise that they can cut some money 
from domestic spending. Freezing domestic spending, though, at 2010 
levels, as the President proposed in his State of the Union, does 
almost nothing. In fact, it freezes inflated spending levels, and will 
do nothing to avoid a crisis.
  There is a certain inevitability to this debate, as the debt bomb 
looms and grows perilously large. As long as I sit at Henry Clay's 
desk, I will remember his lifelong desire to forge agreement. But I 
will also keep close to my heart the principled stand of his cousin 
Cassius Clay, who refused to forsake the life of any human simply to 
find agreement.
  Madam President, I yield back the remainder of my time.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I congratulate Senator Paul on his 
maiden speech in the Senate, and applaud him for taking the opportunity 
to underscore the seriousness of the fiscal situation we are in.
  Solving the Nation's fiscal problems will indeed require principled 
leadership, and I am confident Senator Paul

[[Page S434]]

will play an important role in guiding us toward real solutions.
  Senator Paul is a lawmaker to watch. He brings a keen intellect and 
rare passion to the job. He will be an important voice in this body in 
the many debates to come.
  I look forward to working with him on behalf of Kentuckians and all 
Americans.
  Mr. DeMINT. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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