[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 23 (Monday, February 14, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H727]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             AMERICA'S DEBT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Campbell) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CAMPBELL. Mr. Speaker, the President today released his budget, 
and it is a pretty ugly thing.
  We reach another record deficit next year in his projection and we 
have deficits that go on as far as the eye can see. We are rapidly 
heading towards the time when our national debt will equal the economy; 
100 percent of GDP. The last time that occurred was in 1944 and 1945, 
when we were fighting World War II.
  There is a big difference between now and then. Then, we were 
fighting a war. At some point, that war would end and the spending 
would drop. In fact, it did. After 1945, we didn't reach that level of 
spending again for 30 years. However, this time, the spending is 
projected to increase every year as far as the eye can see.
  Then, we financed this debt by Americans through war bonds. Americans 
financed their own debt. Today, 47 percent of our debt is held by 
foreigners. We are giving them a power and a control over us. But 
almost more importantly, back then we were fighting a world war to 
preserve freedom and our way of life, and that's what drove the deficit 
and the debt.
  Today, our deficit and our debt are driven largely as we create 
bureaucracies, free health care and free retirement plans that the 
person receiving them doesn't have to pay for, and, in fact, no one in 
this generation is going to have to pay for. This debt is from the 
wrong place, it is for the wrong reasons, and it will be with us until 
as far as we can see.
  This debt is now the greatest threat to the prosperity, security, and 
hegemony of the United States of America.
  Our economy is like a patient, like a person. We have an infection; 
we have an infection of debt. If allowed to continue, that infection 
will kill the patient. In the last 4 years, the Democratic Congress and 
this President in the last 2 years have made this infection much worse, 
and it has grown and it has festered such that the condition of the 
patient is substantially worse than just 4 years ago. We have to kill 
this infection before it kills us.
  We have three strong antibiotics we can give it. First, reduce 
spending. Second, raise revenues by growing the economy. Raising tax 
rates at this level will not raise revenue. And, reform the 
entitlements, which are the majority of our spending.
  This week, we will start with the first of those antibiotics. We will 
begin for the first time in a long time to actually reduce spending 
instead of just to talk about how much it's going to grow.
  Now, there are those who are decrying on both sides of the aisle how 
much we are cutting or reducing. I submit to you, Mr. Speaker, that the 
bill that's coming before us tomorrow doesn't actually cut enough.
  You know, we have increased discretionary spending--that's the 
spending over which Congress has annual control--by 38 percent in the 
last 4 years, since 2006. Now, in that 4 years there hasn't been a lot 
of inflation. Mr. Speaker, have most Americans seen their spending 
increase by 38 percent? Have most Americans seen their income go up by 
38 percent? No. Was the government so bad 4 years ago when we were 
spending 38 percent less that it couldn't function? Were there great 
tragedies and trials on the street that we don't have today because we 
increased spending by 38 percent? No. We have to act and we have to 
reduce spending, and there is plenty of spending to reduce.
  Mr. Speaker, this debt is our greatest national security threat. This 
debt is the challenge of our generation. We must be up to that 
challenge. Let us not fail. Let us begin now.

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