[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 31 (Thursday, March 3, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Page S1214]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE CONTINUING RESOLUTION

  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I voted in favor of the continuing 
resolution to keep our government and all its essential services open 
and operating for the next 2 weeks. I cast this vote because I believe 
a government shutdown is in no one's interests, but I am deeply 
disappointed in the political process that has put us in this position 
and my patience is nearly exhausted with yet another short-term 
solution and band-aid approach. A 2-week extension that merely defers 
tough decisions on funding the fiscal year that started more than 5 
months ago is hardly progress. A 2-week extension is preferable to a 
government shutdown, but it does not provide the certainty that is 
needed. The American people deserve better than a stalled process which 
delays important decisions of how we can reduce our Federal budget 
deficit while maintaining our important investments in infrastructure, 
research, education, technology, and clean energy which will result in 
new jobs and will bolster our long-term competitiveness.
  The American people deserve a serious dialogue and adult conversation 
within the Congress about our fiscal situation, discretionary spending, 
entitlements, and revenues. We need to work towards a long-term 
solution to reduce both our current budget deficit and our staggering 
debt. We will need to reduce Federal spending and make appropriate 
changes to our entitlement programs to meet the fiscal challenges 
facing our country. To do this appropriately, everything--revenue, tax 
reform, spending and entitlements--needs to be on the table.
  As we make these difficult decisions, we must keep in mind that this 
cannot be done by just eliminating programs which protect vulnerable 
citizens or simply by increasing taxes on our wealthiest citizens. 
Instead, we must find a way to share the sacrifices necessary to bring 
our budget into balance over the long-term while continuing to invest 
in scientific and medical research, education, infrastructure and 
energy that will help create new industries and jobs in the future.
  I want to be crystal clear about what is wrong with today's dialogue. 
For the last months we have heard the sound bites. We have heard 
elected officials say they are for small government, lower taxes, and 
more freedom. But what do they really mean?
  Do they want a government too limited to have invented the Internet, 
now a vital part of our commerce and communications? A government too 
small to give America's auto industry and all its workers a second 
chance to fight for their survival? Taxes too low to invest in the 
research that creates jobs and industries and fills the Treasury with 
the revenue that educates our children, cures disease, and defends our 
country? We have to get past slogans and sound bites, reason together, 
and talk in real terms about how America can do its best.
  If we are going to balance the budget and create jobs, we can't 
pretend that we can do it by just eliminating earmarks and government 
waste. We have to look at the plain facts of how we did it before, and 
by the way, you don't have to look far. In the early 1990s, our economy 
was faltering because deficits and debt were freezing capital. We had 
to send a signal to the market that we were capable of being fiscally 
responsible. We did just that and as a result we saw the longest 
economic expansion in history, created over 22 million jobs, and 
generated unprecedented wealth in America, with every income bracket 
rising. But we did it by making tough choices. The Clinton economic 
plan committed the country to a path of discipline that helped unleash 
the productive potential of the American people. We invested in the 
workforce, in research, in development. We helped new industries. Then, 
working with Republicans, we came up with a budget framework that put 
our nation on track to be debt free by 2012 for the first time since 
Andrew Jackson's administration.
  How we got off track is a story that doesn't require retelling. But 
the truth of how we generated the 1990s economic boom does need to be 
told. We didn't just cut our way to a balanced budget; we grew our way 
there. The question now is, What are the tough decisions we are going 
to make today? What are the issues we are going to wrestle with 
together at a moment of enormous challenge?
  This process cannot be done in two weeks, but it should have already 
begun--and it needs to begin today. The American people deserve no 
less.

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