[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 76 (Tuesday, May 31, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H3801-H3803]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
AMERICA'S DEBT CRISIS
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Duffy). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 5, 2011, the gentlewoman from Alabama (Mrs. Roby) is
recognized for 23 minutes.
General Leave
Mrs. ROBY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
include extraneous material on the topic of my Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Alabama?
There was no objection.
Mrs. ROBY. We face a budget crisis in this country. America is broke.
Without bold action, our budget situation will get worse, not better.
We also face a severe economic recession. The current national
unemployment rate is 9.0 percent, and it has been as high as 10.1
percent back in April of 2009.
With so many Americans out of work, the Federal Government should be
doing everything in its power to encourage economic growth--not
discourage it.
Cutting spending is critical to creating a pro-growth environment.
Cutting spending is essential to free market job creation. House
Republicans are the only group in Washington showing leadership on this
issue. We have voted repeatedly to cut spending in the short term, and
we have passed a budget that would reduce spending by $6.2 trillion
over 10 years.
By contrast, it has been more than 750 days since Senate Democrats
have even passed a budget. Recently, Senator Reid said: ``There's no
need to have a Democratic budget, in my opinion. It would be foolish
for us to do a budget at this stage.''
That is a breathtaking statement for two important reasons: First,
the Senate is required by law under the Congressional Budget Act to
pass a budget. Second, working families all across America live within
their means every single day by following a family budget. It's simple.
They don't spend what they don't have. So I ask: Why shouldn't
Democrats in the Senate live by the same rule?
Now the White House is asking us to raise the debt limit and
Secretary Geithner wrote, ``Never in our history has Congress failed to
increase the debt limit when necessary.'' The White House wants a clean
increase in the debt limit. That means they want Congress to approve
more debt without cutting back on any spending. That is a failed
policy.
The vote we took tonight is a clear indicator that House Republicans
reject that approach. Our message is clear. We will not vote to raise
the debt limit without significant reforms to change the culture of
spending in Washington. If the White House wants us to consider raising
the debt limit, they should be at the table proposing significant
reforms that yield trillions, not billions, in savings to the American
people. So far, that has not happened.
{time} 2140
Tomorrow, the President has invited House Republicans to the White
House to discuss the debt ceiling. His request for a clean increase in
the debt limit was rejected tonight. I hope that tomorrow the President
will offer serious proposals to cure Washington's addiction to
spending. No lip service. No gimmicks. No smoke and mirrors. The
American people don't want more political posturing. Real spending
cuts. A true commitment to that is what will spur job creation and get
our economy back on track.
I now yield to the gentleman from Colorado for as much time as he may
consume.
Mr. GARDNER. I thank the gentlelady from Alabama for her leadership
on this issue, and the time tonight to be able to talk about an issue
that's very important to my constituents in Colorado, the Fourth
Congressional District, and around this country. There hasn't been a
town meeting gone by where somebody hasn't stood up and said,
``Congressman Gardner, what do you think about the debt ceiling? What's
going to happen to this country? What happens if we continue to spend
the kind of money that this Congress, this Nation has seen over the
past decade?''
As we turn our focus and continue to focus on jobs and growing our
economy, the only way that this Nation is going to be able to create
long-term jobs and job growth is if we do everything we can to make
sure we are cutting spending and reducing the size of government.
In 2006, President Obama talked about a failure of leadership, a
failure of leadership to increase the debt ceiling, and that he would
vote against it. He did vote against it because he believed to continue
to kick the can down the road, to continue to spend money without a
plan to reduce our debt, address the deficit, he believed was failure
of leadership.
Tomorrow we have an opportunity to visit the President at the White
House. And I hope we hear from him why he believed that in 2006 an $8.4
trillion debt was too much, why it was a failure of leadership to go
beyond $8.4 trillion in debt. Because the President is now asking us to
go beyond $14 trillion in debt, to pass a debt ceiling that would allow
Congress to spend even trillions more than the $14 trillion debt that
we have today. The people in my district are concerned that there is no
stop sign in place for the fiscal recklessness that this Nation has
seen. The failure of leadership continues from one Congress to another
without a plan in place.
I have had the opportunities over the past several years to attend
high school financial literacy classes, where
[[Page H3802]]
we're teaching our 8th-, 9th-, 10th-, 11th-, 12th-graders what it means
to balance a checkbook, what it means to make sure that they are
keeping their records straight. Unfortunately, this Congress has failed
to learn those same lessons that our high school students are being
taught in Colorado, what it means to be able to say ``no'' to spending,
what it means to be able to say ``no'' to spending money that we don't
have.
Mr. Speaker, I can't think of anything more pressing facing this
country at the moment than to make sure we send a strong message to the
rest of this country that we have learned a lesson, that we will create
jobs in this Nation, and we will do it because we said enough is enough
when it comes to reckless spending. That we have put in place policies
that will make sure we stop the runaway debt and deficit.
The House took a stand today. We drew a line in the sand with a vote
97-318 that this House rejected the President's request to increase the
debt ceiling.
I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Illinois.
Mr. DOLD. I appreciate that. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. It
is indeed an honor to be down on the floor with you talking about
something that is certainly near and dear to my heart, and that's jobs.
That's going to be reining in the out of control debt that we've got
going on in our country today. The thing that I think is important that
my colleague pointed out, and something that I want to make sure we
emphasize is this is a Washington problem.
Mr. Speaker, this has been going on on both sides of the aisle for a
long time. Republicans had deficit spending. The Democrats' answer was
to spend more. It's about time that we stand up and say, ``Enough is
enough.'' Back in 2006, the President actually said, ``Leadership means
that the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of
bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren.
America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. America and
Americans deserve better.''
Well, I couldn't agree more. We cannot continue to shift this burden
onto our children and grandchildren. A $14 trillion debt. I went down,
actually, today and saw the debt auction. In just a matter of minutes,
we saw them in essence auction off another $50 billion of U.S.
Treasuries. Most of that was auctioned off in under 2 minutes. We
cannot continue to spend the amount of money that we are spending and
still expect that we are going to provide the American dream for our
children and grandchildren.
To me, I think that's the American compact that those I think on both
sides of the aisle can agree upon; that we here in the Congress have to
step up and provide leadership so that our children and grandchildren
will have opportunities greater than the ones that you and I know
today. Unfortunately, I fear that if we continue down the path that we
go down, that we are heading down right now, we may be the first
generation of Americans that leave our country actually worse.
We are looking for leadership. I am here on the floor reaching out
and telling the President that we want to see a plan. Not that we want
to reject a plan; we want to see a plan. Tell us why we need to raise
the debt ceiling. Tell us what spending constraints are going to be put
in place in Washington.
Both sides of the aisle need to just basically change the way that
we're doing things so that we can provide some fiscal discipline for
future generations. When I look at it, and I know we have got some
other small business men that are up here with me today, I look at it
like we've just purchased a small business. Well, actually it's a big
business in the United States of America. It's also the greatest
business on the face of the Earth. It has some debt. We know we are
obligated to pay that debt. But we also know that we have to
restructure how the company, in essence the United States of America,
is taking on that debt. And until we are prepared to do that, we can't
expect that we're just going to continue to run the organization, the
company, the United States of America, the same way it's been run.
There is plenty of blame to go around. The time for leadership is
now. And I welcome the opportunity to sit down with those colleagues on
the other side of the aisle to come up with a solution so we can all
march forward together and solve the big problems of our time.
With that, I will yield at least temporarily to my friend from New
York.
Mr. REED. I appreciate the gentleman yielding, but I believe the
gentlelady from Alabama controls the time.
Mrs. ROBY. Thank you.
I yield to the gentleman from New York as much time as he would like
to consume, but we do have to be done in about 10 minutes.
Mr. REED. I appreciate that. I appreciate the gentlelady yielding.
And I appreciate joining my colleagues, fellow freshman members of the
Republican class who have come here to Washington, D.C., with the same
philosophy that I believe I bring to the table. And that is exactly the
point that we have been articulating here tonight. We need to get our
fiscal house in order.
So many people ask me why is that so critical to our future? And when
I go to my town hall meetings, and I go and talk to my constituents
back in New York, I tell them there are two reasons. One, we all know
that if you run a business at the debt levels that we run this
government at, it will go bankrupt. And we are talking about the
bankruptcy of America. That is not acceptable to me. It's not
acceptable to my colleagues here tonight. And we're going to work day
in and day out to prevent that.
But second, and more in the short term, we need to get our fiscal
house in order so that we send a message to all of the world markets
that the American market is alive and well. And you can invest your
capital, you can invest your millions of dollars back here in America
and put people back to work. It's not about creating jobs that are
government jobs. It's about creating wealth. It is about creating a
private sector that is strong, that is putting people to work day in
and day out, putting food on their tables, feeding their families,
providing for their education, and giving that way of life that we here
have enjoyed to their children, to our grandchildren, and to
generations that have not even seen the face of the Earth.
So for those two reasons, it is time that we honor Senator Barack
Obama's quote that we need to stop shifting the burden of bad choices
today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a
debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better. I
call on the President to put forth a plan to deal with this problem
once and for all.
{time} 2150
Mrs. ROBY. I thank the gentleman.
I yield to the gentleman from Illinois for such time as he may
consume.
Mr. SCHILLING. I would like to thank the gentlelady from Alabama for
giving me the opportunity to speak here tonight.
As a small businessman and a new Member of Congress, I believe that
the people did not send us here to raise the debt limit without a clear
path to fix this huge mess that we have. It's an honor to represent the
people of the 17th District in Illinois. It's with great honor, of
course, that even greater expectations come.
Future generations are depending upon us to get it right. You know,
they didn't send us here to bury our heads in the sand and continue
this path that we have been going on.
As one of the new 87 freshmen who was sent here to deliver a message
from America that enough is enough, when it comes to the failed
policies of the past, I will continue to persuade my colleagues that we
must get this under control. We reached the statutory debt limit on May
16 of 2011. Secretary Geithner has said we have enough borrowing to get
us through August 2 of 2011. After that, if the debt ceiling is not
raised, then America will default on its obligations.
Secretary Geithner has said that it would be insane not to raise the
debt limit. I believe the definition of insanity is doing the same
thing over and over again and expecting different results. The debt
limit has been raised 51 times since 1978. Today we are facing a
crushing debt of more than $14 trillion. The insanity must stop here.
Mrs. ROBY. I thank the gentleman.
I now yield to the gentleman from Arkansas as much time as he may
consume.
[[Page H3803]]
Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. Thank you very much. I am glad to be able to
join you here on the floor tonight to ultimately talk about jobs. I
have heard some folks mention debt and some other issues, but it all
relates to jobs.
I hear folks from the other side of the aisle say, when are you going
to have a jobs bill? And what I try to convey to my constituents and to
my colleagues here is that when we are talking about the debt and
getting our spending under control, we are talking about jobs.
This country has not seen job loss like we will see if we have a debt
crisis. And if we want to be the country like many of us grew up in, a
country that is innovative and leads the world in technology and
advancement, then we have to deal with our crushing debt.
What has been striking on the issue of the debt here tonight is I
have been listening to colleagues from the other side of the aisle and
I have heard about all these plans. I have heard about plans to pay
down the debt, plans to deal with the deficit. I have heard about their
Medicare plan.
The bottom line is, they don't have a plan. This President, in the
Senate controlled by Senator Reid, they don't have a plan. They don't
have a plan for Medicare, they don't have a plan in the form of a
budget, they don't have a plan to get the debt under control, they
don't have a plan. Their only plan is to let the House lead.
They will let us be bold while they are politically timid. They have
no plan. It would be easy to have a debate between our plan and their
plan, but they don't have a plan.
So we are left with a situation, for example, on Medicare, something
that we want to preserve, something that is a big driver of our debt.
On the issue of Medicare, the other side of the aisle likes to compare
our plan, which reforms and saves Medicare, they like to compare our
plan to the current plan.
Well, that's fiscal fantasy, folks. Why? Because the current plan
goes away. The status quo goes bankrupt. So the idea that they can
adopt the current plan status quo as their plan is nonsense; it's
nonsense. We see it with Medicare; we see it with the debt.
I, like my colleagues here, simply call on the Democrats and the
President to propose something, something that we can discuss,
something that addresses our problems. I can tell you, I can only speak
for me and my constituents, but unless we see some serious structural
changes to the spending, the out-of-control spending in this town, the
``no'' that I voted on raising the debt limit tonight will be the same
``no'' over and over again until this President and the Senate get
their act together and give us a real plan.
Mrs. ROBY. I thank the gentleman.
I yield to the gentleman from Illinois.
Mr. DOLD. I appreciate the gentlelady for yielding.
I was just struck by something that the gentleman from Arkansas said.
It is about jobs and that I think is something that we focused on here
this evening, but there are 29 million small businesses in our Nation.
And the thing that I hear from small businesses and businesses all
around my district is the uncertainty. Uncertainty out there is
causing, in essence, paralyzing businesses and preventing them from
moving forward. If we can create an environment here in Washington that
allows half of those companies to create a single job, think about the
job growth we will have then.
I am just wondering if the gentlemen from Arkansas or from Colorado
or the gentlelady from Alabama has heard some of the same things back
in their districts about uncertainty.
Mrs. ROBY. Absolutely. You know, everywhere we go we hear about this
job-killing legislation that is keeping small business owners, even
those that have the ability to create jobs, fearful to do so because
they don't know which regulation they are going to be hit from next,
what legislation we are going to pass to find out what's in it is
coming their way. So I hear it all the time. It is stifling to our
economy.
We need to create, we need to make sure that we are creating an
environment so that the private sector can create the jobs and not rely
on the government.
I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas.
Mr. GRIFFIN of Arkansas. You make a good point. I tell you, the stark
contrast between what we are talking about here and from what I hear on
the other side of the aisle is this: our colleagues, our Democrat
colleagues talk about the government creating jobs. They say we need to
create jobs.
I understand, and I think we understand that the private sector
creates jobs. Small businesses create jobs. Individuals create jobs.
People pursuing their dreams and exercising economic freedom, that's
who creates jobs.
It's our job to help create an environment where individuals and
businesses can flourish and continue to lead the world. It is not the
government's job to create jobs. We are here to create an environment
for businesses and individuals and small businesses so they can
flourish.
Mrs. ROBY. I will now yield to the gentleman from New York, and then
we're going to wrap this up.
Mr. REED. I thank the gentlelady from Alabama.
I was struck by something my colleague from Arkansas said about a
plan. Let's be clear about the proposed plans that have been allegedly
floated by our President up to this date and what we voted on today.
You know, we get knocked a lot for not engaging in a bipartisan
practice, but let's be clear what the record showed and in this Chamber
today and in the Senate last week. President Obama put forth and
requested a clean debt ceiling, an unconditional debt ceiling, just
raise it $2 trillion.
Bipartisan support tonight rejected that proposal. That's the status
quo proposal that we can no longer afford. Last week, President Obama's
budget, 97-0 in the Senate, was soundly rejected. I believe President
Obama's quote from 2006 is completely accurate. His words predicted
exactly where he is at. America has a failure of leadership. Americans
deserve better.
Mrs. ROBY. Thank you so much to all of my colleagues.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that allowing the Federal Government
to take on more debt without cutting up our credit cards is
irresponsible.
I am Margaret and George's mom, and I know you represent families
here tonight. We all have a responsibility, to my children, to your
children, to future generations of this country to leave this country
better off than the way we found it. It all starts with cutting
spending and getting our economy back on track.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________