[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 87 (Thursday, June 16, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3879-S3881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE ECONOMY
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, our Nation's challenges grow by the day.
The citizens of Utah get this. The citizens in this country get this.
A recent NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll found that 62 percent of
Americans think the country is on the wrong track. Only 37 percent of
Americans approve of the President's job of handling the economy. I
would like to meet those people, because when I talk to Utahns, the
numbers are much lower than that, and I understand why.
Applications for unemployment have been above 400,000 for 7 straight
weeks. Economic growth is stagnant. Job growth is pathetic. The real
estate market remains in free-fall. Since 2007, housing values have
dropped by more than during the Great Depression.
Medicare is going bankrupt, and when it does, it will take down this
country and tens of millions of seniors with it. Yet President Obama
and his Democratic allies steadfastly refuse to acknowledge that there
is a problem with Medicare. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, when asked
where the Democrats' reform plan was, responded:
We have a plan. It's called Medicare.
Meanwhile, the President's handpicked chairwoman of the Democratic
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National Committee gleefully demagogs Republicans' efforts to fix this
dying program.
There are legitimate fears that the Federal Reserve's loose money
policy is creating yet another stock market bubble that could pop and
destroy the retirement savings of millions of Americans. Most
ominously, PIMCO, the world's largest bond fund manager, is looking to
countries such as Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico, countries
without our massive fiscal problems, to invest. As I have said before,
there is a genuine risk that the United States is in a debt bubble.
Because of historically low interest rates, we may be totally
underestimating how dangerously leveraged this country is. But the
minute rates start going up, citizens are going to realize how much
they are on the hook for. When the word on the street is that U.S.
Treasurys are not worth investing in, higher interest rates are just
around the corner.
So we have a lot of work to do, but I wish to touch on three things
we should be doing now, and I mean right now. The people are demanding
action, and there are a few things Congress can do that would bring
relief to struggling American families.
First, the President needs to submit the Colombia, Panama, and South
Korean Free Trade Agreements to Congress. They are long overdue. The
failure to submit these agreements has stalled U.S. job growth at a
time when it is desperately needed. There is only upside to these
agreements. Consider that from Utah alone, South Korea imported more
than $294 million of goods in 2009.
The former Director of the Congressional Budget Office, Doug Holtz-
Eakin, has it right. This is what he said earlier this week in a letter
to the President:
Opening Colombia, South Korea, and Panama to U.S.
businesses is anticipated to increase total exports by $12
billion, and will add at least $14 billion to the United
States gross domestic product, promoting increased investment
and job creation at home.
While the President is down in Florida yukking it up with rich
liberals about how he wasted nearly $1 trillion on his stimulus
boondoggle, he seems oblivious to the fact that he could just hit send,
deliver these agreements to Congress, and have a trade-driven economic
stimulus.
If given a clean up-or-down vote, I am confident these agreements
would pass. I have no doubt who would prevail if that debate were
allowed to happen. But old habits die hard.
The President's spend-first mentality is cluttering what should be a
clean debate on the benefit of these free-trade agreements for the
American economy. Rumors persist that the President may include a
reauthorization of an expanded trade adjustment assistance bill into
one or perhaps all the bills implementing our trade agreements with
Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. This would be a grave mistake. That
tactic raises serious procedural concerns which could jeopardize
approval of these job-creating agreements.
It also raises serious concerns about the President's commitment to
gaining approval of our long-stalled trade agreements with these
important allies. It would send a signal that further placating unions
is more important than growing our economy, a position I simply cannot
understand or support. If the President chooses this course of action,
he needs to know I will vigorously oppose him and reserve the right to
use all procedural options available to do so. If, as the President
says, there is such strong bipartisan support for trade adjustment
assistance, it should be considered on its own merits and not thrust
upon an unwilling Congress through procedural shenanigans.
These trade agreements are something Washington can do, and should
do, to get our economy back on track. But we must also be vigilant in
fighting against proposals that would undermine our economy and our
sovereignty.
Standard & Poor's recently downgraded Greece's debt rating to CCC,
from a B. This is the world's lowest rating, and S&P concluded that a
default on Greek debt was increasingly likely.
So what was the President's response? Like the Siren's Call, a
bailout beckoned. He seemed to go all in for an IMF bailout of Greece.
Greece has already been bailed out once by the IMF, to the tune of $145
billion. We cannot let this happen again. That is why today I am
cosponsoring the anti-IMF bailout amendment with my good friends,
Senators DeMint, Vitter, and Cornyn.
This amendment, which we filed to the Economic Development
Revitalization Act, would rescind bailout funds provided in 2009 to the
International Monetary Fund. Under the urging of the Obama
administration, additional funding of up to $108 billion was given to
the IMF which it can use to bail out heavily indebted European
countries such as Greece.
The amendment I am cosponsoring would roll that funding back. Now is
not the time, when Americans are struggling to find work and have
budget problems of their own, to tap innocent American taxpayers in
order to bail out profligate European governments. Rather, it is time
to stop our own runaway spending and our continued movement toward
European levels of government. If we go down that route, the
destination is an America very different than the one our Founders
intended, and it is critical we hit the brakes now and save our limited
constitutional government.
The American people are tired of bailouts. When ordinary Americans
are struggling to get by and when our country faces its own debt
crisis, the last thing we need is a bailout of irresponsible Socialist
governments and the irresponsible investors who bet on them, which
brings me to my final point.
Earlier this week, my colleague and friend from Florida, Senator
Marco Rubio, gave his maiden speech in the Senate. He is certainly to
be commended. I sat here and listened to him. It was a tour de force,
and I recommend that all my colleagues, and, for that matter, all the
citizens of this Nation read it. He made it clear that he is confident
in this Nation and our ability to weather the current storm and emerge
in rich and steady seas.
America's best days are ahead of it. America has been and will always
be a shining city on a hill. But for there to be another American
century, a century of liberty and prosperity both here and abroad, we
have our work cut out for us.
America is over $14 trillion in debt. We face our third straight year
of trillion-dollar deficits. We have entitlement programs that are
going bankrupt. Under this Presidency, we have lifted the debt ceiling
three times and the last one, if I recall correctly, was about $1.9
trillion and we have basically just given the administration an open
checkbook. We have entitlement programs that are going bankrupt.
Our total obligations, according to one account, are over $62
trillion. This is a debt burden that is simply unsustainable. We need
to get our spending under control immediately; otherwise, American
families and citizens will be crushed under the weight of all this
debt.
The other side keeps telling us the problem is a lack of revenue.
They say all we need to do is raise taxes and eliminate tax loopholes.
Never mind the fact that raising taxes threatens to kill the small
businesses that will be the engines of our economic recovery, and never
mind the fact that these so-called loopholes include the IRAs, 401(k)s,
and charitable deductions of American taxpayers.
Let's not make any bones about it. The left's proposal to gut tax
expenditures would put a bull's-eye on the backs of working families
who have mortgages and save for the future.
In the spirit of bipartisanship, as an aside to some of my friends on
my side of the aisle who seem to think all expenditures are wasteful
spending, consider the following: The third largest tax expenditure is
the current lower rates for capital gains and dividends. Be careful, my
friends; otherwise, you might end up inadvertently finding yourselves
sharing the stage with my friend, the junior Senator from Vermont, in
effect, advocating for a sharp hike in the rates of capital gains and
dividends.
Even if liberal Democrats did all these things, raising taxes on
middle Americans and further hindering economic growth, we still would
come nowhere close to balancing the budget.
This is the dirty secret of President Obama and Democratic leadership
to
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engage in meaningful efforts to balance the budget. As my colleague
from Alabama, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, notes,
it has been more than 770 days since Democrats passed a budget. That is
disgraceful. For over 2 years, congressional Democrats have simply
abdicated their most basic constitutional responsibility, and here is
why. They have refused to cut spending, and they know balancing the
budget for new taxes alone would be perceived as a full-blown assault
on personal liberty and limited government. So instead of offering up a
bogus budget, as the President did, and get laughed out of town, or
offering up a proposal for balance that satisfies their liberal base,
raises the tax burden to historic levels, and inspires the vitriol of
their constituents, Democrats decided to keep their mouths shut.
Where does that leave us? The answer, to me, is clear. We need to
pass a balanced budget constitutional amendment. This is where the
entire Republican caucus stands in the Senate. The amendment I
introduced, S.J. Res. 10, is supported by every single Senate
Republican. I bet it is the first time all Republican Senators have
supported it. It is a good amendment that benefited from the input of
many Senators, and it is a necessary amendment.
Some people--the sophisticated set--argue this is not a serious
proposal. The American people beg to differ. They know Congress will
not balance the budget and shrink the size of government without
meaningful constitutional restraints. The actions of Democrats and
President Obama over the last few months are all the evidence we need
to support this hypothesis. Facing a full-blown debt crisis, they still
prefer to kick the spending can down the road.
I want to be clear that I am deadly serious about this proposal, and
so are the people of Utah. I have been pleased to work side-by-side
with my colleague from Utah, Senator Mike Lee, on the balanced budget
amendment, and Senator Cornyn and all the other Republicans. Some
people might say Mike Lee and I are an odd couple. I have a few years
on him, and I don't tend to be as animated as he is. He is a great
young man with a lot of energy. But we share at least one thing, an
absolute commitment to passing a balanced budget constitutional
amendment and sending it to the people in the States for ratification.
The people are demanding that we act, and it is well past time that we
recognize their constitutional sovereignty and allow them to exercise
it through State ratifying conventions.
I would like to commend Senator Lee for his tireless work on this
amendment. He is not the only one who deserves thanks, however. My
colleagues, Senators Cornyn, Kyl, Toomey, DeMint, Rubio, Paul, and many
other Republicans were essential in the development of this amendment,
but it is special for me to be working with my friend, Senator Lee, on
this critical constitutional amendment. He is a legitimate
constitutional scholar, a steadfast advocate of our constitutionally
limited government, and a hero to many. I could not be more proud to
stand with him and lead this fight for the people of Utah and the
taxpayers of this country.
If the American people said anything last fall, it is they want their
representatives in Washington to listen to them. They know we will not
get it right every time, but they know we should always do our best to
represent their values and their interests. This Congress needs to
listen to the people. It needs to get these trade agreements done
without holding them hostage to unrelated spending. It needs to say no
to more bailouts, and it needs to pass a balanced budget constitutional
amendment.
In this country, the people are sovereign. I would have to say, if we
would pass that constitutional amendment through the Senate, I believe
we would get it through the House, and then it is up to the States. We
still have to get three-quarters of the States to ratify it.
To the extent that Democrats hate the constitutional amendment and
hate that kind of restraint on their spending practices, they can lead
the battle in the States. The problem is, they know this constitutional
amendment would be ratified so fast our heads would be spinning.
We need 38 States to ratify a constitutional amendment, and that is
not easy under anybody's view. In this country let's let the people
decide that. They are sovereign. It is well past time that Congress and
the President listen to them.
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.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. 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.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in
morning business.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
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