[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 91 (Thursday, June 23, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4040-S4045]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE BUDGET
Mr. BENNET. Mr. President, I rise today to implore my colleagues and
to implore the negotiators who are working on this budget issue to come
to a comprehensive solution that meaningfully addresses our deficit and
our debt.
If all you knew about our politics was what you see on the television
at night, you would think we were committed to an endless stream of
invective, of name-calling, of division, that we had absolutely no
interest or desire to solve the Nation's problems or solve the Nation's
challenges, and you would be right to sort of give up all hope we could
actually honor the heritage of our parents and our grandparents and
make sure we are not the first generation of Americans to leave less
opportunity, not more, to our kids and our grandkids. That is what you
might think if all you knew about our country was what you saw on the
TV at night.
Fortunately, I have had the privilege, as has everybody in this body,
to travel my State and to learn that actually the American people are
nowhere near as divided as Washington, DC, or as what you see on
television at night. In fact, we share an awful lot in common in my
State of Colorado whether we are Republicans, Democrats, or
Independents, and part of that is because we are coming out of the
worst recession since the Great Depression.
[[Page S4041]]
By the end of the discussion I was having during the campaign over
the last couple of years, there were about four things people thought
might be good ideas. They thought it would be good to have an economy
in this country where median family income was rising instead of
falling, that we were creating jobs in the United States rather than
shipping them overseas. They thought it would be a good idea if our
energy would not require us to send billions of dollars a week to the
Persian Gulf to buy oil. They thought it would be a good idea--and as a
former school superintendent, I agree with them--to educate our kids
for the 21st century. They thought it would be a good idea if we were
actually willing to make hard choices to deal with our debt and our
deficit.
There is a lot of disagreement around here that I do not really
understand, but in Colorado, the way they would like us to do that is
to see a comprehensive plan that materially addresses the problem. They
know we cannot solve it overnight, but they would like to see us
materially address the problem. They want to know we are all in it
together. They are not interested in the Washington game of whose ox is
going to get gored; they want to know we are all in this together, that
all of us have something to contribute to solving this problem. They
emphatically want it to be bipartisan, which is good because we have a
divided Congress now, and it needs to be bipartisan to get this work
done. The reason is that they do not trust either party's go-it-alone
strategy. I think they are right to believe we are better off
compromising on a set of comprehensive proposals than continuing to
fight.
I would add a corollary to it, which is that whatever we do, we
better satisfy the capital markets that their paper is worth what they
paid for it. If they are not satisfied, we are going to be in an
interest rate environment that is going to make all of the discussions
we have had about cuts seem trivial in terms of the effect on the
deficit and debt.
Then I come here, and we have these phony conversations about solving
the problem. We had a discussion, you will remember, about whether we
ought to shut the government down. And I did the math on the bid ask
spread that divided the two parties over whether we are going to shut
the government down, and that math equalled about 4 cents on the $20
meal at Applebee's. It would be like you and me, Mr. President,
fighting over that 4 cents because we couldn't figure out how to pay
the bill. It would be like the city of Alamosa in my State, in the San
Luis Valley, where my predecessor, Ken Salazar, came from--it would be
like the mayor saying: We can't agree on $27,000, so we are going to
shut the government down, we are not going to pick up your trash, we
are not going to educate your kids. The American people should know
that is what that debate was about. Now we come to the debt ceiling
debate where people are saying: We are not going to vote to raise the
debt ceiling.
Somebody in a townhall meeting said to me: Michael, don't you know my
neighbor and I are having to figure out how to pay as we go? We have to
figure out how to pull in our purse strings to make sure we can afford
to do what we need to do? I said: I absolutely agree with you. He said:
Why aren't you guys showing the same restraint? And I said: We need to
show the same restraint, but that is not about the debt ceiling. The
debt ceiling is about bills we have already incurred; it is not about
cutting up your credit card. It would be great if it were. That is not
what it is about. It is about saying: I have a cable bill this month,
and I am just not going to pay it. I got my mortgage this month, but I
am just not going to pay it.
That is not fiscally responsible. In fact, do you know what happens
to people who do that? Their interest rates go up because lenders say
to you: You are not a good risk because you didn't pay your mortgage on
time. You are not a good risk because you didn't pay your cable bill on
time. That is what our lenders are going to say to the Federal
Government of the United States if we are willing to jeopardize the
full faith and credit of the United States. It is fiscally and
politically irresponsible for us to do that.
In this context, we are having a debate about dealing with the fact
that we now have a $1.5 trillion deficit and a $15 trillion debt.
By the way, I would say on the debt ceiling that at least this
Senator would settle for raising it just the amount the Ryan plan would
increase our debt. I would be happy with the Ryan plan, which is the
House Republican plan, to raise the debt by about $5.4 trillion.
Everybody over there voted for it. A lot of people here voted for it
implicitly; therefore, they are suggesting the debt ceiling ought to be
raised by at least that amount, and I would be happy to support that
and cosponsor that. But what I want us to do is come together in a
comprehensive way.
Mr. President, Mike Johanns from Nebraska and I circulated a letter
on March 15. I ask unanimous consent that letter be printed in the
Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC, March 15, 2011.
President Barack Obama,
The White House,
Washington, DC.
Dear President Obama: As the Administration continues to
work with Congressional leadership regarding our current
budget situation, we write to inform you that we believe
comprehensive deficit reduction measures are imperative and
to ask you to support a broad approach to solving the
problem.
As you know, a bipartisan group of Senators has been
working to craft a comprehensive deficit reduction package
based upon the recommendations of the Fiscal Commission.
While we may not agree with every aspect of the Commission's
recommendations, we believe that its work represents an
important foundation to achieve meaningful progress on our
debt. The Commission's work also underscored the scope and
breadth of our nation's long-term fiscal challenges.
Beyond FY2011 funding decisions, we urge you to engage in a
broader discussion about a comprehensive deficit reduction
package. Specifically, we hope that the discussion will
include discretionary spending cuts, entitlement changes and
tax reform.
By approaching these negotiations comprehensively, with a
strong signal of support from you, we believe that we can
achieve consensus on these important fiscal issues. This
would send a powerful message to Americans that Washington
can work together to tackle this critical issue.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Michael F. Bennet.
Mike Johanns.
Mr. BENNET. We sent it around to people, and it was a letter to the
President that in part said:
Specifically, we hope that the discussion will include
discretionary spending cuts, entitlement changes and tax
reform.
A comprehensive plan. Sixty-four Senators signed that letter--more
than a majority of the Senate. It is more than the 60-vote threshold
necessary to pass legislation around here--a majority of Republicans
and a majority of Democrats recognizing what is blindingly obvious to
the American people, which is that we need a comprehensive plan because
the math does not work otherwise. And we need people of good will to
come together and say: We understand we are not going to be able to
solve this problem if we continue to fight with each other. We are not
going to be able to solve this problem if we continue to pretend there
are some magical mathematics out there that allows us to solve the debt
crisis based on political ideology rather than our working together.
People ask me sometimes what they can do to help with this
discussion. What I say to them is they ought to be holding the people
in this body to the same standard they hold our local officials back in
Colorado--that mayor in Alamosa or a superintendent in Denver--who
never in their wildest dreams would think they were going to phony up
the math and go back to people and say: Sorry, we could not make it
work, so we are going to shut down or, sorry, we could not make it
work, so we are going to destroy our credit rating, so you end up
spending more money on interest instead of on the services you care
about.
Our job is to fix this problem. It is not going to be easy. It is
going to take people on both sides of the aisle to think differently
about what is possible. My own view is the Deficit and Debt Commission
gave us a roadmap here. It was a bipartisan group. The final result got
the vote of Dick Durbin, one of the most liberal members of
[[Page S4042]]
the Democratic Party, and one of the most conservative members of the
Republican Party, Tom Coburn, who signed onto a plan that said: Let's
take a quarter of it from discretionary spending, let's take a quarter
of it from entitlements, let's take a quarter of it from interest
savings, and let's get a quarter from tax reform. That sounds about
right to me.
If we could produce a plan here that satisfied the test I mentioned
earlier, I could go back to the townhalls in Colorado, and I guarantee
you what people would say is: Thank you for finally working together.
Thank you for producing something that is credible. Let's now move on
to the other business in this country to make sure we can compete and
win in the 21st century.
I would say I hope, to the extent anybody is listening to the floor
today, they would think again about the importance of using this moment
to try to create a comprehensive plan, to try to figure out what the
compromises are. I for one am happy to work with anybody on either side
of the aisle to make sure we get this done.
I see the chairman of our Budget Committee is in the Chamber. I thank
him for his efforts on the Deficit Commission, and also for the work he
has been doing with the Gang of Six--the Gang of Five, trying, month
after month after month, for the last 18 months, to produce a
comprehensive plan that actually addresses the problems.
With that, I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from North Dakota is
recognized.
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Colorado for his
remarks and for his leadership. He has been right on point with respect
to what has to be done in this country to get the debt threat under
control.
Make no mistake, we do face a debt threat of ominous proportions.
Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office again warned us: ``Debt
crisis looms absent major policy changes.''
You go to the end of this article that was from the Associated Press,
by Mr. Andrew Taylor, a respected writer, and it says:
CBO says the debt increases the probability of a fiscal
crisis in which investors lose faith in U.S. bonds and force
policymakers to make drastic spending cuts or tax hikes.
That is where we are headed if we do not respond. And it is going to
require a bipartisan response with Republicans and Democrats, because
Republicans control the House of Representatives, Democrats control the
Senate, and there is a Democratic White House.
So when Republicans--as I just heard on this floor--blame it all on
the President, that is not going to work. That is not going to work,
because Republicans can block anything in this Chamber, and Republicans
control the House of Representatives. So guess what. They are going to
have to join Democrats and be responsible. And being responsible means
doing some things that are tough.
Republicans and Democrats are going to have to do some things that
are tough. Why? Because we are borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we
spend. That cannot be continued much longer.
If you look at the historic relationship between spending and
revenue, here it is, as shown on this chart, going back to 1950. The
red line is the spending line. The green line is the revenue line. What
you see is spending as a share of national income is the highest it has
been in 60 years. Revenue is the lowest it has been in 60 years.
When I hear my Republican friends say this is just a spending
problem, they have it half right. It is in part a spending problem.
Spending is the highest it has been in 60 years--or very close to it.
But revenue is the lowest it has been in 60 years. So let's get real.
Let's get honest. This is a spending problem and a revenue problem. It
is the difference between the two that leads to record deficits and a
debt that is spiraling out of control.
Here is what the head of our Armed Forces--Admiral Mike Mullen, the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff--said last year at about this
time:
Our national debt is our biggest national security threat.
Colleagues, are you listening? Are you listening? We are moving at
warp speed toward a fiscal crisis. Nobody can tell us when it will
happen. What everyone is telling us is that it will happen.
Here is where we are, as shown on this chart. This is the gross debt
of the United States. We are now, at the end of this year, going to be
over 100 percent of our gross domestic product. That is going to be the
gross debt of the United States--all the bills we owe. The black line
shown on the chart is the 90-percent threshold line. Why does that
matter? Because we have just had the definitive economic study done on
deficits and debt and economic growth. It was done by Professor Carmen
Reinhart at the University of Maryland--she is no longer there; she was
at the University of Maryland--and Professor Ken Rogoff at Harvard.
Here is what they concluded:
We examine the experience of 44 countries spanning up to
two centuries of data on central government debt, inflation
and growth. Our main finding is that across both advanced
countries and emerging markets, high debt/GDP levels (90
percent and above) are associated with notably lower growth
outcomes [for the future].
This is not just about numbers on a page. This is about the future
economic prospects of our Nation. A failure to act will consign us to a
more limited future. Fewer jobs, less economic growth, less economic
activity, a weaker position for the United States in the world--that is
where we are headed.
We have been warned repeatedly. Quoting from the Wall Street Journal:
``S&P''--the major rating agency--``Signals Top Credit Rating Is in
Danger, Stoking Political Battle on Deficit.'' ``U.S. Warned on Debt
Load.'' So nobody in this Chamber, nobody across the Capitol in the
House of Representatives, can claim they did not know what was coming.
We have been warned, and we have been warned repeatedly.
What happens if we do not act and there is a reaction in the interest
rate environment for the U.S. debt? I would remind my colleagues, a 1-
percentage point increase in interest rates will add $1.3 trillion to
the debt over the next 10 years. A 1-percentage point change in
interest rates will add $1.3 trillion to the debt over the next 10
years.
People say: Well, we are not going to extend the debt, we are not
going to extend the debt limit of the United States. Do you know what
happens? The creditors say: Oh, really? Well, we are not going to lend
you more money then. Do you know what happens then? Interest rates go
up in order to attract other lenders. And what happens? Every 1-
percentage point increase in the interest rates adds $1.3 trillion to
the debt in just 10 years.
Here are the remarks of 10 of the previous chairs of the President's
Council of Economic Advisers. Headline: ``Unsustainable Budget
Threatens Nation.'' This is their conclusion, the top economic advisers
to former Presidents, Democrats and Republicans. The previous 10
unanimously said this:
There are many issues on which we don't agree. Yet we find
ourselves in remarkable unanimity about the long-run federal
budget deficit: It is a severe threat that calls for serious
and prompt attention. . . . We all strongly support prompt
consideration of the Fiscal Commission's proposals. The
unsustainable long-run budget outlook is a growing threat to
our well-being. Further stalemate and inaction would be
irresponsible.
I served on that commission. There were 18 of us. Eleven of us agreed
to the recommendations--five Democrats, five Republicans, and one
Independent. That proposal would reduce the debt from what it would
otherwise be by $4 trillion. Mr. President, 5 Democrats, 5 Republicans,
and 1 Independent--11 of the 18 agreed to support the recommendations.
We cut spending. We cut domestic nondefense spending. We cut defense
spending. We took on the entitlements. And, yes, we raised revenue by
$1 trillion over the next 10 years--not by raising tax rates. In fact,
we cut tax rates. But we still got more revenue because we expanded the
tax base by reducing tax expenditures that are now running $1.1
trillion a year.
Over the next 10 years, the tax expenditures of this country are
going to be $15 trillion. Let me repeat that. The tax expenditures in
this country over the next 10 years--special loopholes, deductions,
exclusions, all the gimmicks that are in the Code--$15 trillion.
Not only did the Fiscal Commission come up with a recommendation of
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about $4 trillion, almost every other group that has made a
recommendation has called for debt reduction of about $4 trillion over
the next 10 years from what it would otherwise be: the Fiscal
Commission, the Bipartisan Policy Center, the American Enterprise
Institute, the Center for American Progress, the Heritage Foundation,
the Roosevelt Institute--all of them saying we need to get this debt
down.
Here is where we are headed, according to the Congressional Budget
Office. This is not the gross debt. This is the publicly held debt. It
is headed for 233 percent of the gross domestic product of the country
if we fail to act. If, instead, we would adopt the commission proposal,
you can see, as shown on this chart, we would actually work the debt
down, the publicly held debt, to 30 percent of GDP.
Every part of the budget has to be scrutinized and has to generate
savings. Here is what has happened to defense spending since 1997. It
has gone straight up, from $254 billion a year to $688 billion a year.
Secretary of Defense Gates said this:
[T]he budget of the Pentagon almost doubled during the last
decade. But our capabilities didn't particularly expand. A
lot of that money went into infrastructure and overhead and,
frankly, I think a culture that had an open checkbook.
I think he got it right. When we look at this growing debt, where did
it come from? The Washington Post had this report on May 1:
The biggest culprit, by far, has been an erosion of tax
revenue triggered largely by two recessions and multiple
rounds of tax cuts. Together, the economy and the tax bills
enacted under former president George W. Bush, and to a
lesser extent by President Obama, wiped out $6.3 trillion in
anticipated revenue. That's nearly half of the $12.7 trillion
swing from projected surpluses to real debt.
If we look back on the five times we have balanced the budget in the
last 40 years, revenue has been close to 20 percent of GDP: 19.7 in
1969; 19.9 in 1998; 19.8 in 1999; 20.6 in 2000; 19.5 in 2001. Where is
revenue today? It is 14.8 percent of GDP. And our friends across the
aisle say it is only a spending problem. Let's get real. It is a
spending problem and it is a revenue problem. Let's be honest with the
American people.
Martin Feldstein, the distinguished conservative economist, said
this:
Cutting tax expenditures is really the best way to reduce
government spending . . . [E]liminating tax expenditures does
not increase marginal tax rates or reduce the reward for
saving, investment or risk-taking. It would also increase
overall economic efficiency by removing incentives that
distort private spending decisions. And eliminating or
consolidating the large number of overlapping tax-based
subsidies would also greatly simplify tax filing. In short,
cutting tax expenditures is not at all like other ways of
raising revenue.
Mr. Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, has said this, and
I will conclude on this point:
Acting now to develop a credible program to reduce future
deficits would not only enhance economic growth and stability
in the long run, but could also yield substantial near-term
benefits in terms of lower long-term interest rates and
increased consumer and business confidence.
This is a defining moment for our country. We can either continue to
run head-long toward a debt crisis, or we can join together,
Republicans and Democrats, in a comprehensive plan to get our debt
under control. That will require a comprehensive plan, one that
addresses spending--spending must be reduced. But it needs to be
reduced when this economy is stronger. That is what every one of the
bipartisan commissions has concluded. Yes, spending has to be cut, but
not right this minute. It has to be part of a plan that assures it will
be cut, and it has to be every part of spending: domestic discretionary
spending, defense spending--yes, the entitlements have to be right-
sized and we have to have the additional revenue given the fact, the
simple fact, that revenue is the lowest it has been in 60 years as a
share of our GDP, far lower than it has been in every one of the 5
years we have balanced the budget out of the last 40.
I urge my colleagues on both sides, now is the time for principled
compromise. Now is the time to come together to put in place a plan
that deals with this debt threat, fundamentally and assuredly. We have
that opportunity. We should not let this opportunity slip by.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Brown of Ohio). The Senator from South
Dakota.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to enter into a
colloquy with my Republican colleagues for up to 20 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, as we all know, the most important issues
that are facing our country today are the economy, job creation, the
national debt, and excessive government spending. One of the things
that is having a huge effect on job creation and the economy right now
is regulation.
The administration continues to overreach and overstep in the
implementation of dozens of new regulations, be it the EPA regulating
greenhouse gases, or the DOT's recent proposal that would require
commercial drivers' licenses for farmers who drive tractors.
These oversteps have real consequences in the form of jobs. Take, for
instance, Mr. Thomas Clements from Youngsville, LA, who is testifying
today in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee. Mr. Clements is a small business owner since 2008. He owns
Oilfield CMC Machining with his wife. They produce metal parts and
systems for offshore oil rigs.
His run-in with our overreaching administration started after the
tragic 2010 BP oilspill with the President's decision in May of 2010 to
enact a 6-month moratorium on new oil drilling in the gulf. His
business continues to struggle today because of the Department of the
Interior's decision to slow walk new drilling permits. Before these
actions, he had a thriving small business that not only provided for
his family but also for his employees.
Today, they are barely staying afloat, and will likely close unless
the administration changes course and actually begins taking steps
toward recovery instead of continued rhetoric.
Another big drag on the economy is the amount of spending and debt.
Yesterday the Congressional Budget Office released their long-term
budget outlook. This was certainly sobering reading. They pointed out
that under the alternative fiscal scenario, in 2024, interest costs,
Social Security, and major health spending would exceed all of the
revenue coming into the government.
The need for action is clear. The Congressional Budget Office states
that these levels of debt will cause incomes to be between 7 percent
and 18 percent lower in 2035 than they would be otherwise.
Another study by economists Reinhart and Rogoff found that countries
with a debt-to-GDP level that is greater than 90 percent--I would
emphasize that we are currently at 95 percent--but that countries with
a debt-to-GDP level greater than 90 percent grow at 1 percentage point
less than they would otherwise. In other words, when you are carrying
this kind of a debt load, 90 percent debt to GDP, for a sustained
period of time, you are bleeding about 1 percent of economic growth
every single year.
As we know from the President's own economic advisers, a 1-percent
reduction--1-percent drop in growth--translates into about 1 million
lost jobs. One of the places we see that has been hard hit in our
country by the downturn is the State of Ohio. My colleague from Ohio
Senator Portman is here. I would be interested perhaps in hearing from
him on whether he has seen the evidence of the recovery that was
promised by the administration or does his economy in Ohio still
reflect an economy that is held back by excessive regulation, debt and
spending. I would be interested in the perspective of the Senator from
Ohio on that particular subject.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio is recognized.
Mr. PORTMAN. First of all, I thank my colleague from South Dakota for
coming to the floor today to talk about the economy and jobs. It is
clearly a top issue on the minds of folks in Ohio. And, no, the Ohio
economy is still hurting. We are not creating the jobs we hoped to
create.
If you look at it nationally, there are now 14 million Americans who
are out of work, and more than 1 million want to work but have given up
looking for work. So when you look at what is
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going on out there, you add the 8.5 million Americans who are getting
by with part-time jobs--even though they would like to work full time--
that is about 23 million Americans suffering from a lack of the full-
time job they want. This unemployment issue continues to be the No. 1
issue in Ohio and nationally. We have got to address it.
You talked a little bit today about some of the ways that we need to
approach it, including the regulatory overreach and its impact on jobs
and small businesses. But let me talk about even a deeper concern in
Ohio. That is the length of time people have been out of work. The
average unemployment now is 40 weeks. That is about 9 months. It is 9
months of stress, 9 months of uncertainty, 9 months of wondering how to
make ends meet. This is, I am told, the worst statistic in terms of
length of being unemployed that we have had since the records were
kept. So it is not just about these terrible unemployment numbers, it
is the fact that when have you been out that long, you lose some of
your job skills, you have a gap in your resume, and it is harder to get
a job. This is not what was promised, by the way.
If you look at what the President and his economists promised when
the stimulus was passed, they said that unemployment today would be
about 6.7 percent. Instead, it is over 9 percent--9.1 percent. So it
has not worked. The President has called it a bump in the road.
Unfortunately, I think it is a lot more than that.
The Chairman of the Federal Reserve talked about this yesterday, that
he was very concerned now about some of the economic projections. He
thinks we are not in as good a shape as even the projections--which
were not very optimistic--show. There was 1.8 percent growth in the
first quarter. At this point in the last deep recession we had, the
growth was 7 percent.
This chart is interesting because it shows Federal spending as a
percent of the economy, which as we all know has gone up significantly,
and part of that is because of the stimulus package and then the
unemployment rate. Unfortunately, when you look at this, there has not
been an increase in spending and a decrease in unemployment. There has
been an increase in spending and an increase in unemployment. So this
simple notion that you cannot spend your way to prosperity, which is a
commonsense notion that most Americans agree with, has been proven to
be true.
Unfortunately, the stimulus package did not lead to the kind of
progress the President and his team predicted. We are all paying the
price for it. So, instead, we need to approach it in a different way.
Again, as Senator Thune mentioned earlier, part of the answer to this
is dealing with the regulations, dealing with our tax system, dealing
with these high energy costs, dealing with the high health care costs,
which do impact employment, getting the economy back on track through
smart progrowth policies.
I know the Senator from South Dakota has done a lot of thinking about
how do we get out of this mess we are in, instead of the spending. But
I do not know if the Senator has any thoughts about what the debt and
the spending is doing to our economy. He mentioned the Rogoff and
Reinhart study showing that our economy would be growing much faster
than it is now but for this big overhang of spending and deficit and
debt.
I wonder if the Senator has additional thoughts.
Mr. THUNE. I appreciate my colleague's observations regarding his
State, which is a pivotal State when it comes to whether we are going
to see the economy recover. It is a State that feels the impact right
away when you have a down economy and job losses and all of the
negative things that go with that. So I appreciate his perspective on
it. Obviously, I wish I could say this administration's policies have
made the situation better. Unfortunately, the evidence overwhelmingly
points to the President and his policies making this situation worse--
much worse. For example, the Senator mentioned nondefense discretionary
spending, which is the part of spending that the President has to sign
into law every year. It went up 4.1 percent. That is astounding when
you consider inflation was about 2 percent over that time. Government
spending was growing 10 times the rate of inflation.
What is even more amazing, this doesn't include the increases in
discretionary spending attributed to stimulus. That was supposed to
have brought the unemployment rate down to 6.7 percent. Clearly, we are
over 9 percent today.
There is no correlation between additional spending and job creation.
We have clearly demonstrated that. That spending level doesn't include
spending on the ``Cash for Clunkers'' program, which was supposed to
create jobs. It doesn't include ``un-offset'' increases in spending on
mandatory programs that are signed into law, such as additional
unemployment insurance, Medicaid, or trade adjustment assistance. It
doesn't include the spending increases the President fought for but has
been unsuccessful in passing.
Because of this exorbitant spending, we are at a point where 40 cents
out of every dollar the Federal Government spends is borrowed. While
most people would look at this situation and say it is time to do
something about it to improve the situation, the President clearly
punted over the medium and long term, and his proposed budget makes the
situation even worse. In fact, his proposed fiscal 2012 budget would
spend $46 trillion over a 10-year time period, add $9.47 trillion to
the debt, and raise taxes by $1.6 trillion. So their prescription
continues to be more spending, more borrowing, and higher taxes.
The question is, is this helping or hurting our economy? If you look
at a recent Bloomberg poll, it found 65 percent of Americans think the
debt is a major reason why our unemployment rate is so high. The answer
from the American people is clear.
I guess what I say to my colleague from Ohio--and he and I have
worked together on ideas on how to get the economy going again and
create an environment conducive to job growth--is that, clearly,
getting spending under control here is a huge factor. As he pointed
out, there is lots of research out there that demonstrates connectivity
between spending and debt and the economy. I simply add that ratings
agencies, such as Standard & Poor's and Moody's, all gave a negative
assessment to our credit rating; and if that led to a downgrade in our
credit rating, it would reflect much higher interest rates for another
negative impact.
Spending and debt have a profound negative impact on our ability to
grow the economy and create jobs. The Senator from Ohio has been a
great leader getting out there in talking about solutions that would
lead to job creation. I am interested in hearing about some of what we
might be able to do that is clearly not being done today and, frankly,
what I hope is contrary to the policies put forward by this
administration, which are costing jobs.
Mr. PORTMAN. That is right. There are a number of things that can be
done. There is no reason it can't be done on a bipartisan basis.
I left a hearing in the Government Affairs Committee, where we talked
about regulations and their impact on the economy. Today, the cost of
regulations to the economy--in particular, small businesses--is about
$1.75 trillion. That is more than the IRS collects in income taxes.
There were both Democrats and Republicans talking about proposals and
who are concerned about the administration's continued regulations. The
President said some of the right things, but there are more regulations
that have a bigger impact.
In Washington, it is tough to get this under control without changing
the law, in my view. We need to have a better process in the agencies
to force them to look at cost-benefit analyses and force them to use
the least-cost burdensome alternatives. I talked about legislation in
that area today, as did Democrats and Republicans alike. There are
things we have to do. Regarding the Senator's point about the impact of
the debt and deficit on the job front, the Senator is right. The poll
he talked about indicated that 65 percent of Americans think the debt
and deficit is a major factor in high unemployment. They are right. The
study the Senator talked about said if the debt gets past 90 percent,
it will cost our economy about a million jobs. We are now at about 100
percent, and it will be 105 percent in 2012--next year.
This is what is happening. We are going into that period where our
debt
[[Page S4045]]
is bigger than our whole economy. This study, by the way, is based on
looking at countries all around the world, which will have gone through
this experience, including countries in Europe that are going through
it now, and seeing what the impact is on jobs.
There are solutions. We talked about regulations. That is one of
them. My hope is that this Senate can vote on sensible regulatory
reform--and soon. The story the Senator told earlier about the oil and
gas industry, we should display that all over. The recent proposed
regulations from the EPA on emissions from powerplants in terms of
mercury--all of us want clean air. We know you have to have
regulations, but the question is, how do you regulate? These are very
onerous and will have a big impact on my State. There is a study out
saying it is going to result in thousands of jobs being lost, and a few
powerplants being shut down, and electricity costs increasing 10, 15
percent in our State. We cannot afford that.
But there is more than that. There is the Tax Code. We should, again,
as a body, and the House and the administration should reform our Tax
Code to make it simpler and more progrowth. It can be done. Economists
across the spectrum say this current code is a mess. It doesn't work
because you are encouraging businesses to make investments and allocate
resources based on Tax Code-motivated interests rather than business
reasons. Getting rid of these preferences and clearing out the Code, as
happened in 1986, you could get more economic growth through the Tax
Code reform.
I think the time is here, and the President's fiscal commission
recommended this when they said, how do you look at the next 20, 30
years and come up with a way to deal with the deficit and debt?
Economic growth needs to be part of it. And part of it was tax reform,
and making our workforce more competitive.
Today, we do spend money at the Federal level on workforce
development. Yet it is not spent very efficiently. There are some
organizations that do it better than others. We should take their best
practices and apply them generally. There are nine different agencies
and departments engaged in looking at how to improve our workforce
through the 21st century. It is a Federal program that, when connected
with businesses, works; when it is not, it doesn't work well. There are
opportunities to reform that program. It should be bipartisan.
I hear from communities and businesses what is working and what is
not working. Flexibility is the key. There is a lot of redtape and
bureaucracy. We need to enforce our trade agreements and the
international rules. Enforcement is critical. But we need to open
markets to our products. Every country is engaged in opening markets
for their products, workers, and service providers. We need to be more
aggressive in forcing other countries to open our markets to them. If
we don't, we don't have access to 95 percent of the consumers in the
world. The President has said that if you were to pass these three
trade agreements out there, you would create over 250,000 new jobs.
Think about that. That is something we ought to do. Again it is
bipartisan.
Somehow we cannot seem to get these three relatively small trade
agreements that we have already done through the process. We need to do
that right now, because of this economic crisis we face of unemployment
and long-term unemployment. This would help, in combination with a more
competitive workforce.
On energy, another part of our seven-point plan--and this is a jobs
plan to get us back--we have to use our own resources. There is natural
gas in places such as Ohio, and South Dakota and North Dakota have a
lot of natural gas. We have the technology. Let's use it. We may have
the greatest resources of natural gas in the world, based on geological
finds. We need to use that now, and we can help us get less dependent
on foreign oil.
Finally, health care costs. We talked about this earlier. There are
some commonsense things we can do now to get health care costs down,
including stopping frivolous lawsuits, which we all pay for, through
sensible medical malpractice reform. Some States do it well. It should
be done on a national level to get the costs down. We should allow
people to buy insurance across State lines. Several insurance companies
could compete for the business. This would help get spending under
control. We should reform the Tax Code, have regulatory relief, a more
competitive workforce, increase jobs through exports, enforce the trade
agreements, power America's economy with our own energy, and have
sensible solutions to getting costs of health care down, which will
help create jobs. All of these things are proposals the Senator has
been working on, and I appreciate that.
I ask the Senator a question. If the Senator is focused on getting at
this issue, does he think we have a problem on the debt and deficit
because of the lack of revenue through taxation or is it through
overspending? Does he have any thoughts or suggestions as to how we
deal with that?
Mr. THUNE. I appreciate that. That was a great description by the
Senator. The Senator from Ohio hit upon all the relevant issues, if we
are going to get the economy going, creating jobs again--talking about
getting trade deals done, and energy policy that relies upon American
energy production, keeping taxes and regulations low, common sense when
it comes to energy regulations, and getting spending and debt under
control. Those are all part of a solution that will grow the economy.
What I say to my colleague with regard to the issue of taxing and
spending is that a lot of people believe somehow we can get additional
revenues and raise taxes and solve these problems. Clearly, that would
be very counter to growing the economy and creating jobs. I think it
would be harmful, if anything. If we look at taxes as a way to deal
with the deficit and debt issue, frankly, I think most Americans
believe--and I believe they are right--this is overwhelmingly a
spending issue.
If you look at our 40-year average spending, up until 2008 it was
20.6 percent of our GDP. The budget would have to spend about 24.3
percent of GDP. If you look at what we need to focus on, I say to my
colleague from Ohio, it is clearly in the area of spending and debt
control and dealing with that issue as opposed to the issue of revenue.
I look forward to working with him on these issues. I hope we can put
policies into place that will grow the economy and get people in this
country back to work.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia is recognized.
Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, how much time remains?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. There is 2\1/2\ minutes.
Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that that be
extended by 3 minutes.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________