[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 96 (Thursday, June 30, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4263-S4264]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Debt Ceiling

  Mr. President, today, so many people have been talking about this 
debt ceiling issue, which should be what we are talking about because 
we have perhaps only as long as 1 month--we are not exactly clear--when 
we will reach that over $14 trillion debt ceiling. This is the most 
serious issue facing Congress and the President today, and we shouldn't 
be doing anything else except talking about how we are going to bridge 
this gap that would allow us to go forward with significant reforms.
  I will not vote to raise the debt ceiling unless there are not 
significant reforms that assure we will not have to do it again; that 
we will begin to bring down the deficit that is causing this huge debt 
to accumulate. So I am looking for the leaders who are meeting in the 
different meetings--some I am privy to--to essentially come to an 
agreement so we can send that message.
  People have talked about the message that would be sent to the world 
if the debt ceiling isn't lifted. I am concerned about the message that 
would be sent if we lift the debt ceiling without reforms. I wish to 
send the message to the global marketplace that we are going to deal 
with our financial situation, and we are going to deal with it 
responsibly; that we are going to cut the spending that has caused this 
debt to accumulate to such alarming levels. The message I wish to send 
to the world is, we are going to take this

[[Page S4264]]

problem and we are going to solve it together; that we are not going to 
just do another pro forma lifting of the debt ceiling as if it were 
business as usual. Because business as usual it is not. We don't have a 
tax problem in this country, we have a spending problem, and we must 
attack it if we are going to have credibility.
  That brings me to a bill I have introduced because I think it is 
important, as we are looking at this looming deadline, to have a plan 
B. If, in fact, we are not going to be able to come to an agreement--
both Houses of Congress and the President--that would cut the spending 
levels sufficiently enough that many of us would be comfortable with in 
order to pass a bill raising the debt limit ceiling--if we don't meet 
that test--we should have a responsible plan B. This would be a plan 
that would say: If, in fact, we can't agree on what it will take to 
lift that debt ceiling, this is how we are going to treat the money 
that will be coming in. Because at that point our government will be 
limited in its expenditures by the revenue that is coming in.
  We can allocate that revenue, and that is where I think we must have 
a plan B. We must make sure certain things are done. The No. 1 thing we 
all know that is going to be paid is the interest on the debt. That is 
our No. 1 responsibility because that will keep us from going into 
default, which none of us wants to do. The second thing is to pay our 
military--the people who are deployed overseas, in Iraq, Afghanistan, 
and the places that are supportive of those efforts. We must assure we 
are paying those people on time so their families, who are thousands of 
miles away in other parts of our country, will know they can pay their 
rent and are not going to go into extremist positions.