[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 108 (Tuesday, July 19, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H5154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              THE NATIONAL DEBT AND FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Lance) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LANCE. Mr. Speaker, as our Nation's debt now approaches its 
current $14.29 trillion limit, many Americans rightfully ask: How did 
this happen?
  In the past decade alone, Congress has authorized an increase in the 
debt 10 times. When Republicans had controlled the White House and 
Congress, it was Republicans who voted for it. When Democrats have 
controlled the White House and Congress, it has been Democrats who have 
voted for it.
  The Federal Government has only managed to balance its budget five 
times in the last 50 years, most recently with President Clinton, a 
Democrat, and Republican control in the House of Representatives. 
Washington now borrows approximately 40 percent of every dollar it 
spends. Foreign investors hold half of our Nation's $14 trillion debt--
not only from China, but from Great Britain, Saudi Arabia, and other 
places as well. Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 
Staff, has called the national debt ``the single biggest threat to our 
national security.''
  For the first time in modern history, last year's Congress passed no 
budget, no fundamental blueprint for spending, and no final decision on 
spending levels through the appropriations process for the entire 
fiscal year. We've been operating under a series of continuing 
resolutions, which has led to uncertainty as to Federal levels of 
spending and as to tax rates, which in turn has led to a lack of hiring 
in the private sector, with an unemployment rate of 9.2 percent, which 
in turn has led to less revenues in Federal coffers--a vicious cycle 
that cannot continue.
  Any agreement to President Obama's request to increase our borrowing 
limit should include a real plan to bring our fiscal house in order and 
reduce the Nation's unsustainably high levels of Federal spending, debt 
and deficits. This should include substantial reductions in current 
spending--at least $100 billion in fiscal year 2012--limiting Federal 
expenditures to a certain percentage of gross domestic product.
  The historic norm has been 20 percent over the last generation. 
Tragically, we're now at 24 percent--and safeguards that will restrict 
future spending, such as a balanced budget amendment, which is 
contained in 49 of our 50 States.
  Also, we must put partisanship aside and include reforms to save 
Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. If we do nothing, for example, 
regarding Medicare--and the President's budget in the winter did 
nothing--the program will begin to go bankrupt in 2024, 13 years from 
now. That is simply unsustainable and unacceptable.
  When I was a boy and a young man, the fundamental issue confronting 
the Nation was the threat of the Soviet Union and international 
communism, the focus of evil in the modern world, as President Reagan 
said.

                              {time}  1010

  The fundamental issue confronting the Nation in the 21st century is 
fiscal responsibility. Will our children live in a diminished America? 
Will the promise of America that each generation will do better than 
the generation before it continue to exist? Will we continue to lead 
the world or will leadership pass to China or India or to some other 
place?
  This is the great issue confronting the people of the United States, 
and it is the great issue confronting us here in Congress as well. 
Let's get our fiscal house in order.

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