[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 120 (Tuesday, August 2, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1488]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       BUDGET CONTROL ACT OF 2011

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, August 1, 2011

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, S. 365, the Budget Control Act of 2011, is 
a landmark in American history, but for the wrong reasons. It is a fake 
solution to a phony crisis. It provides for a radical transformation of 
the structure of government. It is an attack on the principle of 
government of the people. All this in the name of fiscal 
accountability.
  The choice we have today, default or dismantling of the social 
compact through draconian spending cuts, is a false choice. The 
President could have simply told Congressional leaders back in December 
of last year that the debt ceiling was not negotiable, and invoked the 
14th Amendment as a backstop.
  The ``debt crisis'' was spurred on by credit rating agencies of 
dubious integrity threatening a downgrade of the nation's credit unless 
the government cut spending. Most of the cuts are guaranteed to hurt 
those who live at society's margins, while S. 365 protects the investor 
class whose interests are served by the rating agencies.
  Unelected credit ratings agencies like Standard and Poor's, the self-
declared arbiter of U.S. Government creditworthiness, must themselves 
be subjected to a new level of scrutiny absent in the run-up to the 
Wall Street crisis. The credit raters helped to create that crisis too 
by procuring business through selling rating marks. The very idea that 
the sovereign United States must genuflect to dishonest rating agencies 
is antiquated and counterproductive to America's economic recovery.
  This bill fails on its own terms, which are allegedly about fiscal 
accountability. The debt has three main drivers:
  The first is the recession. If we want to reduce the debt, we have to 
stimulate the economy, which is hobbled by a jobless recovery. America 
has 14 million people out of work. We have over $3 trillion of 
infrastructure which must be replaced or rebuilt. We should be 
investing in America, rebuilding America, stimulating the American 
economy, priming the pump of our economy instead of capping our 
economic water well. Our GDP is lagging. This bill cuts nearly $3 
trillion in government spending, which is one of our main tools for 
fighting the recession. So much for the recovery. So much for putting 
America back to work.
  The second reason for the size of the debt is the Bush tax cuts. This 
bill fails to end the Bush tax cuts for the rich, which added a 
trillion dollars to the deficit. Not only are the wealthy not paying a 
fair share of the taxes but their privileged position is locked in, to 
the detriment to the rest of the society. This single action makes 
clear that this bill is a vehicle for the rich to get richer and the 
poor to get poorer.
  That working Americans are being offered a tax holiday is one of the 
cruel ironies of this bill in that the tax holiday adds more to the 
deficit on one hand, while requiring cuts to pay for it on the other. 
Those very cuts will undermine the social and economic position of 
those whom the tax holiday is alleged to help.
  The third reason for the size of the debt is the wars. This bill 
fails to realize savings from ending the wars. Instead it continues the 
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at current funding levels for at least 
another 10 years. According to the Congressional Budget Office, CBO, 
``The caps would not apply to spending for the wars in Afghanistan and 
Iraq and for similar activities (sometimes referred to as overseas 
contingency operations) . . .'' If this bill required a slow drawdown 
of troops as the Reid bill did, it would save at least $1.2 trillion.
  It is inexplicable that we are creating more space for war and less 
space for jobs, housing, education, caring for our elderly, home 
heating assistance and a wide range of activities of any government 
which truly cares for its people.
  A policy of no limits for war and hard limits on domestic spending, 
coupled with hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts for the rich, 
disproportionately affects the poor and middle class. Wall Street has 
swelled with bailouts, multiple editions of largesse through 
quantitative easing, skyrocketing executive pay and bonuses, and 
freedom to gamble the public's money through hedge funds. Main Street 
has suffered a massive loss of retirement savings, housing security, 
access to affordable health care, real wages and benefits, full 
employment and massive loss of small businesses. The wealth of America 
is being accelerated to the top and this bill pushes that acceleration.
  This bill is a direct assault on representative government. The House 
of Representatives and the Senate consist of 435 and 100 Members, 
respectively. With the creation of a super-committee, the Congress has 
been reduced to a czardom where 7 of 12 members are given the power to 
determine the course of the American economy, with hordes of K Street 
lobbyists already poised to swoop in to protect their narrow interests 
against $1 trillion in deficit reduction measures.
  The Congressional committee and subcommittee process, with its 
membership composed of individuals with expertise in specific areas, is 
designed to encourage thorough consideration of measures which affect 
the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans. This process is now 
abandoned. Abandoned with it is the intent of the founding Fathers when 
they established the House of Representatives specifically to avoid 
such a dangerous concentration of power. The super-committee is poised 
to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security while limiting 
accountability.
  We could have avoided this hostage-taking if the President chose to 
apply his expertise in Constitutional law to invoke the 14th Amendment 
of the Constitution to raise the debt ceiling. Instead, we are taking 
America from the New Deal of 1932 to the Raw Deal of 2011. We should be 
focusing on strengthening Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid and 
creating jobs. The Democratic Party is running away from its 
traditional role of protecting the poor, the elderly, and the working 
class. To whom do these groups now turn?

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