[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 177 (Friday, November 18, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H7883-H7885]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THANKSGIVING
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 5, 2011, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) is recognized
for 30 minutes.
Mr. GOHMERT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Even though this body is composed of a lot of people who have a lot
of different political steadfast beliefs, it is still an honor and
pleasure to serve with friends like Carolyn Maloney.
So it is an honor to serve, and even though we disagree sometimes on
the way we get to the end, I know that, for example, Mrs. Maloney's
heart is always in the right place.
It is a pleasure to serve with her.
Mrs. MALONEY. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. GOHMERT. Certainly.
Mrs. MALONEY. I would like to thank you for that very kind statement,
and I look forward to finding common ground on things we can agree on
and work to help the economy and growth of this great Nation, and I
hope you can help and support the funding of NIH and basic research
which has been so helpful to your great State and your great
universities and scientists.
Mr. GOHMERT. Thank you. I certainly appreciate my friend from New
York.
There are some areas of research that if the Federal Government
doesn't do it, it's not going to get done, and I'm sure there are areas
we can certainly agree on.
Balanced Budget Amendment
Mr. GOHMERT. I wish I were coming to the floor just full of
excitement because we had a vote today on the balanced budget
amendment. I came to Congress nearly 7 years ago believing we needed a
balanced budget amendment, knowing that Thomas Jefferson regretted not
having one, that Ronald Reagan wished there had been one. But since I
have been in this body, it has become abundantly clear that this body
is more likely to have the will to raise taxes than it is to cut
spending.
I came here not believing that that was the case. But after we added
over 80 fantastic freshmen coming up here with the right motivation,
wanting to get our fiscal House in order, knowing that we went from
2006, when we were last in the majority before this year, when we spent
$160 billion or so over what we took in, and then, because we didn't
have our fiscal house in order as the Republican majority, it's my
belief that's the reason, the biggest reason, actually, that the public
turned over the reins to our Democratic friends. We haven't done a good
job of avoiding overspending.
But also in 2006, November, when we lost the majority, I would never
have believed that we would go from a time when we were spending $160
billion more than we were bringing into the Treasury in just a few
short years to spending a trillion dollars more than we were bringing
into the Treasury. That was just unfathomable. And it appeared very
clear that after a year ago, when the majority--we were in the minority
at the time--made a pledge, we were going to return to pre-bailout,
pre-stimulus spending, and in the first year, we pledged we would cut
$100 billion.
And here we are, we have just at the end of September finished the
fiscal year of 2011, and we really didn't make any cuts. The jury's
out. Initially we were told we may save $27 billion over the year
before. It is just chicken feed when you're bringing in $2.2 trillion
or $2.3 trillion and you're spending about $1.3 trillion more than
that, $3.6 trillion, $3.7 trillion. And all we could find to cut was
$27 billion?
Then we have had more recent word that we may not even save that
much. Some have told me that actually we may have spent just a hair
more than we did.
So it became abundantly clear to me, and I know that my friend,
Chairman Paul Ryan, voted against the balanced budget amendment because
he knew it ought to have more restraint on spending in there, a
spending cap. And Mr. Amash, I haven't talked to him about his reasons
for voting no, and Mr. Dreier, who doesn't believe we should have one
at all.
It's really not fun not voting with the people that you serve with,
that you're in the same party with. You share so much in the way of
common experiences. Because I am a strong advocate for a balanced
budget amendment.
But the bill on the floor today did not have a spending cap. This
past year, we had just witnessed the largest wave election since the
1930s. And all of the over 80 new freshmen came forward with one
central charge: stop the wasteful government spending.
Following a pledge to make massive cuts in spending, it really
appears that Congress finds it easier to talk about ``new revenue''
which is just code for more taxes, than to cut spending.
It doesn't live up to the pledge that we made.
We made a pledge to the American people to restrain government and to
get our fiscal house in order. And we should be doing it. Eleven months
into this majority, we should have made more progress than we have.
President Obama has ramped up spending with the help of former
Speaker Pelosi, Leader Reid, both majorities in the Houses when they
were Democrats, by over an additional trillion dollars. It's far more
than the Democratic Congress increased the debt under President Bush in
2007 and 2008.
{time} 1530
It just is mind-boggling that we could not find enough Members to
return even to the liberal Democratic spending of 2007 or 2008. It's
clear that, if we had passed a balanced budget amendment without at
least having a spending cap, then future Congresses would use the
requirement of a balanced budget to increase taxes in order to balance
the budget.
We are already at a point at which almost 50 percent of the American
public is not paying income tax. We are on the threshold of arriving at
that point beyond which no representative societies have ever been able
to come back to greatness. When one more than half who is voting is
receiving more from the government than they're putting in, you're
done. You're doomed. It's over. All that's left is the slow walking and
the low talking, but you're virtually at the end.
And we are getting close.
On Wednesday, the national debt exceeded $15 trillion, which left the
United States with one of the highest public debt-to-GDP ratios in the
world. This $15 trillion mark further enhances the uncertainty that is
thwarting our economy from moving ahead. It's apparent America is on a
route headed for ruin, and if we continue to spend more money that we
don't have, we will arrive at that destination.
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Washington, this government, needs to stop the runaway train of
spending. This President's policies have added $4.4 trillion to the
national debt, all in a fraction of the time that that debt accumulated
under President George W. Bush. If we'd at least had a spending cap as
part of the balanced budget amendment, which wasn't even demanding the
two-thirds supermajority in order to raise taxes--just a spending cap,
make it a relevant spending cap--then what we voted out of committee in
the regular order--which we promised that we wouldn't bring bills to
the floor unless they went through the regular order--produced a
balanced budget amendment that had a two-thirds requirement in the way
of a vote before taxes could be raised. It had an 18 percent spending
cap, where 18 percent of the GDP was the most we could spend. That was
produced through the regular order, but that's not what we voted on
here today.
I deeply regret having to vote ``no,'' but I've seen what we're
capable of and what we're not; and we need it in the Constitution that
the budget must be balanced and that a spending cap must be there.
Some have said, Well, States don't really have a spending cap. They
can't print their own money. They can't go out and borrow money the way
we do in the Federal Government. It's different, and it needed to be
addressed differently.
We were told, Well, we had to vote for this as Republicans because
it's the only one that had a chance to pass. Then, on further inquiry,
we were told the people who were saying that didn't believe it was
going to pass the Senate, that they knew it wouldn't pass in the
Senate, and didn't think it had much chance of passing in the House.
Then why weren't we pushing what came out of regular order?--which is
what I think most of the Republicans believed was the best bill.
I don't know.
I also know, in going back through this country's history, that, even
during some of its most difficult and darkest days, there was a day set
aside, sometimes many days set aside, for thanksgiving.
Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time remains?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman has 19 minutes remaining.
Mr. GOHMERT. I want to share a Proclamation of Thanksgiving from the
year 1798, signed by President George Washington.
In 1798, it was toward the end of President Washington's time as
President. It was a difficult time; we were not a strong Nation. We
were struggling, and some thought we ought to run to the aid of France;
but their convictions in France did not appear to be based on sound
doctrine and a desire for liberty. There was too much envy and jealousy
involved in that revolution, and we were not a strong Nation.
Despite all the difficulties in the United States in those early
days, George Washington proclaimed the following:
Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the
providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful
for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and
favor; and whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their
joint committee, requested me to recommend to the people of
the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to
be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many
and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording
them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of
government for their safety and happiness.
Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the
26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of
these States to the service of that great and glorious Being
who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that
is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering
unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and
protection of the people of this country previous to their
becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and
the favor, able interpositions of His providence in the
course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree
of tranquillity, union, and plenty which we have since
enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we
have been enabled to establish constitutions of government
for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national
one now lately instituted; for the civil and religious
liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of
acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general,
for all the great and various favors which He has been
pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our
prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of
Nations, and beseech Him to pardon our national and other
transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or
private stations, to perform our several and relative duties
properly and punctually; to render our National Government a
blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government
of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and
faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all
sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown
kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments,
peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of
true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among
them and us; and, generally, to grant unto all mankind such a
degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.
Signed by George Washington in 1798.
But in the darkest throes of this country, in 1863, during a war that
saw the death of more Americans than in any war in our history--more
than the Revolution, more than World War I, World War II, Vietnam,
Korea, more than any of the wars--the Spanish-American War--there was
this proclamation from President Abraham Lincoln simply entitled ``A
Proclamation.''
Lincoln said this:
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled
with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To
these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are
prone to forget the source from which they come, others have
been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they
cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is
habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of
Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and
severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to
invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been
preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the
laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has
prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military
conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by
the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful
diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of
peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested
the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the
borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron
and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more
abundantly than heretofore.
Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the
waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the
battlefield; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness
of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect
continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human
counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out
these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most
High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins,
hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be
solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one
heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do
therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the
United States, and also those who are at sea and those who
are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the
last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and
Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.
And I recommend to them that while offering up the
ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances
and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our
national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender
care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or
sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are
unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition
of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to
restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine
purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony,
tranquillity and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and
caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October,
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-
three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the
Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln.
{time} 1540
We all know--or hopefully most know that John Hancock presided over
the Continental Congress from which we got the Declaration of
Independence. In 1791, he was Governor of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts and signed this proclamation, from John Hancock:
In consideration of the many undeserved Blessings conferred
upon us by God, the Father of all Mercies; it becomes us not
only in our private and usual devotion, to express our
obligations to Him, as well as our dependence upon Him; but
also specially to set a part a day to be employed for this
great and important purpose: I have, therefore, thought fit
to appoint, and by the advice and consent of the council, do
hereby accordingly appoint, Thursday, the seventeenth of
November next, to be observed as a Day of Public Thanksgiving
and Praise, throughout this
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Commonwealth: Hereby calling upon ministers and people of
every denomination, to assemble on the said day--and in the
name of the Great Mediator, devoutly and sincerely offer to
Almighty God, the gratitude of our hearts, for all His
goodness towards us; more especially in that He has been
pleased to continue to us so a great a measure of health--to
cause the Earth plentifully to yield her increase, so that we
are supplied with the Necessaries, and the comforts of life--
to prosper our merchandise and fishery--and above all, not
only to continue to us the enjoyment of our civil rights and
liberties; but the great and most important blessing, the
Gospel of Jesus Christ: And together with our cordial
acknowledgments, I do earnestly recommend, that we may join
the penitent confession of our Sins, and implore the further
continuance of the divine protection, and blessings of heaven
upon this people; especially that He would be graciously
pleased to direct, and prosper the administration of the
Federal Government, and of this, and the other States in the
Union--to afford Him further smiles on our agriculture and
fisheries, commerce and manufactures--to prosper our
university and all seminaries of learning--to bless the
virtuously struggling for the rights of men--so that
universal happiness may be allies of the United States, and
to afford His almighty aid to all people, who are established
in the world; that all may bow to the Scepter of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and the whole Earth be filled with His glory.
And I do also earnestly recommend to the good people of
this Commonwealth, to abstain from all servile labor and
recreation, inconsistent with the solemnity of the said day.
Given at the Council-Chamber, in Boston, the fifth day of
October, in the year of our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred
and Ninety-One, and in the sixteenth year of the Independence
of the United States of America.
This is from James Madison, the fourth President, 1815. Many credit
James Madison as being the most productive person in the writing of our
United States Constitution. The greatest building block for any Nation
in the history of man.
This is James Madison's proclamation:
No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate
the goodness of the Great Disposer of Events of the Destiny
of Nations than the people of the United States. His kind
providence originally conducted them to one of the best
portions of the dwelling place allotted for the great family
of the human race. He protected and cherished them under all
the difficulties and trials to which they were exposed in
their early days. Under His fostering care their habits,
their sentiments, and their pursuits prepared them for a
transition in due time to a state of independence and self-
government.
Signed James Madison, fourth President, March 4, 1850, Thanksgiving
Day proclamation.
And then in conclusion:
Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made
us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of
His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts
with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord
is good; His loving kindness is everlasting and His
faithfulness to all generations.
Mr. Speaker, it is the wish here that you and all those in this body
and around the country have a wonderful day of Thanksgiving in the week
ahead.
With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
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