[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 10 (Tuesday, January 24, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S61-S62]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise because this week is going to 
be a very important week for voting on the President's request to raise 
our debt ceiling.
  Our debt is $15.2 trillion. The President is going to ask for a $1.2 
trillion increase in that debt. These are astronomical numbers. Anyone 
looking at this can see we are spiraling out of control in very short 
order.
  To put it in perspective, the gross domestic product ratio to debt 
has been in the range of 40 percent debt to our gross domestic product. 
Today, we are surpassing 100 percent. We don't hear numbers such as 
these except in certain places in Europe. This is untenable.
  When President Obama was sworn into office, the Federal debt was 
$10.6 trillion. In just under 4 years, the United States has 
accumulated more than $5 trillion in new debt. Let's place the 
President's request in context.
  The $1.2 trillion he is asking to increase the debt ceiling will not 
even cover last year's deficit, which was $1.3 trillion. We are in an 
untenable situation and we must do something about it. I think most 
people who are focusing on this believe that. But instead, attempts to 
cut the deficit are met with proposals to do--what? Increase taxes, 
taxes to pay for current spending and even new spending on top of the 
current levels.
  In the coming weeks, the President will unveil his fiscal year 2013 
budget. Last year, the fiscal year 2012 budget the President put 
forward totaled $3.7 trillion, and he proposed over $1.6 trillion in 
new taxes over a 10-year period.
  These figures demonstrate the fundamental problem we have in this 
country, which any small businessperson looking at this can tell us; 
that is, we have chronic deficit spending.
  We must accept the fact that mandatory spending accounts for more 
than half of all Federal spending, and the entitlement spending is 
open-ended. The reality is, Social Security is currently operating in 
the red. Benefits are exceeding payroll tax revenue. The programs that 
are in the entitlement section of our budget are in dire need of being 
updated. We must gradually reform Social Security to meet current life 
expectancy rates. I have introduced a bill to do that, along with 
Senator Kyl.
  It is very important that the President take the lead on entitlement 
spending. Yet from all the things we have heard from the President 
about what he is going to propose at the State of the Union address and 
what he is going to put in his budget, there is no entitlement reform 
included. Instead, it is more spending and more taxes to cover the 
spending.
  The fact remains, we must change the course of this country. If we 
fail to do so, we are going to be at the same point later this year 
because that is when we could reach the new debt ceiling of $16.4 
trillion if the President's request is granted by Congress.
  The precedent is vivid. Look how quickly the initial $900 billion 
request set forth under the Budget Control Act last August has been 
exhausted--$900 billion gone since August. This is January. That is a 
stunning figure. A coherent, comprehensive policy regarding our 
Nation's debt ceiling is nonexistent.
  In order to correct our current fiscal problems, we must align 
spending to match incoming revenues. American businesses and households 
know this. They do it every month, every week. Why shouldn't our 
government be held to the same standards?
  We have not had a true debt limit set by this administration. The 
President continually requests increases in the debt ceiling without 
addressing the core problem, which is spending.
  While the Budget Control Act included discretionary spending caps and 
a 2013 sequestration, it did not go far enough. No targets were set 
forth for our debt limit or for our annual deficits.
  We need to take our caps on spending further. Each year, the caps 
should bring us closer to a balanced budget. We should have a target to 
bring, over 10 years, the debt down to a specific level. We should be 
able to set this with leadership from the President. This year, we must 
focus on cutting our deficits and aligning spending with revenues.
  We are going to have this vote on Thursday, we are told. We have the 
time and the means to implement a sensible reform for our entitlement 
programs. That is not going to happen in a vacuum, and it is not going 
to happen with just the President or with just the Republicans or with 
just the Democrats in Congress. We have to address entitlement issues 
together.
  The Social Security bill I have introduced gradually increases the 
age at which Social Security would be available to retirees. We all 
know people are living longer. They are working longer. They are 
healthier longer. The actuarial tables don't match the Social Security 
program that was put in place 50 years ago. It does not work. We have 
to take the reins.
  If the President would work with Congress to do that, my bill 
increases the normal retirement age by 3 months per year. So it is a 
very gradual increase. No one would be affected over the age of 58 
under my plan. But if one is 57, the normal retirement age would be 3 
months later. So it is a plan that can work. With that minor 
adjustment, we could make 75 years of Social Security solvent, along 
with a small decrease in the cost-of-living increase but nothing on the 
core benefit. There would be no cut in the core benefit, only a 1-
percent decrease in the cost-of-living increase. If inflation goes 
above 1 percent, there would be a cost-of-living adjustment.
  I think everyone would rather have a sound Social Security system and 
know it is there for them as a cushion. As we know, Social Security was 
not supposed to be a retirement plan. It was supposed to be a safety 
net, and it is a safety net for many people in our country.
  We are also trying to encourage more saving by people for security in 
retirement. That is why, when we are talking about the 15-percent tax 
on capital gains and dividends, it is because we are encouraging people 
to save for their retirement security. We are a country, unfortunately, 
that has a very low savings rate. Compared to most other countries in 
the world, Americans save very little. The 15-percent capital gains and 
dividends rate is meant to encourage savings and helping people to plan 
and support their own retirement in addition to Social Security.
  If we made Social Security solvent, it would also bring down the 
deficit, and we could do it in a gradual way. If we and the President 
don't take the reins now in a bipartisan way and we keep marching along 
the same path, we are going to have drastic cuts in the actual benefit, 
in the core benefit going forward. That would be a tragedy. It would be 
wrong for our children. It would be wrong for the next generation for 
us not to be able to address this in a bipartisan way. I hope the 
President will mention this in the State of the Union address. I hope 
he will make that a part of his efforts in this last year of his 
administration before the election.
  I haven't heard any talk of that. In the previews I have heard of the 
State of the Union address, we are not hearing anything about 
entitlement reform. Yet it is more than half of the federal budget. We 
know that we have to cut spending if we are going to actually bring 
down the deficits and start peeling away this cancerous debt we have 
accumulated in this country, $5

[[Page S62]]

trillion in the last 3 years and $10 trillion accumulated up until 3 
years ago.
  It is my hope we will start a leadership in the administration 
tonight at the State of the Union--a leadership that we haven't seen 
yet because all we have seen are the same old tax-and-spend proposals 
we are used to seeing. It is nothing new and nothing fresh. But the 
people of America know we have to change course. The people of America 
in the polls say, by huge numbers, we are going in the wrong direction 
in this country. Seventy percent of Americans have said in the latest 
polls of ``How do you feel about where we are now,'' 70 percent believe 
this country is going in the wrong direction.
  Only we can do something about it, along with the President, and I 
hope he will provide the leadership. But I don't think raising the debt 
ceiling, with no plan in the future to cut spending is going to happen 
this week. That is not leadership, and I hope there will be a change in 
direction.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. RUBIO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. RUBIO. I ask unanimous consent that I be recognized to speak as 
in morning business for up to 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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