[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 120 (Monday, September 10, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H5754-H5760]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 2000
GOP FRESHMEN HOUR
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Landry). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 5, 2011, the gentlewoman from Alabama (Mrs. Roby) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mrs. ROBY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to be here this
evening alongside some of my freshman colleagues.
We want to have a real frank discussion with the American people
tonight about a milestone that we hit just last week. This is not a
milestone of historic significance that we're proud of, and that is
that our national debt has now hit $16 trillion. This brings no pride
or cause to celebrate to the American people, nor should it to any
Member of this body or our friends in the Senate or in the White House.
That is approximately $51,000 for every man, woman, and child in this
country. It's unacceptable, and it doesn't, quite frankly, have to be
this way.
I want to point you to a few of the President's own words that he
said when he was campaigning to be the President of the United States:
We can't afford another 4 years of the kind of deficits
we've seen during the last 8. We can't afford to mortgage our
children's future on another mountain of debt.
Where are we today? Today we're at a place that is far worse than 4
years ago. With our debt now at $16 trillion, we've not seen anything
significant from this White House in an effort to reduce our debt.
Instead, all we hear about is new programs that are going to require
more taxpayer dollars and not an effort to rein in this out-of-control
spending. I want to talk about that tonight.
Tonight we also want to focus on jobs. This is the number one issue
facing the American people right now. We need to get America back to
work. And this government, this body right here, we don't create the
jobs, but we sure can help create an environment in which job creation
is right. We have done a lot here in the House to do that. We've passed
over 30 bills. They're sitting in the Senate awaiting action.
We are going to continue to highlight what we've learned, in this
hour, over the course of our time back at home.
I have my friend from Colorado standing here. I would just say to
you, Mr. Gardner, that I'm sure you can say the same about what you
learned over the district work period. From traveling from town to
town, from county to county in Alabama's Second District over and over
again, I have witnessed that the debt has stifled job creation because
all it has done is create more uncertainty.
All of the regulation and red tape that has been passed in the
previous Congress that this Congress has been unable to undue because
of the lack of action in the Senate and ObamaCare, all of that has
contributed to more and more uncertainty. People are hurting.
I've traveled around and looked into the eyes of folks, and they
can't take any more. Their businesses are on the line, and that then,
in turn, is a reflection of what's going to happen in their households.
Mr. GARDNER. The gentlelady from Alabama is exactly right.
Thank you for your leadership on the economy, on getting this country
turned around, and getting our businesses back in shape to hire once
again.
Over the past couple of years since being elected, I've traveled over
65,000 miles to be in every nook and cranny of the district of eastern
Colorado and northern Colorado. We've held 74 town meetings to make
sure that we are listening to everybody's voices, to make sure that
people have an opportunity to address their concerns, their ideas to
make our government better, to make our economy grow and healthy once
again.
The points that you talk about, I don't know that anything is more
relevant in the conversations that we have today than the point that
was made at a town meeting just last week in Julesburg, Colorado, up in
northeastern Colorado. It's just a hop, skip, and a jump from the
panhandle of Nebraska. A young lady raised her hand and said:
I'm a single mom. I have three kids at home. I've had two
jobs. Now I only have one. I'm looking for a second one. I
can't make ends meet because my job doesn't pay enough, and
energy prices continue to increase.
She's trying to find health care for her children. Talk about
somebody who is the front lines of our economy who is suffering because
of the past 3\1/2\ years of failed economic policies.
The Congressional Budget Office recently issued a review of what can
happen at the end of this year if nothing is done to avoid the fiscal
cliff to deal with sequestration and to deal with the looming tax
increases. This is what the Congressional Budget Office has stated:
In particular, large budget deficits and growing debt would
reduce national saving, leading to higher interest rates,
more borrowing from abroad, and less domestic investment--
which in turn would lower the growth of incomes in the United
States.
While we talk about growing the economy, while we talk about economic
growth and the need to get businesses and companies around this country
hiring again, at the same time there's this negative pressure being
placed on them because Congress can't do its job to control spending.
We are $16 trillion in debt. You mentioned it was nearly $51,000 for
every man, woman, and child. We've got a 10-month-old at home. Our 10-
month-old
[[Page H5755]]
owes $51,000 as his share of the Federal debt. That's $51,000 apiece.
That negative pressure, that mounting debt, deficits that are over a
trillion dollars every year, makes it more and more difficult for
businesses to have access to the capital that they need to grow. It
makes it more and more difficult for companies to operate, because all
of a sudden they find themselves competing with the Federal Government
for those scarce resources.
The next thing we know, government is going to have to look at tax
increases to try to finance what's already over $200 billion a year in
interest payments. Our businesses are saying: Government, can you get
out of the way so we can let America work, so that we can run our
businesses the way that we want to, not the way Washington wants to?
At the same time, you've got a Congress, including the United States
Senate, that hasn't passed a budget in the past 3\1/2\ years, hasn't
done the fundamental duty that it's required to do, and that's to make
sure that this government knows where it's going to spend its money, to
make sure this government knows how much money it has coming in and how
much money is going out. But they refuse to pass a budget.
They refuse it, make no mistake, not because they think they need
more time or because they need to study it more or come up with a
different bill, no. They refuse it because they think it would be bad
politically for them to vote on a budget. That's why the President's
own budget received zero votes. The President's own budget not only
received zero Republican votes, but zero Democrat votes.
There are so many people across this country who are unemployed, who
are looking for work. In fact, most of the universities around the
country just went back in a couple of weeks ago. Those students are all
looking for jobs and expecting jobs to deal with their student loans. I
know we've talked about it many times.
Mrs. ROBY. If we could spend some time on our young people, because
that really paints the picture better than anything.
The graduating class of 2012, when they were getting ready to face
the real world in April of this year, the Associated Press reported
that half of those college graduates were unemployed. That's half.
Just to show a little bit of a comparison, since President Obama has
taken office, the unemployment rate for 20-year-olds to 24-year-olds
has increased more than a point from 12.4 percent to 13.9 percent. The
median income for those under the age of 35 dropped by 10.5 percent
from 2007 to 2010. That's more than any other age group. More of
today's 20-somethings to 30-somethings are living with their parents
than any of the generations that have gone before them.
{time} 2010
So by comparison--and here's what we really highlight--this
President's failure and this Congress' failure to get out of the way of
job creation. In 1980, 17 percent of adults, 20- to 34-year-olds, had
to live with their parents, and today that number is 24 percent. At a
time when these young people coming out of college face mountains of
student loan debt, they can't find jobs.
Instead of looking and working to find ways to provide opportunities
for these young people, President Obama and his policies are setting
the stage for these young people to be more dependent on the
government. Anyway, that's just to highlight your point exactly that
that is the sector of our population that is the promise of tomorrow,
and they are unemployed.
Mr. GARDNER. Then add the fact that this generation that's graduating
from college today is going to be left with a $16 trillion debt; and,
by the way, that's just what it is today. It's growing each and every
second. In just a few years, that number goes up dramatically to over
$20 trillion if nothing is done to stop the runaway debt crisis that we
have right now.
You mentioned the Associated Press article that talks about one out
of every two graduates from college today being unemployed or
underemployed, but that same Associated Press report talks about this,
taking unemployment into consideration, the job prospects for
bachelor's degree holders fell last year to the lowest level in more
than a decade.
So we've seen this conversation take place about, you know, are we
better off today than we were 4 years ago. Well, here's a statement
from the Associated Press, when it comes to people who are graduating
from college, that says, ``Taking underemployment into consideration,
the jobs prospects for bachelor's degree holders fell last year to the
lowest level in more than a decade.''
How are these families going to make ends meet? How are recent
college graduates, some who come out of college with a family, going to
pay back their student loans? We have seen Federal student loans soar
275 percent over the past decade. Over the past decade student loans
have increased over 275 percent; yet job prospects are as bleak as they
have been for 10 years or more.
You know, I've got some great universities in my district, the
University of Northern Colorado, Colorado State University. We just
visited Northeastern Junior College. We have been all over the
community college system in our district talking about the challenges
that they face trying to make sure that their students have the jobs
that they need when they come out of school because what's happening,
you see the higher debt load. Then because the economy is so tough,
people are taking jobs that are lower paying just to try to make ends
meet.
This country has prided itself on always making sure that for
generation after generation we have greater opportunities, that we open
more doors for our children. That's the same thing that ought to be,
the same kind of idea that ought to be facing the recent graduates
today.
This upcoming December, next May, they ought to be looking at job
prospects that are even greater than their older brothers or sisters,
even greater than their parents' generation. But the fact is those jobs
don't exist because the policies of the last 4 years have made it more
and more difficult for the country's businesses to grow and expand.
Mrs. ROBY. You mentioned your colleges in your district. Actually,
there are some great colleges in or right nearby in Alabama's Second
District: Alabama State University, Faulkner University, Troy
University, and Huntingdon College. But let me just highlight real
quickly Alabama's 2-year college system where we have incredible
workforce development programs, honing skills in young people that can
immediately go out into the workforce, and they deserve better than
these lofty promises.
Did you know that since President Obama was inaugurated in January of
2009, the manufacturing sector has shed 590,000 jobs, 590,000 jobs?
Mr. GARDNER. When was that you said?
Mrs. ROBY. This was since President Obama was inaugurated in January
of 2009.
The number of Americans receiving food stamps as of April 2012 was
46.1 million. I heard today one of our colleagues say one in seven, one
out of every seven Americans is receiving some sort of nutritional
assistance. That is astounding. That is astounding.
We've painted a picture here that is bleak, and we're telling the
American people what they already know because so many of them are too
aware of this because they're the ones that are suffering from this
administration. I just want to say that we have solutions.
We have solutions where we can change things and the private sector
can thrive, but that is going to mean getting the government out of the
way. We need the leadership in the Senate to have the political courage
to stand up and take up our jobs bills, our energy bills that reduce
regulation and does just that, gets the government out of the way.
Mr. GARDNER. This past week I had an opportunity to visit a business
in Colorado, a manufacturing business in Colorado. It's a multi-
generation family business that was started by this gentleman's dad 50
years ago. He's actually retiring from the business, and his son is
going to take over the business, third generation, a manufacturing
business in Denver. They've got around 300 employees, spread out in the
western United States region.
I asked him, I said, you know the past couple of years are you doing
better now than you were then? His answer was no on any level. If you
ask
[[Page H5756]]
him about what his bottom line is, his company's profits? No, they're
not better off than they were. If you ask them about the number of
employees he has? No, they're not better off. In fact, they've
struggled to try to make sure that they are able to keep the employees
that they have been able to keep.
This is something else that goes unreported, that work, that employee
who is usually working a 40-hour work week or maybe a little bit more
is now working a 30-hour work week or a 32-hour work week, because as
an employer he feels the opportunity to try to do everything he can to
keep these employees working, to keep their families with a job in the
household. In order to do that, because their business is down, because
their sales are down, they've actually now found themselves in
situations where they are reducing hours, which means less take-home
pay. In fact, if you look at the past 4 years, we've seen middle class
pay, take-home pay, go down by about $4,000.
If employment is decreasing and, again, if you look at those
employment numbers that just came out this past week, for every one
person who found a job, four people quit looking. So you can see that
this business isn't alone in trying to make ends meet, to try to build
a better tomorrow.
We talked about the regulations that they face, and I talked about
some of the recent changes that have been made, whether it's financial
services legislation. In fact, one of the interesting points that we
were talking about regulations, and I am sure you have heard a great
deal about businesses in your district that are facing challenges with
regulations and the ever-increasing cost of regulations, but this
particular business, they were talking about how, because of the tough
times that have hit their contracts, the people they contract with, the
people who buy the goods from them, they are now actually having to
float the cost of that business on their own books a lot longer.
Because of the difficulties with some of the financial legislation
we've seen, they're finding it even more difficult to do that.
Here you have a company that's trying to make it work with their
customers so that they can buy their goods by holding their receivables
a little bit longer; but they're finding pressure now from financial
legislation that makes it more difficult to do that. So the government
is getting them both ways. The government has failed to come up with
the policies to get government out of the way so that our businesses
can grow. Yet when you have somebody coming up with a solution to try
to grow their business, government policies there are affecting that
and impeding their ability to do that.
Mrs. ROBY. Absolutely. You know, when you talk to business owners, or
at least when I have, you'll hear them say, but there was a time when
regulators came into your business to try to make it more effective or
a safer environment in which to work, but that time is long gone. Now
the regulators are there to find problems and fine you.
I want to give you one example that was astounding to me. A fellow
that's in the construction business was explaining to me that he had a
friend that's a roofer that had a $700 job, to make a $700 profit on a
roofing job. His crew was over there at this home all day long, had the
ladder, they were going up and down.
After 5 o'clock, a regulator was driving down the road, pulled over
and noticed that he was afraid the ladder didn't come over the eave of
the roof just far enough to fit within the regulatory requirements.
{time} 2020
He stopped and wrote that fellow up to the tune of $8,000. A $700 job
and an $8,000 fine. These guys had been going up and down that ladder
all day.
We all agree that not every regulation is bad, but this is an
environment that has gotten out of hand; people with too much time on
their hands and not coming into businesses in the spirit of helping
businesses thrive.
Mr. GARDNER. And I think that's why we have to start talking about
solutions for this country. We all have examples of regulations that
have gone amok.
I was dealing with a business in the district just the other day that
talked about a product that they were trying to handle. It was a very
environmentally sensitive product that they were trying to remove and
actually do some environmental mitigation from a cleanup site that they
were working on. And this particular company was required to keep this
product both wet and dry at the same time; a regulation that said you
had to keep it wet until you moved it or stored it, and then you had to
keep it dry. Well, you've got to dry it down in order to move it, but
yet they faced the possibility of being fined because of this
particular action.
Again, the solutions we need. This Congress has passed solutions, and
I'll mention the REINS Act.
The REINS Act was a bill that we passed several months ago with
strong support from both sides of the aisle. This is one of the bills
that has passed the House and has moved over to the Senate, where it
just sits stacking up like cordwood. Once again, here we have an
opportunity to do something, a proactive solution.
The REINS Act simply says we're going to take a look at the cost of a
regulation. We're going to get an idea of how much some regulation
costs, and if it exceeds a certain threshold, then we're going to let
that come back to Congress for review before it can go into effect.
It's saying, hey, let's take a look at this. Let's create some kind of
an opportunity for Congress to review a regulation that has a
tremendous impact on the economy, taking over a hundred million dollars
out of our economy to comply with the regulation. Let's take a look at
it and make sure that the cost and benefits are in line to make sure
that the benefits outweigh the cost, to make sure that doing it is
actually worth it and it doesn't cost jobs that we so desperately need.
And so the REINS Act passed and it's waiting over in the Senate.
Now, some people may say, well, that's just a partisan idea, that's
just a Republican idea. Well, let's take a look at what some of the
States do.
In my home State of Colorado, there's a process called the Rule
Review Act, the Rule Review bill. This bill comes up every single year
in the State legislature, and it's a chance for the State legislature
to do exactly that, to review the rules that pass out of the executive
branch agencies. Every year, the State legislature gives a thumbs up or
a thumbs down to those regulations, because in Colorado we understand
how important it is to make sure that government's not getting in the
way, how important it is to make sure that we actually have responsible
rules that move the ball down the field instead of creating penalties
every time you turn around.
And so the Rules Review bill taken to the United States Congress
becomes the REINS Act. And the REINS Act is a good way for us to check
and provide that balance with the executive branch to make sure that
we're not putting too much of a burden on our businesses.
Mrs. ROBY. Right. Let's just go back in time for a minute and talk
about some of these other repeals.
We have the Boiler MACT provisions, the Cement MACT, net neutrality,
the regulating farm jobs. We can go down the list one by one by one and
talk about the efforts that we have taken here in the House. With the
strength of the numbers here, some of these have been with bipartisan
support that we've passed these measures. And yet again and again and
again, it's just time after time after time it's sitting in the Senate
without any action.
All you have to do is go look at the budget that the House has passed
the past 2 years that Chairman Ryan put forth out of committee and came
to the full floor. You mentioned the President's budget where there
were zero votes--zero votes. We talk about offering solutions to the
American people to look that small business owner in the eye and say,
``Yes, I am working for you; yes, I have a solution for you; yes, I
have a way to get out of your way,'' which is what we've done, and our
budget outlines very, very specifically what these solutions are.
Our spending is out of control, which in turn, like you already
mentioned, just takes it a whole other step that this Congress is not
doing their job, and therefore the jobs are not being created by the
private sector, period. It all comes down to that.
Mr. GARDNER. And I know you serve on the Agriculture Committee
[[Page H5757]]
here in the House of Representatives, and I'm sure that you're hearing
from some of your interests in agriculture about uncertainty.
Mrs. ROBY. Absolutely.
Mr. GARDNER. And one of the things that I've heard over the past
several months--and, in fact, I held a series of farm bill roundtables
earlier this spring, where one of the things we heard about so much,
and this is part of the fiscal cliff that we're facing, is the death
tax, the death tax that this Nation faces going back into the lower
exclusion rates as of January 1.
Let me give you an example. I'm sure you've heard this time and again
from the people that you represent.
One of the farm roundtables that we held, a young man from Eaton,
Colorado, stood up and said: With the estate tax coming back in at the
end of this year, beginning of next year, we'll be forced to pay for
our farm for a third time, and we simply can't afford it.
This is a young man who wants to go on into life in agriculture. This
is somebody who wants to be the next generation standing up to grow our
food and fiber that this Nation depends on. But yet you've got a
government policy that's going to say: We know you've invested, we know
you've grown your business, you've made investments into the land that
you need to make your operation successful, but because somebody died,
we're going to tax them. And that's part of the fiscal cliff that
this country faces at the end of this year.
There are farmers and ranchers around the State of Colorado, around
this country, who are not trying to figure out how they're going to
pass on their operation to the next generation, pass on their operation
to the next generation because of a government policy that says: You
know what? You've been too successful, and we're artificially going to
place this barrier so that it's going to hurt you.
It's not just farmers and ranchers that it affects.
Mrs. ROBY. It's all businesses.
Mr. GARDNER. It's all businesses. That's right.
Mrs. ROBY. But the problem with our farming communities is that they
are, in a lot of instances, they own a lot of land. So they have wealth
when it comes to land ownership, but they may not have the cash. And so
when the government comes along to tax the farm upon the death of a
parent that wants to pass it down, they've got to sell the farm to pay
the tax, and that's where our farmers lose out every time.
And there are numerous other businesses throughout this country where
they may be cash poor. They may have some assets but they may be cash
poor, and so they end up having to sell it off in order to pay the
government for that company's success.
Mr. GARDNER. And you mentioned it, too. It's not just about cash in
the bank. It's not just about how much money you have. It's about the
assets that you have. And so your example where you may be cash poor
but still hit this line, I think, is compelling to not only the farmers
and ranchers, but you're right, to small businesses around the country
who may own a restaurant, who may be trying to expand a sand and gravel
operation, but they're going to be hit by this estate tax, which means
they've got to sell, break it up, and not be able to pass it on.
Mrs. ROBY. You just add our lack of tax reform, which we so
desperately need, and I know that we are committed to that here in the
House majority. We do have a plan that we've set out as it relates to
those reforms. We know that American businesses are faced with an
unbelievably complicated and cumbersome Tax Code, combined, over 30
percent on businesses, not to mention the problems with the estate
taxes. It makes the U.S. the second highest corporate tax rate among
developed nations in the world. So the U.S. Federal rate is 35 percent.
It's nearly 10 percentage points higher than our other competitors.
That, on top of all of the other issues that we've highlighted.
I mentioned the manufacturing jobs. I don't know about you, but I get
this question all the time: Where have all the manufacturing jobs gone?
People always highlight that we just chase these jobs offshore. And
it's because we have created this environment in which business owners
don't have a choice. If they're going to turn a profit, they have to do
what is the benefit for their family to make that hard-earned dollar.
I remember hearing a colleague give an example. He was sitting on an
airplane next to a guy that made things. He made things, he produced a
product, and he wanted to make them in the United States of America.
But when it came down to it, the bottom line--he thought he was going
to open his plant right here, but when it came down to it, they hadn't
taken into account the corporate tax rate and the difference between
that and the next country where they could manufacture his product.
{time} 2030
That sealed the deal. They are not manufacturing in the United States
because of the environment in which we have.
Mr. GARDNER. So you have got a government policy that actually is an
impediment to job creation here. A company trying to bring jobs back
in, but because of the cost of doing business here is so much higher
than elsewhere, they had that unfair choice of how are they going to
make things work, how are they going to be successful.
Mrs. ROBY. I was going to say in June for the first time in 44
months, small businesses cited taxes, taxes above poor sales as the
single most important problem that they are facing today. Taxes.
Mr. GARDNER. We talked about solutions when it comes to regulations.
We've talked about the REINS Act. But here again with taxes, we have
come up with solutions. We have voted to make sure that the estate tax,
the death tax, doesn't come back in at those lower exclusion numbers
breaking small businesses around the country. We've made sure that we
avoid the massive tax increases that loom, once again, at the end of
this year on families, middle class families. Thousands of dollars for
middle class families around this country increase in taxes if nothing
is done, and that's why the House of Representatives has passed a
measure to make sure that those taxes don't increase, to make sure that
we are making it easier for people to keep more of their own money so
they can invest it in their families, so they can invest it into job
creation, in their businesses.
If this Congress adopts the President's plan, if this Congress does
nothing, hundreds of thousands of small businesses around this country
are going to see tax increases like we've never seen before. Tax
increases will make it more difficult for them to make ends meet. And
that's why the House has acted to make sure that we are dealing with
the fiscal cliff to make sure that we are not making it more difficult
in this country to succeed.
Mrs. ROBY. Absolutely. Again, by virtue of a comparison, with the
President's proposed tax hike, deficits would still total 6.6 trillion
over the next 10 years according to his own budget. But by comparison,
our budget, the House Republican budget, would reduce deficits compared
to his by 3.3 trillion while lowering taxes on small businesses and
spurring economic growth. That's the difference.
Mr. GARDNER. Well, and I think that's the key, actually, as you
mentioned, spurring economic growth. And we can talk about what happens
to our economy with this policy or this legislation. But the bottom
line is we've got to address that debt and deficit and only economic
growth, long-term economic growth, is going to help us address our debt
and deficit situation, but a high debt and deficit make it impossible
for long-term economic growth.
So you have kind of got a circular problem here that for whatever
reason the United States Senate, the President, hasn't taken seriously.
And just talk a little bit about the summer of recovery that was
supposedly going to occur a couple of years ago after a trillion
dollars was spent on the stimulus, money that went to companies like
Solyndra that went bankrupt and the United States taxpayers are going
to be out over half a billion dollars because they'll never get repaid.
[[Page H5758]]
You've got the stimulus bill that was supposed to lead to the summer
of recovery, and yet here we are with 43 straight months of
unemployment at or above 8 percent. Now, the American people know that
even that number is not right because they know that maybe they have
got a job that is only part time or maybe they are working full time
but certainly not at the level that they know is to their full
potential. It certainly makes it more difficult for them to meet the
needs of their families. So that 8.3 percent number doesn't even count
the people who've given up looking for work, doesn't even count the
number of people who are underemployed.
So, the fiscal cliff, you've got millions and millions of Americans
out there knowing what this Congress refuses to do, and that is if
Congress will act to adopt these jobs bills that we've passed over to
the Senate, if Congress will adopt the House budget that actually puts
this country on a road and path to growing the economy, to preserving
and protecting the promises that we have made to future generations,
that number is going to come back down. It's not going to be 8.3, 8.1
percent. It's going to be lower. Millions of people will be back at
work because of the bills and legislation that this body has passed,
most with bipartisan support.
Mrs. ROBY. You know, to use the President's words again, because
these are direct quotes, so let's look at a couple of things.
Last April, President Obama said, ``We have to live within our means,
we have to reduce our deficit, and we have to get back on a path that
will allow us to pay down our debt.'' That was the President just last
April.
But also I want to make sure that there is no misunderstanding. This
is the President's own words in February of 2009: ``I am pledging to
cut the deficit by half by the end of my first term in office.'' And I
know we are kind of circling back to how we began this hour tonight,
but since the President has taken office, our national debt has
increased by $5.3 trillion.
Mr. GARDNER. And 5.3 trillion, now, I think there's a statistic out
there that shows that that's more money than the amounts of money spent
by or the deficits between George Washington and Bill Clinton
combined--or maybe it's George H.W. Bush. The fact is, we've never seen
a period in our Nation's history where unemployment has been matched by
a failure to recognize the needs of the American people, where debts
are allowed to skyrocket, where you can say on TV one thing, pledge to
the American people that you will cut the deficit in half, and then the
next thing you know it's up by $5 trillion.
Maybe the question isn't are you better off today than you were 4
years ago, but maybe the question ought to be are you better off today
than you were $5.3 trillion ago?
Mrs. ROBY. Well, your son can attest to that because he's 10 months
old and already owes, his share is, what, $51,000 at 10 months old. You
know, we both have young children and this is why we are here. We're
here for them because we want this country to be as great for your
children and mine and all America's children and grandchildren and
generations to come. And quite frankly, it is horrendous that we would
leave this situation on their backs.
We keep hearing about balancing the budget on the backs of the middle
class. How about spending massive amounts of taxpayer dollars on the
backs of my children and my children's children. This is where the
future of this country is dependent, and if we don't get serious about
this now, why wait? Why are we waiting until November? Why is the
leadership in the Senate waiting until after the election to take on
problems that are serious now?
As you said before, the clock keeps ticking up. The debt keeps
accumulating between now and November. It's not like the 16 trillion is
just some arbitrary number. I mean, it's a huge number, but it doesn't
stand still. It's going to continue to increase.
As I explained when I am in town halls about the debt ceiling, the
debt ceiling is like calling your credit card company and saying to
your credit card company, ``I need you to increase my credit limit
because I don't have any cash to pay you the interest on what I already
owe, on the debt I already owe.'' That's where we are. And that's on
the back of Margaret and George and your children and all of those
other children and grandchildren of Americans. As you can tell, as a
mom it makes me upset, and that's why we're here.
Republicans in the House majority have taken action on a number of
things that have already been mentioned tonight: we've repealed the
government takeover of health care. Ride down the road in any district
in this country and talk to a small business owner about that, and you
will find out very quickly that they're either going to be close to
being out of business or they're going to go out of business completely
if this law is fully enacted.
{time} 2040
We have stopped massive tax increases here in this House that one
independent analysis said could destroy more than 700,000 jobs--you
highlighted that earlier. We have replaced these indiscriminate
spending cuts from sequestration with commonsense solutions by calling
on, again, our friends in the Senate whose budget reconciliation--it's
hard to do that if you don't have a budget--but through budget
reconciliation, through commonsense cuts instead of just across the
board, and rein in this wasteful government spending. And with the 30-
plus bills that you and I have highlighted some portion thereof in this
discussion tonight that are sitting collecting dust in the Senate, all
30 of these jobs are job-creating, energy-producing bills that are
sitting in the Senate collecting dust.
Mr. GARDNER. You talk about those bills, the regulations that we've
passed. You talk about the things that we have done to avoid the fiscal
cliff, the things that we have done to avoid sequestration. There's a
word that's been missing that we haven't used tonight: leadership. It
takes leadership to address these issues. That's what we have provided
through so many of these bills that we have talked about--leadership to
make sure that hundreds of thousands of small businesses don't have
their taxes increased; leadership to make sure that farmers and
ranchers can continue their operations without worrying about a death
tax that will prevent them from passing on their land to the next
generation; leadership to make sure that the sequestration is carried
forward. Yes, we reduce spending, but we do so in a more responsible
fashion, a way to make sure that we don't jeopardize the ability of our
men and women in uniform to defend our country and to protect
themselves.
I want to talk a little bit about the issue of sequestration because
that's something that we haven't met. And the issue of leadership, once
again, crops up. It just keeps coming forward where the House has led
and we hear crickets from the other side of town.
The American people, I don't know if they were following what
happened with the White House just this past Friday. Last week, the
White House announced that it will miss the legal deadline for
delivering a report to Congress on the spending cuts from sequestration
that will take effect in January. Now, we hear a lot of complaints
about, well, the Congress hasn't done this and the Congress hasn't done
that, but here's a law that says you've got a deadline to present your
ideas for leadership to the American people. And I guess it must have
been too tough because they're not going to comply with it--they didn't
comply with it.
Mrs. ROBY. Well, and you will see, again, further action from
leadership here in the House on that, calling on the President to
outline exactly what this is going to look like. And like you said, he
hasn't. It's just one more on the list of uncertainties for job
creators.
I see our colleague and our friend, the gentleman from Kansas, has
joined us. Certainly feel free to jump in here.
Mr. HUELSKAMP. I appreciate the opportunity. Just like my colleagues,
I've spent a little time in the real world. Some call it a recess; for
many of us it was time to go back home. I admit in this job, I'll admit
that I would much rather not be here and be at home. But what I heard
at home is many of the same things that my colleagues are saying
tonight: Washington, can you get your act together? In this Chamber, we
passed many, many things that would hopefully improve the economy, but
one thing that
[[Page H5759]]
seems to be on the mind of my colleagues is pretty clear.
Times have changed. I know some of my colleagues have been here a
while, and they think that perhaps in the White House it's the same
old, same old. But when we hit the $16 trillion mark for debt, that
raised another red flag about what's going on in Washington.
I am a Republican. My colleagues tonight here are Republicans as
well. We're not going to say it's a Democrat problem; we're not going
to say it's a Republican problem. At the end of the day it is a
Washington problem: it's the fact that we can't get our act together
here in Washington. We can vote in here to free up job creators. We can
vote in here to roll back regulations. But at the end of the day, we
have $16 trillion of debt.
Like my colleagues, I have young children. I have four young kids.
Each one of them, they've done nothing wrong yet--they do a few things
wrong, I catch them every day at that--but through no fault of their
own, they've got $15,000 they're going to owe on some spending that's
already happened before my freshman colleagues and I arrived at this
place--$15,000, and it is growing every day.
Under this President, trillion-dollar deficits have become the new
norm. The last year of the previous administration, $452 billion of
deficits in 1 year, I think the President, then Senator, was bemoaning
the fact of what a dastardly amount that was, and here we have doubled
and tripled that amount, and each year for the last 4 years added over
$5 trillion of debt. You know, that adds up.
My constituents always keep saying, well, I can't quite understand
what's a million, a billion, a trillion. It's pretty hard to explain to
them--they don't understand a billion. But for the last 3\1/2\ years,
this President, this town--Washington--has added $3.5 billion of
borrowing every single day, 3\1/2\ years for $3.5 billion. That's
unsustainable, and they want us to solve this problem.
But again, when folks like us gathered here see and hear the concerns
of Americans that we have a spending problem--it's not a revenue
problem. If it was a revenue problem, we simply would let off the gas
pedal a little bit on regulations and we would take care of that.
Everybody knows that. Every job creator comes to me and says, Tim, I'd
like to invest more. I was visiting with a businessman who owns a
packaging company--American Packaging in Hutchinson, Kansas. He said,
Tim, I employ 43 employees--and by the way, he did build it--I employ
43 folks. When my father-in-law bought this business in 1987, there
were five people employed here. And you know what, Tim, here's what I'd
like to do: I'd like to hire two more people. Here in Washington, two
more people doesn't add up to anything, but for two families in
Hutchinson, Kansas, it would mean the difference between paying college
tuition for their kids, whether or not they are able to update their
used car, or whether they would be able to make the mortgage or down
payment on their house, or whether they might even go on a vacation.
That's the difference here.
Today, we have 23 million Americans--just like the two in
Hutchinson--that don't have a job or are looking for more work. And
Tony at American Packaging says this, he says: Just give me some
certainty. Tell me what the rules are going to be, whether it's the tax
uncertainty that happens at the end of the year--I'm sure it's been
described here. If nothing changes, if Washington doesn't get its act
together, if the President doesn't step up to the plate and help us,
we're going to have the single largest tax increase in American
history--and I dare say in the world's history--happen at the end of
the year if we don't get help from the administration, if the Senate
Democrats are not willing to provide certainty on taxes.
In addition, we have the regulatory uncertainty that's been
discussed. We'll have the health care uncertainty. The provisions of
ObamaCare are rolling in. Small businesses like Tony's do not know,
what do we have to cover? I don't want to hire two more people because
I might be fined if I can't provide for them. It's that type of
uncertainty that says, you know what? I can invest, I'd like to make
some money--and the businesses are there not just to create jobs;
they're actually there to make a profit for the owners and to perform a
service for the public. They're not here to work for Washington. But
that's actually what does happen if you let the free market and free
enterprise system work.
I had a video where Tony spoke. And I must say what shamed me the
most was the response from our local newspaper--that was actually, I
believe, fronting for this administration. Because Tony talked about
the fact that he and his father-in-law built this business, and the
newspaper said: No, you didn't build that business; the Government
played a key role in making that happen. You know, the government
wasn't there with his father-in-law when he hired employee six,
employee seven, employee eight. They weren't there. They didn't take
the risk. Now we have this whole town wants to take credit, including
this President, every time someone hires a new person. But they don't
take credit or they don't take fault for the fact that millions of
Americans have quit looking for work in the Obama economy.
And it won't be perfect under any President. It never is. Washington
can't dictate how an economy ebbs and flows. What I trust in, though,
is the American people and American businessmen like Tony that say,
hey, I would like to invest, Tim; just give me the certainty to do so
and hire two more folks. It doesn't mean anything, again, in
Washington, but it means something in the real world. So I appreciate
my colleagues being here.
One of the things that the newspaper did mention--actually, it was a
taxpayer-funded college professor--he said, you know, I just want to
let you know that the free enterprise system is a charade. Of course, I
guess if you work for a public university free enterprise might be a
charade. But this is the type of thought that invades many in the White
House. It certainly invades where this gentleman teaches. But the fact
is free enterprise is not a charade. What it is about is individuals
taking a risk, making decisions free from me, free from you, Cory, free
from Martha's demands, free to make and take those risks. That's how
the economy will continue to grow. That's how we will build the best
economy in the world. And that's the economy that's being threatened
with $16 trillion in debt.
Again, this is not our problem, it's not their problem; it's
America's problem to solve this. I think we're making progress in the
House, and we're going to continue to move forward.
So that's a little bit of what I've heard in my district about their
concerns about where we're going to head and where we need to head. I
have had town hall after town hall--about 140 town halls. And usually
at every town hall somebody comes up to me and says, Tim, I'm doing
pretty well--and my district actually is doing fairly well, despite a
massive drought which impacts Colorado as well.
{time} 2050
And we could talk about water all night, but we probably better not.
We're friends right now--just kidding.
But they come up to me and say, Tim, you know, I think I'm going to
do fine. I'm ready for retirement. A guy, 62, about, told me this the
last time, but I'm worried about what kind of America I hand on to my
children and grandchildren. And this current state of affairs, this $16
trillion, he says, I'm ready to do what it takes. I'm ready to keep
working a little bit longer, do a little more, make a little more
sacrifices, a little more investments, because I want a better country
than I was given, because my parents gave me a better country than they
had and my grandparents did the same.
That's the type of promise. That's why I get optimistic. That's why I
like to go home, because that's what you guys hear at home as well as I
do. They're optimistic. They're hopeful about the future, despite
what's going on here in Washington, D.C.
Mr. GARDNER. And the gentleman from Kansas and I share a common, we
share the border, eastern Colorado, western Kansas. And so many of the
challenges that my farmers are facing your farmers are facing. And
you're right, we won't get into water tonight. We'll save that for
another day, another time. But the fact is we could both use more of
it. And the way we
[[Page H5760]]
can use more of it is we store more water. Yet we have policies that
are keeping us from storing more water, adding yet to the uncertainty
of our farmers and ranchers who desperately need it.
And so whether it's the tax increases that we see at the end of this
year, if nothing is done, the estate tax, income tax rates, capital
gains rates, and you mentioned that this isn't just a big tax increase.
This isn't just a large one for the United States. This is the largest
we've ever seen, not only in the United States, but around the globe.
Mr. HUELSKAMP. Fifty-five percent death tax. I mean, that's the one
that hits the heart of my small businessmen and -women. And they're
trying to hand on their business to their children or their
grandchildren or someone else they choose, and government's going to
come in and grab up to 55 percent of that estate, and that impacts
farmers and ranchers in particular, and many other small businesses.
The very heart of economic recoveries in this country have always
been driven by small business. It isn't the folks that hire a thousand
people at a time. It's the ones that take--add one person, or take a
part-time person to full time. And that's what I'm hearing at home, and
they're frustrated. But they're ready to roll up their sleeves and go
to work, and they expect Congress and Washington to do the same.
Mr. GARDNER. You mentioned optimism for the country, and I carry the
same optimism, too, because the people that we work for believe that
this continues to be the greatest Nation on the face of this Earth. If
we have Congress, if we have Washington that's actually getting its job
done, that will pass the regulations to make it easier to do business--
excuse me, to repeal the regulations in this country to make it easier
to do business, to make sure that we don't increase taxes to hurt their
small businesses, better days are still ahead of us.
Mr. HUELSKAMP. Oh, tremendous days are ahead of us. They say, hey,
just stop doing a little of what you're doing. I'll even admit it. Some
of them even say, you know what, what's there right now, as much as I
don't like it, if you could just keep it the same. Two years. Give us a
breather. Give us a moratorium. We'd like to roll them back, but give
us a moratorium, some certainty on taxes, on regulations, on health
care, and, Tim, we'll take care of your revenue problems. We'll do it
for you.
Mrs. ROBY. The only thing that we all can agree on is that the only
thing that is certain is that uncertainty; and to hear the consistency
in all of our experiences back home, it's astounding to me why we
cannot--why the President and the leadership in the Senate cannot see
this, because if they're really listening to the same Americans that
you and I are listening to, they would hear the same message that we've
brought to the floor tonight.
Mr. Speaker, the choice for the President and the Senate is very,
very clear. It's either political paralysis that leads to certain
economic catastrophe, or bipartisan leadership that puts us on a path
towards prosperity.
And I would just ask that they keep in mind a few people. Remember
who this economy has hit the hardest. You've heard stories tonight in
this hour of those business owners that have said just that.
Remember the moms at the grocery store that are trying to put food on
the table for their family or gas in the car to get to their one or
maybe two jobs.
Remember the young people, the recent graduates that we've talked
about that can't find a job; and half of them in the class of 2012 are
unemployed and they are drowning in debt.
All of these groups, all of these groups, they deserve leadership out
of Washington, not lip service.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
____________________