[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 160 (Wednesday, December 12, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7760-S7762]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            THE FISCAL CLIFF

  Mr. CORKER. Madam President, I notice the Chamber is empty today, and 
I guess most of us are waiting to see if there is going to be an 
arrangement made between the President and Speaker Boehner on our 
fiscal cliff that is coming up in just a few weeks. I know all of us 
want to see that happen. I think each of us knows the very best thing 
that can happen for the economy in New York or Tennessee or any other 
place is for us to get this behind us and for businesses to begin this 
next year knowing that Congress and the White House have worked out an 
arrangement to put this fiscal issue in

[[Page S7761]]

the rearview mirror. I know we are moving, hopefully--what we would 
like to do is move not just beyond the fiscal cliff but have a fiscal 
reform bill in place that is in the $4, $4.5 trillion range so we can 
at least for a period of time put this issue in the rearview mirror.
  So, Madam President, I want to tell you that I am hopeful that is 
going to occur. I know there have been a lot of discussions in our 
caucus, in the Acting President pro tempore's caucus about that 
happening. On the other hand, it is my understanding that these 
negotiations really are not moving along very rapidly. We only have a 
few weeks left in this year, and it is beginning to look as though, at 
a minimum, if there is an arrangement made, it is not going to be one 
of the size that all of us would like to see happen.
  I know one of the issues all of us have talked about is the middle-
income citizens in our country. I know at some point both Chambers will 
come to the rescue of 98 percent of the people in our country and pass 
some resolution dealing with the tax issues for 98 percent of our 
people. I would say, the sooner we do that, the better. Actually, that 
alone would move us beyond this fiscal cliff at year end. Again, I know 
there are a lot of discussions taking place in both Chambers about the 
best way for that to happen.
  But what I guess I am leading to is that it looks as though, based on 
where the negotiations are right now, this issue is going to move into 
next year and that we are still not going to be at the dollar amount I 
know the Acting President pro tempore has talked about and I have 
talked about and that we are still going to have this issue to deal 
with. As a matter of fact, what it looks like may well happen is that 
all we do this year is, hopefully, move beyond the fiscal cliff.
  I know over in the House there are discussions about, when do you do 
this? Do you do it on January the 3rd or do you do that in this 
calendar year?
  I would argue the very best way for us to deal with this would be to 
deal with it prior to year end and go ahead and take our responsibility 
seriously, make sure we rescue the 98 percent of the people in our 
country before year end so they go into the new year knowing that has 
been dealt with, and then there are other ways we can deal with the 
other 2 percent.
  I know in New York, for instance, $250,000 a year is not considered 
to be extremely wealthy. So it may be that we deal with the other 
machinations other than what has been laid out in public by the 
President. But I think we are going to deal with this issue.
  I wish to come to the debt ceiling. Everyone in this country knows 
what damage was done to our country when we pressed right up against 
the debt ceiling two Augusts ago. I do not want to see that happen 
again. I do think the arrangement that has been created between the 
White House and Congress during this fiscal dilemma, where we raised 
the debt ceiling by $1 for every $1 in cuts that are made--I think that 
is an appropriate arrangement for us until we get through this fiscal 
issue.
  Again, what I would rather see happen is that we just deal with that 
all right now, and we start off next year with people knowing that is 
done. Since it looks like every day that goes by, it looks like it is 
increasingly unlikely that is going to happen, I wanted to offer a 
proposal for the leadership of the Senate; that is, since it looks like 
the debt ceiling could be coming up early next year--as a matter of 
fact, it may coincide very closely with the continuing resolution. 
There are two, if you will, moments in time where we have to make big 
decisions for our country.
  I would offer that we go ahead and begin the process of the debt 
ceiling. I would make the proposal that the first roughly $1 trillion--
$900 billion to $1 trillion in raises in the debt ceiling are 
accompanied by $900 billion to $1 trillion in cuts in entitlement 
spending to actually cause those programs to be solvent. I think all of 
us want to make sure seniors in this country are protected. We know we 
have to make some adjustments to Medicare, Social Security, and 
Medicaid, which deal with the poor, to make sure these programs over 
time are solvent, are not a huge drain on the States that support them 
in the case of Medicaid.
  What I am saying is why do we not go ahead and get started. I know 
most of us did not particularly like the process last time, where 
basically these discussions took place in private and at the last 
moment we understood what the deal was. Then, after that, if you 
remember, we had a process, a supercommittee that was put in place, six 
Republicans, six Democrats, highly qualified folks. But they did not 
come to a resolution so we have ended up with sequestration.
  What I would propose is instead of doing things in private such, 
let's go ahead and address the issue now in regular order. What I would 
like to propose to the leadership of the Senate and offer to the House 
also is that since we know the debt ceiling is coming up and since none 
of us--none of us wants to jeopardize the credit rating of this 
country, I would propose we finish our work at least 1 month in advance 
of the debt ceiling needing to be raised.
  That way everyone in the world knows we have solved this problem. I 
would also propose we do it through regular order in the committee 
process so people can see how we are moving along. Are we making 
progress? Are we doing the things that are necessary to be able to 
raise the debt ceiling during this period of time when we have so many 
fiscal issues?
  My third suggestion is that 100 percent of the first raise all be 
oriented toward entitlements. We all are taught to lead by example. My 
daddy used to tell me: Son, never ask someone to do something you would 
not do yourself. What I plan to do over the next couple days is to 
offer a piece of legislation that would cut and reform Medicare, Social 
Security, and Medicaid by $900 billion to $1 trillion. I hope to do 
that over the next couple days, offer that as one suggestion as to how 
we raise the debt ceiling by $900 billion to $1 trillion.
  I know that again is going to be coming up in February or March. I 
know we are going to have the issue of the CR coming up. But if the 
President and Speaker Boehner are unable to come to an arrangement, I 
do not think there is any question that people around here are going to 
become very focused on the debt ceiling and certainly the continuing 
resolution.
  What I would say is let's get busy. Let's not wait until the last 
minute. Let's not have closed-door meetings. Let's work this through 
the committee process. Then, when the Senate passes their bill and the 
House passes their bill, let's have a conference and let's deal with 
the legislation that is necessary to make sure we continue the 
precedent that, by the way, the President set this last time with 
Congress; that is, for every $1 we raise the debt ceiling, we reduce 
spending by $1.
  We know this precedent is not going to continue forever. But I think 
that where we are in the country, we know we have tremendous fiscal 
issues. We have $16 trillion of debt right now, and it is rising. I 
know all of us know that is the No. 1 threat to our Nation. In fact, 
every developed country in the world knows the greatest threat to 
America and, candidly, to the world right now is our solvency. 
Economists on both sides of the aisle have said the greatest threat to 
our country is solvency.
  Let's face it. We are probably going to deal with the revenue at year 
end. We all know that. We can kid around, we can put our heads in the 
sand, but we know we are going to be dealing with a portion of the 
revenue issue at year end. At some point we have to rescue the 98 
percent. What I would say to my friends in the House is that, candidly, 
if we are able to rescue the 98 percent and then we dealt with the 
other 2 percent either with rates or by tax deductions--I am open to 
both, and we even protect the small businesses as so many people on 
both sides of the aisle have suggested--I would say to my friends in 
the House that the revenue figure that would accompany these changes is 
much smaller, candidly, than maybe the first offer that was made from 
the House to the President.
  This is actually a better way for those of us who believe spending is 
the issue. There is a better way to cause revenue to be at the 
appropriate mix level, if you will, in solving our fiscal issues. We 
have had a lot of talk about entitlement reform. Let me stop for a 
minute before I go there.
  People all over the world know this is the No. 1 threat to our 
country.

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Economists on both sides of the aisle know it is the No. 1 threat to 
our country. I think for that reason, what we have been doing is saying 
we are not going to voice vote debt ceilings any more. I know we have a 
lot of people on Wall Street and other places who talk about how the 
credit rating of our country is so important. Believe me, I know that 
well. I could not agree more. So the last thing we need to do again is 
to get in a situation where we wait until the last minute and the whole 
world is wondering whether we are going to default on our debt and 
people are all shaken up about where America is.
  I would say, since we know that if the President and the Speaker do 
not agree to a large deal, since we know the debt ceiling is likely to 
be the next event, if you will, the next forcing event that causes us 
to come to terms with the solvency of this Nation--the way I know the 
White House has said certain things about the debt ceiling, what we may 
want to do is make sure the CR and the debt ceiling stay tied together 
and working along together at the same time so we have both those 
forcing moments happening together.
  But in order to make sure we do not threaten the credit of this great 
Nation, let's go ahead and work now. As a matter of fact, what I am 
going to do in the next couple days is I am going to offer a bill to 
raise the debt ceiling of our Nation. Think about that. A Republican, I 
am going to offer a bill to raise the debt ceiling of our Nation. I am 
going to offer a bill that is going to raise the debt ceiling by $900 
billion to $1 trillion. I am going to offer that bill in December.
  The debt ceiling is probably not coming until maybe February or 
March. In order to raise that debt ceiling by that amount, it is going 
to be accompanied by entitlement changes in equal amounts. It is the 
same precedent the President and the Speaker agreed to last year and 
this body agreed to. I think we are going to follow that formula likely 
into this next year, unless there is a large deal announced soon.
  What I would say to other Members in the House: Look, I am just one 
Senator. I am just one Senator. There are other Senators here who 
certainly have as good or better ideas. So why do we not start the 
process of formally offering on the floor entitlement reforms. I would 
suggest that is the place we start. I mean, what we have done around 
here is we have done discretionary cuts. We created sequestration.
  At the end of this year, in some form or fashion, whether we 
embarrass ourselves and wait and go over the cliff in the next year or 
before this year ends, we are going to offer revenues. I do not know 
how anybody can believe revenues are not coming. What I would say to 
everyone here: Let's move to entitlement reform. That is the only 
thing, candidly, that has not been talked about in this debate.
  No one--no one--has offered publicly concrete entitlement reform in 
legislative language in the Senate. Nobody has done that in the House. 
That is what has been missing in this debate. In order to kick off this 
debate in what I consider to be an appropriate way, I am going to offer 
a debt ceiling increase bill. I am going to offer it in the next 24 to 
48 hours. I may offer it today.
  It is going to have dollar-for-dollar entitlement reforms. That will 
save this Nation from catastrophe and make sure seniors have these 
benefits down the road. What I would ask the leaders to do is to 
consider putting in place a process through regular order to consider 
these bills, to deal with the debt ceiling so we can do it way in 
advance and everybody can see the process and see the debate and watch 
our Nation function in an appropriate way so we get this done well in 
advance of the Treasury Secretary telling us the debt ceiling needs to 
be raised.
  Let me close by saying, the best thing that can happen to this 
Nation, even though it is odd, I have to tell you it is odd, is we turn 
on the television at night or we read the paper in the morning, we see 
where the President called Speaker Boehner or maybe Speaker Boehner 
called the President, and there is drama. None of us knows what is 
said. I have a pretty good idea.
  But our Nation is sitting here while this silly debate--here is the 
Senate, the greatest deliberative body in the world. What are we doing? 
We are hearing about the discussions on the telephone. By the way, if 
that solves the problem, I am all for it. I am all for a solution that 
comes that way. Candidly, I hope it is a big solution. I hope it is a 
$4\1/2\-trillion solution that they come to. But I am doubtful that is 
going to happen based on where we are today on December 12.
  So I am going to offer a debt ceiling bill to move us on. It will 
move us toward fiscal solvency. It will keep us from jeopardizing the 
credit of this Nation. We can move those things through regular order. 
I ask the leadership of the Senate, Majority Leader Reid, to hopefully 
set up a process soon. Because, candidly, we are probably going to need 
to drop debt ceiling bills soon, probably January 3, to make the dates 
that are necessary to actually raise our debt ceiling and not have the 
credit implications we had last August.
  I have been a little bit despondent about this process because it 
just feels as though things are not moving ahead in a way that we are 
going to be able to put this in the rearview mirror and start this 
year--this next year with tremendous economic growth because people 
know we have solved this problem. I have been despondent about that.
  But I woke this morning with almost a eureka moment thinking that, 
you know what, if they are not going to deal with this issue, we know 
we have to deal with the debt ceiling, we know we have to deal with the 
CR, there is great opportunity for all of us to put out entitlement 
reforms on the floor, for all of us to debate in committee and to pass 
legislation so, dollar for dollar, we can raise the debt ceiling way in 
advance of any time to cause any kind of credit problems for our 
country.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Maryland.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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