[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 22, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S26-S27]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CHALLENGES AHEAD
Mr. COATS. Mr. President, I appreciate the remarks of the minority
leader, and I think he essentially gets to the point all of us, in this
first week for the 113th Congress, need to be focused on and need to
address. This is our first workweek back after the inauguration
festivities of yesterday, and I think it is an appropriate time for the
Members of this body to discuss the challenges that lay before us over
the next 2 years.
The most critical and, in my opinion, the most pressing of these
challenges is one we have been dealing with for the past 2 years and is
now of even more critical importance, and that is the out-of-control
government spending that weakens the health of our economy, threatens
the security of our country, and jeopardizes opportunities for future
generations.
When I arrived here 2 years ago, it was clear the American people
were
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concerned about out-of-control Federal spending. At the beginning of
the President's term 4 years ago, the debt limit stood at $10.626
trillion plus. In the 4 years of that term, it has risen to over
$16.400 trillion--nearly a $6 trillion increase.
It is unprecedented in the history of our country to have such out-
of-control spending. It has resulted in our borrowing a very
substantial amount of each year's budget, which is not healthy whether
you are a family or you are a business or you are a State government or
you are the Federal Government. The chickens will come home to roost if
we continue to do that.
Each American's share of our national debt now is well over $50,000.
That means every new baby born in this country instantly owes the
government more than $50,000.
We have had 4 straight years of trillion-dollar deficits without a
budget in this body. The minority leader just talked about that.
Hopefully, we will finally have a budget to work off of and a budget
for which we can look at what the priorities are and make tough
decisions about how we spend taxpayers' money.
We currently spend over $40,000 a second. These are not partisan
numbers, and this should not be a partisan issue. These are the facts.
As our former Governor in Indiana, Mitch Daniels, said: Just do the
arithmetic. This is not a deep philosophical or ideological issue. It
is a matter of basic math.
With financial problems as great as these, it is my hope as we return
now to this 113th Congress we will be able to address this fiscal
crisis. It is the same hope I had 2 years ago when I joined the 112th
Congress. As we know, we went through a series of efforts to begin to
address this problem. Many of those were on a bipartisan basis--we had
the Gang of 6 and then we had the supercommittee of 12. These were
bipartisan efforts. Many of us worked with our colleagues across the
aisle to try to put a grand bargain together. Of course, the President
had his own commission led by Mr. Bowles and former Senator Simpson. He
rejected that. The Simpson Bowles proposal would have been a good
blueprint upon which to begin our discussions. I will be talking some
more about that and the disappointment--the extreme disappointment--of
Mr. Bowles and Mr. Simpson in terms of the inability of this body to
address what has been predicted as the most predictable financial
crisis in our Nation's history.
We went through this whole process of the fiscal cliff. We,
unfortunately, had to pick the lesser of two evils in order to protect
nearly 99 percent of taxpayers from drastic tax increases, starting
with the lowest to the highest taxpayer. The fiscal cliff deal may have
allowed the President to fulfill his campaign promise to raise taxes on
millionaires and billionaires, but it did little or nothing to address
excessive Federal spending.
So the debate now shifts. The President got his taxes. With revenue
off the table, the debate shifts to where it needs to be and should
have been in the first place; that is, addressing spending reductions.
Just last week Fitch Ratings warned that America's AAA credit rating
is at risk if the Congress and the President increase the debt limit
but fail to enact a ``credible medium-term deficit reduction plan.'' We
can expect to see more headlines like this if we do not come together
and take action to deal with our country's debt obligations.
In the coming days and weeks I will be speaking in this Chamber and
outlining what I believe are rational steps we need to take to get our
fiscal house in order. The easy thing to do, and the way Congress has
operated over these past 2 years, is to look at our fiscal situation
and say: Well, we have more time; or we can deal with this after the
next election. While I thought that was exactly the wrong tactic to
take, that is what happened. There were a series of efforts, but each
one ended up so-called kicking the can down the road or postponing the
day of decision.
This is the day of decision. This is the hour of decision. This is
the time when we have to step up now and address our out-of-control
spending. We have had that next election. The President has been
reelected for 4 years. Members have been reelected. We have this
challenge now in front of us. Continuing with the status quo, governing
by a crisis, and failing to address our spending problem must be
unacceptable.
Mr. President, 2013 is the year. In 2014 we are back in another
election. We all know the precious 6 to 9 to 12 months that lay before
us is the time--postelection, with the President's reelection and new
Members here--this is the time we have to step up and address our debt
and deficit problem.
If we do not do so now, most experts who look at this, whether they
are liberal or conservative, nonpartisan or partisan, ideological or
nonideological, have virtually all come to the conclusion that unless
we address this now in 2013, with an election year in 2014, 2015 will
be too late.
We have seen what is happening in Europe. We see what is happening in
Japan. We see what is happening around the world--a world hungry for
America to lead, to address its problem, not by pushing it down the
road, not through avoiding tough decisions, but addressing the real
issue before us that impacts the future of this country and the future
of generations to come.
So now is the time, now is the hour of decision that we have to take
to go forward and address this problem. As I said, I will be using this
platform and others as a way to address what I believe we need to go
forward with, not only looking at the larger picture but also looking
at how this government spends way beyond its means, spends money that
it does not have, wastes money through bureaucracy and waste and failed
efforts, tries to do more than it should or could or is able, and I
want to document some of those--everything from the macro to the micro,
from the absurd to the bureaucratic to the necessary tough decisions,
particularly in regard to our entitlements that have to be addressed in
order to preserve and save those programs for not only current
beneficiaries but for future beneficiaries.
Mr. President, I appreciate the opportunity to begin this process,
and I think each of us must dedicate ourselves to the challenge that
lies before us. That challenge is dealing with our out-of-control
fiscal situation, that if not controlled will bring this country down
and continue this economic malaise that we are currently in.
With that, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Mexico.
Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that
the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
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