[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

[[Page S27]]

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.

                          ____________________