[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 26 (Monday, February 25, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S800-S801]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE LONG-TERM DEBT REDUCTION

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, it has been 1,398 days since the Senate 
passed a budget. People wonder why we are lurching from one budget 
crisis to another one in Washington. The fact is this is not the only 
deadline that has been missed. This year the President failed to 
submit, by February 4, his proposed budget. But the truth is even last 
year when he submitted a budget, and it was voted on by the entire 
Senate, it received zero votes. In other words, it was not viewed as a 
reasonable and practical solution to the financial crisis that faces 
our country with $16.5 trillion in debt and 40 cents out of every 
dollar being spent by the Federal Government being borrowed from our 
creditors.
  Even before we reach the upcoming crisis which is known as the budget 
sequester--and I suggest most Americans would not consider a 2.4-
percent cut in spending to be a crisis, but even before we reach this 
next stage in the budget negotiations, we know President Obama has 
proposed the same old solution to every budgetary question; that is, to 
raise taxes even though on December 31, with the fiscal cliff 
negotiations, we saw the President get his pound of flesh when it came 
to spending, and that is $600 billion in additional revenue.
  But this does, indeed, seem like the Washington version of Groundhog 
Day.

[[Page S801]]

We know the President has rejected his own bipartisan fiscal 
commission's recommendations, the so-called Simpson-Bowles Commission 
recommendation, and he has rejected budget proposals put forward by the 
House of Representatives. Even though our gross national debt has gone 
up by nearly $6 trillion under his watch, and even though it is 
projected to go up another $9.5 trillion over the next decade, the 
President seems to be stuck on telling us it is only going to take a 
little bit more in taxes in order to solve the problem.
  The American people understand we do not have a revenue problem, we 
have a spending problem--spending money we do not have--and the only 
way to reduce our long-term debt burden is through reining in that 
spending. And not just the 39 percent of it which represents 
discretionary spending; we need to reform our entitlement programs, 
Medicare and Social Security, in order to preserve and to protect those 
programs for future generations. Yet when we try to enact spending cuts 
or entitlement reforms, the President, unfortunately, has resorted to 
shameless fear mongering.
  He is now warning that it will be the end of western civilization, or 
something like it, if we cut the Federal budget by 2.4 percent. When we 
consider that Federal spending has gone up over 19 percent since 2008, 
and when we consider how much inefficient and duplicative and downright 
wasteful spending there is in the Federal Government, it is hard to 
take this argument seriously.
  For example, no one should be talking about raising more taxes from 
the American people on top of the $600 billion that was extracted as a 
result of the fiscal cliff negotiations. No one should be talking about 
raising more taxes when the Federal Government made more than $220 
billion in improper payments over the last 2 years--that's right, $220 
billion in improper payments in the last 2 years--and this is just one 
example of costly government waste.
  The President does not appear to believe in the urgency of the 
moment. He does not appear to believe that our country is headed for a 
true crisis. We all know interest rates are at historically low levels 
at this time. If interest rates were to go up just 1 percent or 2 
percent more, for each percentage increase it would represent more than 
$1 trillion in additional interest we would have to pay on our debt. It 
is easy to see if interest rates were to go back up to historic norms, 
4 or 5 percent, that very quickly we would lose control of our 
financial system, and we would be able to do little more than pay 
interest on the debt and pay for Medicare and Social Security.
  Both Senate Republicans and Democrats have shown that they understand 
the nature of the crisis we have before us, but we believe it is 
imperative that we support a budget that reduces our long-term debt.
  The only way we can see a significant path forward to debt reduction 
is if the President joins us in these important negotiations. 
Unfortunately, so far, the President seems truly allergic to genuine 
bipartisan compromise.
  Until the Obama administration, virtually every landmark domestic 
policy change in American history was achieved with bipartisan support. 
We all understand that; it cannot happen any other way. For example, 
both the 1935 Social Security Act and the 1964 Civil Rights Act were 
signed by a Democratic President and supported by large majorities of 
Senate Republicans. The 1996 Welfare Reform Act signed by President 
Clinton was backed by every single Member of the Republican Senate 
caucus, along with the majority of Senate Democrats.
  Likewise, during the Reagan years, most Senate Democrats voted for 
the 1983 Social Security amendments, and a whopping 94 percent of 
Senate Democrats voted for the 1986 Tax Reform Act. Under President 
George W. Bush 84 percent of Senate Democrats voted for No Child Left 
Behind.
  In other words, Presidents have traditionally understood that reform 
and results take leadership and only then will bipartisan support 
follow. Yet the President seems to neglect this obvious fact and 
instead prefers to continue what seems like a perpetual campaign and 
knock down straw men rather than actually doing something about our 
skyrocketing debt.
  Real debt reduction will require Presidential leadership, the kind of 
leadership that President Clinton displayed in 1993 when he convinced 
47 percent of Senate Democrats and 40 percent of House Democrats to 
defy organized labor and support the North American Free Trade 
Agreement. Since then, U.S. trade with Canada has nearly tripled, and 
U.S. trade with Mexico has increased almost sixfold.
  My hope is that the President will ultimately show the kind of 
leadership we have seen throughout this Nation's history when we are 
confronted with big challenges. He has acknowledged the need for 
serious reform.
  I believe he understands the problem perfectly: We cannot preserve 
and protect Social Security and Medicare unless we deal with those 
programs now. Yet he has never acted on his words, instead choosing to 
engage in the perpetual campaign.
  As a result, Washington keeps spending money it doesn't have and 
saddling our children with more debt. Meanwhile our safety-net programs 
are spiraling toward a collapse that will leave the poor and elderly 
even more vulnerable. It is time for a change, and it is time for the 
President to take his rhetoric about debt reduction and turn it into 
real meaningful reform.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. King). The Senator from Pennsylvania.

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