[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 22, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H2906-H2909]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             WEEK IN REVIEW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2013, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Gohmert) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  It may surprise some of my colleagues, I agree with so much of what 
was being said with regard to the cost of education and how we need to 
be very sensitive to that.
  I was concerned about the vote we were going to cast tomorrow that 
would prevent the interest rates from going up to 6.8 percent as 
they're going to do if this body does nothing. I was very concerned 
about it going up to 6.8 percent, and then I understood the proposed 
Republican bill that we are going to take up tomorrow will not let it 
go up to 6.8, but I was wondering why we didn't just leave it where it 
is. Let's just extend it.
  The Democrats set in motion, when they were in the majority, this 
situation where it was going to raise. And, actually, it was going to 
raise last year, and we voted a year ago to just extend the current 
rate for a year. As I've had members of my own leadership and whip team 
pushing me on the issue of wanting me to vote for the bill tomorrow, 
I've been trying to find out more and more about why is this provision 
in there. Why are we doing this? And it's very clear. Interest rates 
for student loans are going to go up to 6.8 percent if we do nothing 
because that's the law that was put in place.
  Well, I said, why can't we leave it where it is? And the explanation 
was given because the Democrats, in what they put together to pay for 
ObamaCare, actually were counting on, and they got CBO to count on, 
using the difference between the current rate and it going up to 6.8 
percent as the Democrats were counting on it having done.
  So, on the one hand, my friends express the same concern that I have 
about the interest rates jumping up that high, going dramatically to 
6.8 percent, and then, on the other hand, they were not explaining that 
the reason that it was going to jump up so high if we do nothing is 
because Democrats were counting on that as a way to help pay the 
massive billions of dollars that are going to be required for ObamaCare 
even though people are going to get less insurance, less care, and have 
less say about their care, it's still going to cost billions and 
billions more.

[[Page H2907]]

                              {time}  2050

  And, in fact, CBO has indicated, you know, gee, they originally 
scored it, let's see, over $1 trillion; and then the President called 
Doug Elmendorf over from CBO and explained, apparently, said something 
to him in the Oval Office because then when he went back, magically 
they were able to lower it under a trillion, as the President said it 
was going to cost.
  And then after it passed, CBO comes back, oh, you know what? We were 
right the first time. It's going to be more than a trillion, and then 
it was going to be 1.6 trillion. Others are saying it may be 2 
trillion. Who knows how much.
  But it's going to cost massive amounts more. There are going to be 
massive taxes, according to what the Supreme Court calls it. We didn't 
call it taxes, but that's what the Supreme Court said that the 
Democrats did when they passed ObamaCare without a single Republican 
vote. And they were counting on the increase, tremendous increase, the 
billions of dollars coming from increased interest on student loans 
rising.
  Now, if you go back just a little bit, well, why in the world is the 
government even involved in the student loan business anyway?
  We didn't used to be, as the Federal Government, a bank that just 
loaned people money on a regular basis. Well, when the Democrats were 
in the majority, they pushed through a bill that forced all lending 
institutions out of the student loan business, and the government took 
over the student loan business.
  Well, if this is going to totally cease to be a government that is of 
the people, by the people and for the people, and not moving toward 
tyrannical despotism, then we have to allow people to have private 
property, we have to allow the free market to reign, we have to allow 
individuals and banking institutions to make the loans.
  But oh, no, our friends across the aisle decided we're going to shove 
the free market out of the student loan business, and we're going to 
take over student loans. And we're going to set it at a low rate, but 
we're going to--it's going to go up, and we'll use the billions that 
come from that magical increase down the road to pay for ObamaCare. And 
that's how part of it, supposedly, was paid for.
  Well, one of the things I learned the hard way while our friends, the 
Democrats, were in the majority for 4 years, was that actually the 
first Congress they were in the majority, they passed a pay-as-you-go 
bill, or PAYGO they called it. I voted for it, and I got criticized by 
Republican leadership. Don't you know that they don't mean what they 
say? This doesn't mean--they're not really going to pay for anything. 
It's just a game.
  And I said, how would I not be for paying as we go? That's what their 
bill said.
  And then I learned the hard way on that because then I saw they 
really weren't serious about it because bill after bill came to the 
floor, and we said, but you put a rule in place it has to be paid for.
  Oh, but we're waiving the pay-as-you-go requirement on this bill.
  What about this other one? Well, we're waiving the pay-as-you-go.
  And so I was shocked to find out, apparently, our leadership, the 
folks that had been here for a longer period of time had already 
learned, and I learned a lesson the hard way.
  So the next Congress, when they came up with a pay-as-you-go bill, I 
said, are you kidding? You fooled me last time. I thought you were 
serious about it. I'm not going to vote for a bill that you have no 
interest in actually following through and doing what the bill says. 
I'm not going to vote for a bill like that. I'm not going to help 
participate in the charade.
  But when it comes to ObamaCare, they say, oh, it's paid for. And this 
is one of the magical ways that billions of dollars were projected by 
CBO to be produced. Well, they're going to do it on the backs of 
students.
  Well, we had control, the Republicans did, of the Congress in the 
previous 2 years; and a year ago we said, well, let's just keep it at 
the current rate and move it forward a year, and we'll do something a 
year from now.
  So, my Republican friends, when trying to persuade me to vote for 
this bill tomorrow said, look, the student loan rates will stay where 
they are for now, but, yeah, eventually they will go up some. But the 
good news is they won't go all the way up to 6.8.
  And I said, why do they go up at all?
  They said because we promised we're going to pay as we go and we 
meant it. But we're not going to go all the way to 6.8. So we'll 
actually have a shortfall we're going to have to come up with because 
the Democrats were counting on these billions of dollars coming off the 
backs of students to pay for ObamaCare.
  So, as all of this has become clearer and clearer to me tonight, 
well, earlier this, late this afternoon, this evening, I've been 
communicating back and forth with my staff. So we have a bill that my 
Democratic friends ought to be thrilled to death about, and we're going 
to file it first thing in the morning; and it ought to excite my 
friends across the aisle.
  And I know my own leadership has been wanting me to vote for this 
bill. But they say the reason the rates have to go up at all is 
because, under the budget previously done for ObamaCare, to pay for 
ObamaCare, the Democrats counted on this revenue. And so since we don't 
want to increase the deficit spending, we're going to have to let the 
rates go up a little bit, but we're not going to let them go up to 6.8 
as was originally put in place by our Democratic friends.
  So, anyway, what my bill will do that we'll file first thing in the 
morning is say, you know what, we're going to keep the current rates 
right where they are. And I hope folks will join me in encouraging my 
leadership to bring this bill to the floor, my bill to the floor, 
instead of the one we're going to vote on tomorrow. If we have to wait 
72 hours, fine. Let's do it 2 weeks from now. We've got the time.
  And my bill will leave the rates right where they are for a 2-year 
period. And since we don't want--number 1, we don't want the rates to 
go up for college students. We're sorry that the Democrats ever figured 
that in as part of the process of paying for ObamaCare.

  And since we don't want it to have to go up on the students, those 
who are having to borrow money to pay for college, then the way we keep 
from increasing the deficit spending in the bill I'll file first thing 
in the morning, we eliminate the ObamaCare slush fund, and the billions 
that are eliminated for the slush fund for ObamaCare will no longer 
have to come from the backs of young people who cannot afford to go to 
college without loans.
  That's the solution, and I hope my Democratic friends will hear and 
get word about this great bill, because I believe what they were 
saying. They're serious. Even though their party passed a bill that we 
refer to as ObamaCare, it's certainly not affordable care, but they 
passed that bill, by themselves, without any Republican votes because 
we knew how bad it was.
  We knew how much it was going to cost. We knew you wouldn't get to 
keep your insurance if you wanted it. We knew you weren't going to get 
to keep your doctor if you wanted. We saw all those terrible things 
that are now coming to pass.
  And it will prevent the ObamaCare slush fund, the money that's set 
aside in the ObamaCare bill. It'll just eliminate the slush fund, and 
say to the Democrats, you never should have had that slush fund, and 
you're not going to pay for it on the backs of those who can't afford 
to go to college without getting loans.
  Now, I did have to double-check with regard to this bill. I had to 
make sure that I wasn't going to be voting on something that affected 
loans that my wife and I are paying, our children's student loans, 
because before I ever ran for office as a judge, my wife and I had set 
aside enough money that was going to take care of our kids' college.
  But by virtue of running for office and taking a huge cut in pay, we 
ended up having to utilize that money for our family and for our girls 
and for expenses. And so my wife and I are paying our kids' student 
loans because I didn't want them to have to suffer with a bunch of 
student debt because their father felt a calling to go into public 
service.
  But it would not be appropriate for me to vote on a bill that 
affected the rates of loans that we're paying, and it is now quite 
clear that that's not the

[[Page H2908]]

case. The student loan bill that we're going to vote on, whether it's 
the one tomorrow or whether it's the one that I will file tomorrow that 
I would prefer that we do, either way, it will not affect one iota, not 
at all loans that are already in place, student loans. So I'll be able 
to vote.
  And, anyway, I've been whipping with my own team, undecided, and then 
later today was leaning no. And the more I found out, the more it's 
convinced me, we really should not allow the Democrats pushing through 
ObamaCare and the massive trillions of dollars that's ultimately going 
to cost to have any part of it forcibly borne by students, by young 
people that just want to better themselves by getting a higher 
education and having to get a loan to do it.

                              {time}  2100

  So I have taken the things my friends said to heart and I am counting 
on them to admit what they said, Mr. Speaker. I'm hoping they'll agree 
in the morning to cosponsor my bill so that they can be consistent with 
the things they promised. Now it does defund the ObamaCare slush fund; 
but since that was originally going to be borne on the backs of college 
students, I'm sure they don't mind that going away.
  With regard to taxes, let's face it, if the money costs the Federal 
Government an amount down here and they have an interest rate that's 
higher than the cost of the money that the Federal Government gets to 
loan to students, then the Federal Government is making money on that. 
And that's what the Democrats knew and that's why they counted on the 
higher interest rates to pay for ObamaCare.
  Anyway, hopefully, we can work together and get that accomplished. 
Let's face it, that kind of expense should not have to be borne 
because, really, it becomes a tax. It's new revenue for the Federal 
Government. And then I'm hoping before the end of the 2 years, if we 
would do my bill, we can do what should have been done in the first 
place, and that is get it back to the private sector where we become 
referees, again, as a Federal Government to make sure that neither 
lender nor borrower is cheating. That's what we're supposed to be. 
We're supposed to be a referee. Over the years, through both Republican 
and Democratic majorities, the government has continued to move from 
the realm of being a referee to being also a player and also the coach 
as well as the referee. And it's hard for anybody to ever compete 
against a player who's coached and refereed by the opponent. The 
government shouldn't be in that business of being adversaries, 
opponents, or competitors with the private sector. It shouldn't be.
  So I hope that we will get to a bill that puts all the lending back 
in the private sector where the Federal Government is no longer the 
lender. I hope we can do that with different kinds of insurance. Get it 
out of the Federal Government. Because, invariably, when the government 
controls everything, it's just what we've seen with the IRS scandals. 
You're going to have some abuses with people that would control all of 
your health care records, people that will make the decisions on what 
health care you get, people that can actually come in and take your 
home--the only people that can come in and take your home--the only 
people that can come in and seize assets without proper due process of 
the law: the IRS.
  It needs to be dismantled, and I hope we can do that. I hope we can 
get to a place where we're no longer the bureaucracy that becomes so 
autocratic that it could care less about people's personal feelings. 
Yes, people come here on the floor of the Congress and talk about 
people's personal feelings. But when you see the big, monolithic 
government that's just gotten so big, it doesn't care about people's 
feelings. It's hurting people right and left.
  Sure, the President has private sector leaders stand up and talk 
about how great ObamaCare was going to be. And now they have been 
finding out it's not going to be so great. You're not keeping your 
insurance; you're not keeping you're doctor. You're going to get less 
health care, you're going to get less insurance, it's going to cost a 
lot more.
  And with regard to the IRS scandal, we had Ms. Lerner come before our 
committee. I was in Judiciary. We were doing our own hearings on other 
matters. And I heard some of her statement about how she didn't do 
anything wrong and she's not guilty of anything. Well, as a judge and a 
chief justice who is very familiar with the Fifth Amendment, I've had 
to advise defendants, Now you understand if you say anything at all on 
your own behalf, you have waived your Fifth Amendment right and you 
will have to answer questions, and you will not be able to claim the 
Fifth Amendment.
  So what did Ms. Learner do today? She came in and said she didn't do 
anything wrong. She followed the law in all ways. Oh, she was just a 
paragon of virtue. Well, then she's waived her right to claim the Fifth 
Amendment before Congress, and she needs to be brought back up here and 
have that explained properly. You waived your right when you started 
telling us how virtuous you were. So now you're going to answer 
questions, because you can't have it both ways. You can't come in here 
and say to this Congress, I did absolutely nothing wrong. I violated no 
laws. I'm in no danger of having violated any laws. And then turn right 
around and honestly say, I'm not going to speak because what I say is 
going to tend to incriminate me. Well, it can't incriminate you if you 
didn't do anything wrong, so go ahead and testify. You started out, so 
go ahead and finish up.
  Sure, you can go out on the street and say, I didn't do anything 
wrong; but when you come before a court or Congress and say to that 
Congress, I didn't do anything wrong, or to a court, I didn't do 
anything wrong, you just waived your right. Now you're going to tell us 
what it was that you didn't do wrong so we can decide that for 
ourselves. So I hope she'll be brought back.

  We also had Mr. Douglas Shulman come in and testify. And what I was 
hearing as far as part of his testimony was, yeah, he knew about the 
illegality of what was going on, and he was trying to put a stop to it. 
And he knew that conservatives were being targeted. Well, let's face 
it, that means that this administration was using the IRS to help them 
win another election. Well, it worked. How far up into the 
administration is what we need to know. But I don't believe we're going 
to find out from people like Mr. Shulman, who went to the White House, 
he said, over a hundred times. And even though he's working for the 
President and even though he started out under the Bush 
administration--that's fine, we had people under the Bush 
administration that screwed up plenty of times, too--but he's working 
for President Obama, comes to the White House over a hundred times, 
knows there's wrongful conduct that's gone on at the IRS and never says 
a word.
  What did you go over a hundred times for? Well, I remember going for 
an egg roll. Well, guess what? If you went for an egg roll, the 
President was out there. He normally is for the Easter Egg Roll. You 
wouldn't even say something? That man should have been fired. We 
shouldn't have clowns that will work at the IRS know illegal activity 
is going on, go talk to their boss, go to the White House over a 
hundred times, and not even breathe a word of it so their bosses know. 
I wouldn't want somebody like that working for me. If there's illegal 
activity going on and you come see me over a hundred times, I would 
hope that during one of those times you would tell me this was going 
on. Because if you didn't, and I found out, you would be fired as soon 
as I found out. Ms. Lerner would have been fired as soon as we found 
out. But instead, what happens? Well, they plant a question so it comes 
out that way. So maybe the President will learn after we plant a 
question.
  Something is awry. Something is very, very wrong.

                              {time}  2110

  Having had thousands of criminal cases come before my court, come 
through my court, you smell when things don't pass the smell test, and 
this stinks to high heaven.
  So in the morning, I hope I'll have a whole list of Democratic 
colleagues that are ready to sign on to my bill so that we will keep 
the interest rates for the student loans where they are so that we 
don't push paying for the ObamaCare slush fund onto the backs of 
students. And we then get time to

[[Page H2909]]

put the student loan business back in the private sector so the Federal 
Government can be the referee and monitor the lending institutions and 
the borrowers, and be the referee. That's what we're supposed to be.
  As far as the IRS scandal, Mr. Speaker, I hope and pray some 
consciences are being bothered and hounded in the IRS and over Benghazi 
and over the AP scandal--the abuse of process there, the abuse of 
process in going after conservative reporters--that consciences will 
begin to be bothered and they won't be cleared until they come forward 
and say: I'm a whistleblower; I have got to get the truth off my chest. 
Let the chips fall where they may. That's what I hope and pray for.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________