[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 175 (Wednesday, December 11, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H7632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  ADDRESSING CHALLENGING FISCAL ISSUES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Reed) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. REED. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight a framework I have 
designed which will begin to address the challenging fiscal issues we 
face as a Nation. This proposal is to deal with the impending debt 
ceiling crisis that will be coming upon us in February or shortly 
thereafter.
  I am pleased to hear recent news today of a budget agreement dealing 
with a potential government shutdown resolution that avoids governing 
by crisis, but we have the debt ceiling issue right behind. What I have 
put forth, Mr. Speaker, is an honest, sincere proposal consisting of 
three steps to reduce our spending on the Federal level, address our 
Nation's broken Tax Code, and ensure the solvency of Social Security 
and Medicare.
  Mr. Speaker, I outlined the proposal in a letter sent to the 
President on November 15 of this year, and that letter reads:

       Dear Mr. President,
       It is time. As I have expressed before in writing to you 
     and members of your administration, I am very interested in 
     working with you in a bipartisan manner to implement long-
     term solutions to America's debt problems. Our impending debt 
     crisis and threats to the solvency of Social Security and 
     Medicare must be solved now before they reach catastrophic 
     levels. I urge you to work with Congress to achieve a long-
     term solution. As such, I would like to take you up on your 
     public offer to discuss ideas and implement solutions that 
     will no longer force us to govern through crises, cliffs, or 
     shutdown deadlines.
       On October 16, 2013, you stated you are ``Willing to work 
     with anybody . . . Democrat or Republican, House or Senate 
     Members on any idea that will grow our economy, create new 
     jobs, strengthen the middle class, and get our fiscal house 
     in order for the long term.'' To that end, I submit the 
     following honest proposal which I truly believe will take a 
     small but significant step forward toward more responsible 
     governance. Also, I hope it might change the culture of 
     Washington, D.C., to an environment where good policy 
     triumphs over politics.
       As you can see, the honest proposal is a multistep vision 
     and plan summarized as follows:
       Step 1, raise the February 7, 2014, debt ceiling limit in 
     an amount equal to the total CBO score of spending 
     reductions, reforms, and removal of waste, fraud, and abuse 
     within government operations that have already been 
     identified and supported on a bipartisan basis. Attached, 
     please find a list of $573 billion of such government reforms 
     and spending reductions already identified to date.
       Step 2a, upon completion of step 1, we will then move to 
     step 2. In step 2, what we would propose is votes in the 
     House and Senate on their respective visions for 
     comprehensive tax reform and also for reform of our 
     entitlement programs to ensure their solvency for another 
     generation would occur. If those votes occur in the House and 
     Senate, there would be automatic relief of the debt ceiling 
     cap for an additional year.
       And then we would move to step 3, Mr. President. Step 3 
     would essentially say, if in the House or the Senate we enact 
     either one of those long-term solutions through our Tax Code 
     or through our entitlement crisis with our Social Security 
     and Medicare insolvency coming down on us, we would 
     immediately, in step 3, relieve the debt ceiling for an 
     additional 2-year period of time. This would mean, Mr. 
     President, the debt ceiling restraint would no longer impact 
     your administration as it would be automatically extended 
     beyond the end of your administration's term.
       I kindly request you review this proposal and then meet to 
     discuss how it can be improved and implemented. To me, this 
     is an honest proposal which will put Americans first and 
     begin to address the pressing issues of our day. We have 
     major debt issues that cannot wait any longer. Our arcane Tax 
     Code stifles economic growth, and the fiscal health of Social 
     Security and Medicare is worsening beyond control. If we 
     solve these two challenges, we will place our children and 
     grandchildren and our Nation's finances in a far better 
     position than where they are now projected to be. To me, this 
     adheres to a fundamental rule that we must pass America on to 
     our next generation in a better condition than which we found 
     her.
       I look forward to hearing your thoughts and working with 
     you to prevent the dire consequences of failing to address 
     these challenges.

  Mr. Speaker, I have yet to receive a response from the President, not 
even a courtesy response so I know it was received and not lost in the 
mail between my office in the Longworth Building and the White House, 
less than 2 miles away.
  So I take to the floor of the House today to have my proposal 
officially recorded and to lay out this framework to get our Nation on 
a path of fiscal sustainability, to get our American fellow citizens 
back to work by fixing our Tax Code, and solving the entitlement crisis 
that is impending upon us.
  With that, I ask us to join in this proposal and ask the President to 
join us in a bipartisan manner to address these concerns.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their 
remarks to the Chair and not to a perceived viewing audience.

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