[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 24 (Monday, February 10, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H1708-H1713]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS ADDRESSES RAISING DEBT CEILING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Smith of Missouri). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 3, 2013, the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Jeffries) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority 
leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
be given 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, once again it is an honor and a privilege 
to come to the floor of the House of Representatives and to anchor this 
Congressional Black Caucus Special Order in partnership with my 
coanchor, the distinguished gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford), where 
for the next 60 minutes members of the Congressional Black Caucus will 
have the opportunity to speak directly to the American people about an 
issue of great consequence and great significance for our country, for 
our economy, for our future, and for our well-being, and that is the 
debt ceiling.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, this is a Yogi Berra moment. It is deja vu all over 
again.
  Time and time and time again we have been forced to come to the floor 
of the House of Representatives and urge our colleagues on the other 
side of the aisle not to plunge this country into a painful default and 
risk the full faith and credit of the United States of America for the 
first time in the history of the Republic.
  Whenever we have been forced to have this conversation, we are always 
put into a position where we need to clarify what the debt ceiling is 
really all about because it has been subject to a lot of 
misrepresentation. The debt ceiling is not a forward-looking vehicle 
that is designed to give the President the opportunity to spend more; 
it is a backward-looking vehicle designed to give the President the 
opportunity to pay bills that the Congress has already incurred: bills 
that were incurred during the previous decade, bills that were incurred 
during the 8 years of the Bush administration during which time our 
good friends on the other side of the aisle were in control of both the 
House and the Senate, and we will go into that in greater detail as we 
move forward.

[[Page H1709]]

  Let's have an honest conversation about the realities that we face 
concerning the debt in this country, in excess of $17 trillion. There 
is reason for us to be concerned about it, but let's not manipulate the 
facts as to how we got ourselves into this situation.
  I am pleased that we have been joined by a very distinguished Member 
of the Congress and of the freshman class. In fact, we affectionately 
refer to him as the ranking member of the freshman class of the 
Congressional Black Caucus in the 113th Congress, and I am very pleased 
to yield to my good friend, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).
  Mr. PAYNE. I thank my colleagues, the gentleman from New York and the 
gentleman from Nevada for their continued leadership on these CBC 
Special Orders. I am honored to join them once again on a topic that is 
paramount right now in our Nation's history, and also a situation that 
we must deal with in a manner to keep this Nation moving forward.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my friends on the other side of the 
aisle to do one simple thing. It is something that we expect from every 
American, and every person in this country expects it from us. That 
simple thing I am asking for, Mr. Speaker, is for Congress to pay our 
Nation's bills on time. There should be no resistance, no strings 
attached, no threats of default. Americans deserve better than to have 
the full faith and credit of the United States of America held hostage 
so that some of my Republican colleagues can demand ransom for their 
radical agenda.
  Mr. Speaker, the full faith and credit of the United States is 
nonnegotiable, period. So I am urging this Congress to raise the debt 
ceiling swiftly and to do it with no strings attached.
  Only recently in our Nation's history has the debt ceiling been used 
as a reckless bargaining chip. In fact, since the great hero of the 
other side, Ronald Reagan, took office, the debt ceiling has been 
raised 45 times. It is nothing new, and it is nothing radical.
  Now the allegations put out there about what raising the debt ceiling 
will do to our deficit are misleading at best. The debt ceiling does 
not grow our deficit by one single dime. Rather, what it does is permit 
the government to pay what this Congress has already decided to spend. 
We had the credit card. We used the credit card. Now it is time to pay 
our Nation's bills and pay them on time.
  So, Mr. Speaker, raising the debt ceiling is in fact the fiscally 
responsible thing to do here. If we default, the cost to American 
families will be significant: 26 million Americans won't get their 
Social Security checks on March 3. I will repeat that: 26 million 
Americans will not get their Social Security checks on March 3.
  There are 1.5 million seniors, children, and disabled New Jerseyans 
who receive Social Security to help make ends meet, and many of them 
will not see their checks if this is not followed through.
  Nearly 4 million Americans may not receive their disability benefits, 
including 50,000 veterans in New Jersey. Now the other side of the 
aisle needs to take these things seriously. They talk about supporting 
veterans. They talk about supporting working families. They talk about 
all of these values, but if the debt ceiling is not raised, these 
families will not get the support and the benefits that they need to 
make ends meet. So, Mr. Speaker, it is incumbent upon the Members on 
the other side of the aisle instead of just talking the talk, walk the 
walk.
  New Jersey families will have to pay higher interest rates for 
mortgages, auto loans, student loans, and credit cards. Many families 
in my district already can't afford to send their children to college. 
A default would put a college education even further out of reach.

  I am hopeful that my Republican colleagues have learned their lesson 
from the last default threat in 2011 and from shutting down the 
government last year. The last time we threatened to default in 2011, 
the economy flew into a tailspin. Consumer confidence took a nosedive, 
and our credit rating was downgraded. Our economic recovery came to a 
screeching halt because of it. In an already fragile recovery, we 
cannot afford another possible meltdown of our economy.
  So I am urging my Republican colleagues to help try and set an 
example, hoping that they have learned their lesson from last year, 
when they shut down the Federal Government. Let's pay our Nation's 
bills on time, Mr. Speaker. If we demand this kind of responsibility 
from the American people, then we should demand it from ourselves.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey for 
walking us through some of the episodes that the American people have 
been subjected to as a result of the extreme behavior that has been 
articulated and enacted, in fact, as part of the agenda put forth by 
the majority over the last two terms.
  It is time, Mr. Speaker, to end the irresponsibility, end the 
recklessness, end the extremism, and end the brinksmanship so we can 
get back to doing the business of the American people with a fiscally 
responsible, sustainable course; but one that recognizes that here in 
this Congress, time and time again we have inflicted wounds on the 
economy and on the American people. We did it last spring in advance of 
sequestration taking effect. We were warned by independent economists 
that if you allow sequestration to take effect, $85 billion in random 
cuts spread out without reason across the economy, it would cost us 
approximately 750,000 jobs, but yet it happened.
  Then we were warned that it would be problematic if you allowed the 
government to shut down. Nonetheless, some people couldn't help the 
recklessness, the irresponsibility, the extremism, and so the 
government was shut down for 16 days. Standard & Poor's estimated that 
it cost us $24 billion in lost economic productivity.
  Yet here we are again, a Yogi Berra moment, deja vu all over again, 
confronting an unnecessary, manufactured crisis. Just lift the debt 
ceiling, consistent with what has happened time and time again across 
Democratic and Republican administrations.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield now to the coanchor of the CBC Special Order, 
the distinguished gentleman from the Silver State, my good friend, 
Representative Horsford.
  Mr. HORSFORD. I thank my good friend and colleague from the great 
State of New York, Mr. Jeffries, and for your leadership in anchoring 
this hour on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus, and to bring the 
American people into a very important conversation about what the House 
of Representatives should be doing as you talked about tonight, and 
that is, Mr. Speaker, raising the debt ceiling and averting another 
crisis.

                              {time}  2045

  We are here tonight to urge our colleagues on the other side to work 
with Democrats and the administration to pass a clean and swift debt 
ceiling expansion without delay.
  The Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Lew, emphasized in a letter to 
Congressional leadership last Friday that ``no Congress in our history 
has failed to meet that responsibility,'' and ``it would be a mistake 
to wait until the last possible minute to act.''
  Why should we act, Mr. Speaker? Why should we delay in acting? This 
Congress, unfortunately, being known as the ``do-nothing'' Congress, 
has failed to pass more bills than other previous sessions of Congress 
at a time when the American public expect their elected officials to 
work together to get things done. Under the leadership of the majority, 
fewer than 60 bills that have been passed by Congress have ultimately 
become law in the last year.
  Now we are here facing yet another self-imposed, self-inflicted 
crisis. As my colleagues, Mr. Jeffries and Mr. Payne, have said, this 
is nonsense. The American public is looking at Congress and saying, Do 
your job.
  The Treasury Department has made clear that it will exhaust all 
extraordinary measures in meeting our country's final financial 
obligations by February 27. The House--this House--is only in session 
for 5 more days between now and then, Mr. Speaker. That is why we are 
here to urge our Republican colleagues to act to raise the debt ceiling 
now, to do it swiftly, to do it without putting our country's full 
faith and credit of the United States at risk.
  As my colleagues have said, we have to raise the debt, and it is not 
for negotiation. Let us remember that the debt

[[Page H1710]]

ceiling has been raised 45 times since President Ronald Reagan took 
office. It doesn't grow our deficit by a single dime. All it does is 
allow the Treasury to pay for what this Congress has already spent and 
the obligations previous Congresses have already made on behalf of the 
United States.
  There has already been much talk about Speaker Boehner turning 
something that could be very simple into a hostage situation with 
sweeping concessions. I would hope that my Republican colleagues 
remember the damage that was caused the last time we debated increasing 
the debt ceiling. The fact that House Republicans are debating among 
themselves another demand to hold our full faith and credit of the 
United States hostage is outrageous.
  As we stated before, Mr. Speaker, House Democrats agree with 
President Obama that the full faith and credit of the United States is 
nonnegotiable. I stand with House Democrats in support of a clean debt 
ceiling increase that ensures the full faith and credit of the United 
States of America and avoids having this Congress play political games 
and brinksmanship. We have said it before and we will say it again: we 
should be representing the people's best interest, not punishing them.
  There are drastic implications to not passing this debt ceiling 
increase by February 27. I want to yield to my colleague, Mr. Jeffries, 
for us to be able to highlight some of these damaging consequences.
  I know in my home State of Nevada, it would mean an average increase 
in mortgage rates, leaving the average home buyer to pay an additional 
$100 a month, costing families $36,000 over the lifetime of a typical 
30-year mortgage. 85,267 Nevada residents took out a home mortgage or 
refinanced their existing mortgage in the past year. All of them would 
be subject to these increases in mortgage interest rates.
  So this is just one example of one State and the families that would 
be impacted. This is the type of impact that would happen across our 
Nation. The consequences are real. It is time for our colleagues on the 
other side to stop playing games, increase the debt ceiling, and meet 
our obligations.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman for 
pointing out some of the catastrophic consequences that the American 
people will be forced to endure if we fail to raise the debt ceiling 
and force a default and threaten the full faith and credit of the 
United States of America for the first time in the history of the 
Republic.
  I just want to go over some of the things that would be at stake as a 
few of my colleagues have already laid out, but it bears reemphasis:
  Social Security payments owed to the American people will be 
jeopardized by a failure to raise the debt ceiling;
  Veterans benefits will be jeopardized by a failure to raise the debt 
ceiling;
  Mortgage interest rates could increase as a result of a failure to 
raise the debt ceiling;
  Automobile loan interest rates could increase as a result of a 
failure to raise the debt ceiling;
  Credit card payments as a result of an increase in interest connected 
to debt that is held on American Express or MasterCard or Visa, or any 
of the other credit cards that the American people have, could increase 
as a result of a failure to raise the debt ceiling.
  This is not an esoteric concept. This is something that will have a 
real impact on the American people. That is why we need a debt ceiling 
increase consistent with what every Congress and every American 
President has done since the founding of this country.
  I want to read into the Record, and then perhaps have my good friend 
react to it, a Presidential letter that relates to this debt ceiling 
issue, and it reads in part:

       This country now possesses the strongest credit in the 
     world. The full consequences of a default--or even the 
     serious prospect of default--by the United States are 
     impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate. Denigration 
     of the full faith and credit of the United States would have 
     substantial effects on the domestic financial markets and the 
     value of the dollar in exchange markets. The Nation can ill-
     afford to allow such a result.

  This is a letter that was written on November 16, 1983, by President 
Ronald Reagan, addressed to then-Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker. 
President Reagan, I believe, my good friends on the other side of the 
aisle, have deified him as a ``fiscal warrior,'' a ``true 
conservative.'' Yet we know that Ronald Reagan raised the debt ceiling 
18 times during his Presidency, and in this letter to Senator Baker 
lays out in bold, uncompromising terms the consequences of a failure to 
raise the debt ceiling.

  This is not a partisan issue. We as Democrats are not standing here 
on the floor of the House of Representatives because we want to beat up 
the other side. We are here to defend the best interest of the American 
people--east, west, north, south, rural America, urban America, and 
suburban America--because the consequences of a failure to raise the 
debt ceiling will hurt everybody.
  If the distinguished gentleman from Nevada could just react to the 
notion that this is somehow a partisan issue that needs to be discussed 
so that President Obama is being fiscally irresponsible by requesting 
that Congress do its constitutional duty.
  Mr. HORSFORD. Thank you. I appreciate my good friend for yielding.
  The remarks by the former President, President Reagan, speak to the 
reality of the consequence of Congress failing to act and what that 
will mean to our economy, to average Americans, to businesses, to the 
global economy because of the role that the United States plays, and to 
the value of the dollar, and to somehow hold this process hostage 
because Members on the other side have still not come to terms that the 
election is over, the President won, and it is time for this Congress 
to work with him to move our country forward, not to use this as 
another means to extract more concessions or demands in order for you 
to do your job. You don't have to agree with President Obama on 
everything, but what you do have to do is your job on behalf of the 
American people that elected you.
  While no one knows with certainty the full extent of the damage to 
the economy should the U.S. default on its debts--and we don't know 
because it has never happened because every other Congress, regardless 
of party, regardless of which party controls the White House or the 
administration on a given time, did its job to extend and raise the 
debt--what we do know is that the average American family will feel a 
significant negative impact.
  We are not here to scare our constituents. Our constituents are going 
through enough every day trying to survive to make ends meet, to put 
food on the table, working hard for themselves and their families. But 
what we are here to do is to talk about what some of the potential 
impacts might be, so let me highlight that.
  If you look for a moment at this chart, this graphic provides some 
explanation. What are the debt ceiling deniers missing?
  Household wealth would increase by $1 trillion if we fail to raise 
the debt ceiling.
  Retirement assets would drop by $800 billion at a time when people 
are trying to provide security for themselves and their future. A 
decision by this Congress to fail to raise the debt ceiling could 
result in $800 billion of retirement assets declining.
  We have talked about an increase in interest rates for borrowers at a 
time when our housing market is beginning to recover from the prolonged 
recession. Why would this Congress fail to act and the consequence of 
that result in increased mortgage rates for homeowners and borrowers?
  And a huge hit, a huge hit, for financial markets around the globe 
causing the Dow Jones and the S&P to plummet. Families' retirement 
savings and 401Ks would drop as the stock market plummets.
  3.4 million veterans who could not receive disability payments; 10 
million Americans not receiving Social Security checks on time in just 
the first week alone; delayed tax refunds for up to 110 million 
Americans; and drug reimbursements under Medicare stopping and doctors 
and hospitals not getting paid, all for what? So that our colleagues on 
the other side who don't like the results of an election can use the 
debt ceiling as another attempt to get more concessions and more 
demands for things and ideas that have already been rejected by the 
American public.

[[Page H1711]]

                              {time}  2100

  So, Mr. Speaker, we are here to say enough is enough already. Let's 
get to work. Let's make 2014 a year of action, not obstruction. It 
starts by increasing the debt ceiling, by meeting our obligations and 
not doing harm to an already fragile economy and to an American public 
that expects its Representatives to act in its best interest, not in 
more political grandstanding or gamesmanship.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentleman for a very thorough 
explanation and for the illustration as it relates to the state of 
denial that, I think, some individuals within this Chamber, Mr. 
Speaker, or throughout the Capitol are in as it relates to the real 
consequences of a default and what it really means to threaten the full 
faith and credit of the United States of America.
  Now, this denial syndrome is not really a strange concept. It is 
something that, unfortunately, I have had to familiarize myself with 
since being sworn in as a Member of Congress on January 3 of 2013.
  Weather patterns are shifting. Global warming appears to me, based on 
the scientific evidence, to be a reality, yet there are people in this 
Congress who persist in denying that climate change is a reality. In 
advance of sequestration, notwithstanding the fact that independent 
economists warned that randomly spreading out cuts across the American 
economy, given the fragile nature of the economic recovery, would be a 
harmful thing and would threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs moving 
forward, there were people who denied that sequestration would be a 
tough thing for the American people to have to absorb. Yet, at the end 
of the year, wisdom prevailed because people saw that it actually was 
something that was problematic for the American people and our economy.
  I guess, a long, long time ago, there were people who denied that the 
Earth was round, who believed that it was flat. So the denial syndrome 
is something that throughout time has been commonplace as it relates to 
individuals who want to articulate a particular agenda. I understand 
that, Mr. Speaker, but it is a dangerous game to play--to deny the 
reality of the catastrophic impact that would occur as a result of a 
default on our debt for the first time in our history. It would be 
another self-inflicted wound, as my distinguished friend from Nevada 
has indicated.
  I was interested in a study that I came across a few days ago that I 
wanted to highlight and bring to the attention of the American people, 
and perhaps my colleague can react to it.
  There is a new study, the Times reported, from the Peterson Institute 
for International Economics, a Washington, D.C.-based research group, 
that indicated that all of the theatrics--all of the drama, all of the 
brinksmanship--that occurred in this Congress last year around the 
government shutdown and the potential debt ceiling default and whether 
we would be able to come together and reach an agreement--have cost us 
about $150 billion in lost economic productivity. It shaved off about a 
percentage point in economic growth, and it may have cost us 
approximately 750,000 jobs. That is not our saying it; that is an 
independent research group, the Peterson Institute for International 
Economics. So there is a price to pay for the theatrics, and that is 
why we have come to the floor of the House of Representatives today to 
say we need a clean debt ceiling increase and that we need to do it 
now.
  Secretary Lew has indicated that his ability to use extraordinary 
measures will run out by the end of the month. Mr. Speaker, I recognize 
that there are some on the other side of the aisle who are in disbelief 
as it relates to that statement. We have heard individuals make the 
representation that that can't be accurate. There is a logical reason 
why in this particular instance the capacity for the administration to 
use extraordinary measures to get us beyond the debt ceiling cap is 
only weeks in this particular instance and not months as it has been in 
the past. It is because the Treasury of the United States in February 
and in March and in April and, perhaps, even into May, returns a lot of 
money--billions of dollars--to the American people who have filed taxes 
and are owed money in connection with a tax return.
  I believe that we would all conclude it is a good thing for the 
American people who are owed money by the Federal Government to be able 
to get that money back in return. That is why, in February, the 
capacity at this moment for extraordinary measures to be used is 
extremely limited. It is because we don't want to short-circuit the 
American taxpayer. It is bad enough that we are threatening to short-
circuit Social Security beneficiaries or veterans and others, but now 
we are potentially risking withholding money from the American people 
that belongs to them. We hear that refrain all of the time, but that is 
what we are faced with right now.
  Let me yield to my good friend, Representative Horsford.
  Mr. HORSFORD. I thank my friend for yielding.
  You bring up a very valid point.
  Over the weekend, I was at the William Pearson Community Center in my 
district, which is a tax preparation site for the Las Vegas Urban 
League. It was packed. There was not a seat available because so many 
people were there, seeking assistance in order to file their annual tax 
returns, particularly this year. They were trying to get them done 
early so they could get the refunds that were coming to them so that 
they could then help meet an obligation that they have in their 
households. It has been tough for a lot of families.
  So you make a very valid point as to the fact of the timing of this 
particular debt ceiling increase and the February 27 date and the 
obligations that the country has and this time period in particular. 
There are 110 million Americans who will be filing their tax returns, 
many of whom will be getting a refund, and I don't think they will take 
kindly to a delay in that refund if our colleagues on the other side 
use this debt ceiling legislation as an opportunity to load it up with 
conditions and requests that have nothing to do with the debt ceiling 
issue.
  I would ask my colleagues on the other side to listen to their 
constituents, to be aware of their needs and to know your decision to 
fail to pass a clean debt ceiling could have very negative consequences 
on our economy.
  We don't have to look very far. We can look back to 2011. The GOP 
brinksmanship during that time cost the economy the following:
  It was the first time the U.S. credit was downgraded in U.S. history 
by failing to increase the debt ceiling on a timely basis. We 
ultimately got it done, but it was delayed. There was some concern in 
the markets of what would happen, and it resulted in the first U.S. 
credit downgrade in our history.
  Are we going to allow that to happen again?
  The stock market plummeted 17 percent. Consumer confidence dropped to 
its lowest point since the financial crisis of 2008. We saw businesses 
stop hiring in 2011 with one of the lowest months of job growth over 
the last 2 years during that period.
  We have seen what the consequences of failing to pass a clean, swift 
debt ceiling would mean. Why would we even toy with the idea of failing 
to do it now, or to do it by adding conditions to it that basically 
hold the bill up as a hostage?
  Finally, there was $1.3 billion added to our national debt for fiscal 
year 2011 and $19 billion over 10 years in higher government borrowing 
costs. If you are a fiscal hawk--if you are someone who is concerned 
like I am about our Federal deficit, if you want to have good fiscal 
discipline--then you might want to pass a clean, swift debt ceiling 
bill so that we don't have added costs to our national debt and so that 
we don't have additional borrowing expenses added to a debt and a 
deficit that under this administration in the last few years has been 
on the decline.
  Let's do our job. Let's help the process. Let's move our country 
forward. Let's work together. Let's be a Congress that acts, not a 
Congress that continues to obstruct.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank my good friend and colleague for that thorough 
explanation again as to why there is such urgency in terms of our 
acting now.
  Throughout my time here in the Congress, we consistently hear about 
strict constructionism and adherence to the

[[Page H1712]]

Constitution. The 14th Amendment of the Constitution reads in part: The 
validity of the public debt authorized by law shall not be questioned. 
That is a constitutional principle, and it is the reason the 
brinksmanship that we have seen time and time again is so reckless and 
threatens the well-being of the American people.
  Earlier in my remarks, I referenced this being a ``Yogi Berra 
moment,'' that great Yankee catcher having once made the observation 
that he feels like it is deja vu all over again. There is another 
contemporary, urban philosopher I want to quote. Her name is Mary J. 
Blige. She said: No more drama.
  I think that the American people are tired of drama and theatrics. If 
they want theatrics, they can go to Broadway in New York City. If they 
want drama, you have got Hollywood, but Congress is here to do the 
business of the American people, not to entertain, but to do the 
business of the American people. The matter before us that, hopefully, 
we will deal with this week--not with unnecessary ideological demands 
that we attempt to inflict on the American people--in order to do what 
our constitutional responsibility says Congress should do is, again, a 
clean debt ceiling.
  I want to explain as best I can to those who are interested in 
understanding how we arrived at this moment. When you hear 
characterizations about what is at stake, why we can't just simply 
raise the debt ceiling without going through the drama and the 
theatrics, the representation that is made, which seems reasonable to 
many, is that we have a $17 trillion-plus debt. That is a very 
significant number, and we can't just simply give the President the 
unfettered ability to continue to drag this country further down a debt 
hole. That is the argument that is advanced by many, Mr. Speaker.
  It is just fundamentally inaccurate. The debt ceiling is not a 
forward-looking vehicle designed to give the President the ability to 
spend more money.

                              {time}  2115

  It is a backward-looking vehicle simply designed to give the 
President the capacity to pay bills that the Congress has already 
incurred. And if you actually were to inspect what those bills actually 
were, many Americans would be surprised to know that it was incurred 
often by those same individuals who now claim the mantel of fiscal 
responsibility.
  And so let's go through this chart. What it does is illustrates both 
the projected debt under current policies, largely enacted during the 
administration of George W. Bush, and what the debt would have been 
without these factors.
  So the top line is an illustration of what the current debt is and 
what it is projected to be over time in advance of 2019 as a result of 
things that this Congress has already done that were not paid for, and 
the lowest line on the chart is an illustration of what the debt would 
be had these things not be done, Mr. Speaker.
  What is interesting is that a significant part of the debt, as this 
chart illustrates, resulted from the war in Iraq, a completely 
unnecessary war, chasing down weapons of mass destruction that did not 
exist. Lies were told to the American people and hundreds of billions 
of dollars unnecessarily spent and debt incurred under the previous 
administration.
  The war in Afghanistan was inappropriately prosecuted. Even if it 
was, in the beginning, a necessary one in response to the tragedy on 9/
11, it was inappropriately prosecuted because we were distracted in 
Iraq. We didn't pay for that war either. It is responsible for the debt 
burden that we now have.
  The Bush-era tax cuts. A tax cut in 2001 largely and 
disproportionately benefited the wealthy and well-off, not paid for. It 
is responsible, in part, for the debt burden that we now confront.
  Another tax cut enacted by this Congress in 2003 largely benefiting 
the wealthy and the well-off was not paid for and responsible, in part, 
for the debt that we have incurred.
  Of course, there was the economic downturn. That occurred in 2008. It 
resulted, in part, from the failed policies of the previous 
administration.
  And we allowed some on Wall Street to run wild and to plunge us into 
the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. That, in part, 
is responsible for the debt that we have incurred. We had to bail out 
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. There was the TARP bailout.
  Then, of course, there were the recovery measures enacted in response 
to this horrible collapse of the economy inflicted upon the American 
people.
  These are the policies that are largely responsible for the debt that 
we find ourselves in, and that is why we find it a bit curious that 
President Obama is often blamed and we have got to have this drama 
connected to the debt ceiling, when, in fact, much of the debt, the 
bills that he is trying to pay now, he wasn't even responsible for. In 
fact, when a lot of these policies were enacted, the current President 
of the United States was in the Illinois State Legislature, yet you 
want to blame him for the out-of-control spending. It is not just 
factually accurate.
  Mr. HORSFORD. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I will yield to the gentleman from Nevada.
  Mr. HORSFORD. I appreciate you providing this historical context 
because, as you indicate, a lot of times on this floor we tend to focus 
on the rhetoric of the day and not the facts of the matter.
  As you have well illustrated here, if it were not for the Bush-era 
tax cuts, which are the biggest contributing factor to the debt and the 
deficit--and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan--we probably would be in 
a much better position to address the domestic needs in this country 
and to have the type of economic investments to help grow our economy, 
put people to work, grow and build up our infrastructure, help our 
roads, our highways, our schools, the things that matter here in the 
United States.
  But yet money has been obligated by previous administrations, enacted 
by Members of Congress before you and I got here, and now this Congress 
and some on the other side want to hold the process hostage and add a 
new set of demands and conditions to that process for items that this 
administration or current Members of Congress and our constituents, who 
are expecting us to do our job, did not have the decision to begin 
with.
  So I appreciate you giving that historical perspective, and I hope 
that my colleagues on the other side will listen to the facts of the 
matter and move away from this drama of the brinksmanship and the 
political games that, unfortunately, are done too often to distract 
from the realities of the issues that you brought forward.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank the distinguished gentleman.
  As you have pointed out--I think this was very important--in terms of 
the explosion of the public debt that has taken place over the last 
decade or so, the most significant factor, as this chart illustrates, 
is the Bush-era tax cuts.
  And so the question, then, that many people back home in my district 
are asking is, What was it all for? Because now we know that income 
inequality has exploded out of control. The middle class is being left 
behind.
  What was it all for?
  Well, we were told, based on a very stale, old philosophy, that these 
type of tax cuts help to generate economic activity. They create jobs. 
Okay.
  In the previous 8 years prior to the Bush administration, during the 
8 years of the Presidency of Bill Clinton, the tax rate for the highest 
income bracket was 39.6 percent, and 20.3 million jobs were created 
during those 8 years. And then we have a new President who comes in 
and, by the way, he inherits a surplus. And then immediately, as a 
result of these reckless policies, foreign and domestic, creates 
deficit after deficit after deficit. That didn't happen under this 
President. It happened under the previous President.
  But the American people, the people whom I represent back at home, 
say, What was it all for? A tax rate of 39.6 percent under the 
administration of President Clinton and 20.3 million jobs created. We 
get tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 as a precursor to the recession, and 
during the 8 years of the previous administration we lost 650,000 jobs 
here in America.

  What was it all for? We lost jobs. Income inequality has grown. You 
add it to the debt. And yet folks on this side of the aisle are 
supposed to be fiscally irresponsible.

[[Page H1713]]

  Let's just have a reasonable, evidence-based conversation. That is 
all we want. That is what the American people are asking for.
  And so as we prepare to close, let me just yield to my good friend 
for any parting remarks.
  Mr. HORSFORD. One additional area that I would like to touch on and 
ask, maybe, my colleague to expound upon is that, under those Bush-era 
tax cuts, it included tax cuts to companies that ship jobs overseas, 
which contributed, did it not, to that 650,000 job loss? Was there a 
correlation there or not?
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I think that is a very appropriate question. We are 
going to have to have a broader conversation about some of our policies 
that have resulted in the exportation of middle class American jobs to 
other parts of the world; and for the life of me, I haven't been able 
to figure out why anyone in Washington thinks that that is a good idea.
  We have had an economic recovery under this President, and I believe 
more than 7 million private sector jobs have been created, but we still 
have a long way to go. And we certainly cannot afford to engage in the 
type of policies that, as you have pointed out, have led to the 
transfer of American jobs overseas.
  Why? Because we are incentivizing companies to ship jobs abroad as 
opposed to incentivizing American companies to keep jobs here at home 
in the great United States of America. And I certainly hope that that 
is something that can be reversed as we move forward and enter into a 
discussion about some of the agreements that will be pending before 
this Congress.
  Mr. HORSFORD. If the gentleman would yield, I would just say--and I 
think that this would be an appropriate discussion for us to have at a 
future Special Order--the fact that some of those corporate tax breaks 
to ship American jobs overseas resulted in debt that is now being 
obligated by this country into future years indicates a change in 
policy that we need to have.
  We agree we need tax reform in this country. We need tax reform that 
allows those jobs to be returned to the United States by eliminating 
the corporate welfare that was provided by giving those tax incentives 
to those companies to take American jobs overseas to begin with and, to 
add insult to injury, to have it included in the overall debt and 
obligations of this country going forward.
  But the bottom line here tonight, Mr. Speaker, is we have a job to do 
this week, and that job, we are asking, is to bring a clean, swift, 
debt ceiling bill to the floor without a bunch of conditions or 
demands, and allow this Congress to do its job this week and send to 
the Senate a clean debt ceiling bill that allows us to meet our 
obligations.
  Those obligations, as my colleague here tonight has aptly explained, 
are obligations that prior administrations and prior Congresses have 
entered this country into. We have to keep the full faith and credit of 
the United States in tact. We cannot repeat some of the damaging 
consequences from 2011. We cannot have a repeat, Mr. Speaker, of lost 
economic productivity or economic activity. We cannot have the stock 
market plummeting. We cannot have lower consumer confidence. We cannot 
have businesses deciding whether to hire more employees because they 
are concerned that this Congress is going to cause more harm than help 
by failing to pass a clean debt ceiling.
  That is what we are asking here tonight.
  I thank my colleague, the anchor for this hour, the gentleman from 
New York (Mr. Jeffries), for leading this discussion. I am pleased to 
have participated.
  Mr. JEFFRIES. I thank my good friend for his very thoughtful and 
comprehensive remarks and analysis of the situation that we find 
ourselves in and his very clear-eyed plea that we in the Congress 
simply do our job and raise the debt ceiling to avoid a default and 
threatening of the full faith and credit of the United States of 
America.
  The 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution states, in part, 
that the validity of the public debt of the United States enacted into 
law shall not be questioned.
  No more drama. No more theatrics. No more brinksmanship. No more 
extremism. Let's raise the debt ceiling and get back to doing the 
business of the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues Congressmen 
Jeffries and Congressman Horsford for once again leading the 
Congressional Black Caucus Special Order Hour.
  As a result of your leadership, the Congressional Black Caucus 
continues to discuss critical issues facing our nation on the House 
floor and to the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss why we must raise our nation's 
debt ceiling and bring a clean debt ceiling bill to the floor.
  The full faith and credit of the United States should not be subject 
to negotiation.
  On Friday, February 7th, the United States of America once again 
reached its debt limit.
  Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has again begun paying our bills with 
what he calls ``extraordinary measures.''
  This is not a new situation for us, as we have been here many times 
before.
  And we have seen that each time we face this fully preventable 
crisis, the result is harm to the American people and to this nation's 
international economic reputation.
  In August 2011, Members of Congress faced a debt ceiling standoff 
that resulted in the Budget Control Act of 2011.
  Because we could not come to a budget agreement as required by the 
Budget Control Act, Congress instituted automatic spending cuts to our 
military and to critical services to our communities.
  In October 2013, we faced another debt limit crisis when our 
government shut down for 17 days, leaving hundreds of thousands of 
government workers unsure of when their next paycheck would arrive.
  By the end of February, if we do not raise the debt limit, we will 
again be teetering at the end of a financial cliff.
  It is reported that Republican House leadership is deciding what they 
should ask for in return for allowing our nation to meet its financial 
obligations.
  Once again, they are looking to barter this country's financial well-
being for narrow political wins when they've seen the harmful results 
of their actions.
  We cannot continue to play political games when our nation's credit 
is at risk.
  Approaching the 11th hour in this debate, when a clean debt ceiling 
bill can be brought to the floor today, should not be an option. It is 
not in the best interest of this nation.
  Before I yield back, I also want to clarify what raising the debt 
limit means. There is often confusion about raising the debt ceiling. 
Some believe it allows our government to authorize additional or new 
spending, which is not the case.
  Raising the debt ceiling does not mean our country will be allowed to 
spend more money; it means that we will be able to pay the financial 
obligations which we have incurred in the past.
  Just like millions of people across this nation have bills to pay 
that keep the lights on in their homes, or to pay for the car they 
drive back and forth to work, America must pay the bills required to 
keep our state and local governments running.
  America must make sure that millions of seniors receive their Social 
Security checks.
  We must not let partisanship or brinkmanship do any more damage to 
our federal programs or our ability to borrow in the future.
  This is why raising the debt ceiling is so important.
  I urge my colleagues to bring a clean debt ceiling bill to the floor.
  No conditions or concessions should be made in turn for raising our 
country's debt ceiling.
  The full faith and credit of the United States is not for sale.

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