[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 61 (Monday, April 27, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2428-S2430]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CREATING A NEW BEGINNING
Mr. PERDUE. Mr. President, I rise today to address for the first time
this august body, the United States Senate--the greatest governing body
ever conceived. Out of respect, I have waited until we passed the 100-
day mark to deliver this speech, but I rise today because I believe our
Republic is in grave danger. We need to create a new beginning by
dealing with the very real crisis of leadership we face today. It is
why I ran for the Senate in the first place--because we need a new
perspective in Washington. Like many Americans, I am outraged by
Washington's dysfunction, its fiscal irresponsibility, its lack of
leadership in foreign policy, its intrusiveness and overreach, and its
negative impact on hard-working Americans.
Before being elected to the Senate, I had never been involved in
politics. Simply put, I am a political outsider committed to changing
the direction of our country. I grew up in a small military town in
Middle Georgia, working on our family's farms. My mom and dad were
public school teachers, and I grew up modestly, as did most people
there. I worked my way through college and was blessed with a business
career that took me from the factory floor to become a Fortune 500 CEO.
My story is not unique. It is the American story. Only in America is
this possible, thanks to hard work and self-reliance. It is called the
American dream, and it is our job to make sure it lasts. Many people
today believe that this dream no longer exists, that we need big
government to provide us with more and more financial security. I
disagree totally. I believe our best days lie ahead. But we have to act
boldly if we are to save this dream and our very way of life.
As an outsider to the political process, I am humbled by the
privilege to serve my country as a U.S. Senator. I am sobered by the
immense responsibility of representing the people of Georgia, and I am
encouraged by the opportunity we have to solve this crisis of
leadership and create a new beginning.
As one of the Original Thirteen Colonies, Georgia has long been
blessed with outstanding statesmen in the U.S. Senate. The first
Senator to serve in this seat in the first U.S. Congress in 1789 was
Senator William Few. He also signed the U.S. Constitution. As fate
would have it, Sarah Few Collins, a member of the team that helped me
become Georgia's 37th U.S. Senator in this seat, is a direct descendant
of Senator Few. I think that is pretty special. This desk I use on the
Senate floor is also very meaningful to me. It has served such
distinguished leaders from Georgia such as Saxby Chambliss, Zell
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Miller, Sam Nunn, Herman Talmadge, and the venerable Richard B.
Russell, Jr.
I rise to speak about three issues creating this national crisis of
leadership we experience today: the abuse of Executive power, the
significant deterioration of American foreign policy, and our out-of-
control debt.
First, ``What we are witnessing today is one of the greatest
challenges to our constitutional system in the history of this
country''--not my words but the words of George Washington University
constitutional law professor Dr. Jonathan Turley, who incidentally
voted twice for President Obama. Unbridled use of Executive orders and
regulatory mandates has basically allowed this President to run the
country without Congress for the past 6 years. According to Professor
Turley, this sets dangerous precedents for future courts and future
Presidents.
To create a new beginning, we must first get back to our founding
principles articulated in our Constitution that created this miracle
called America in the first place: economic opportunity, fiscal
responsibility, limited government, and individual liberty. When
government grows larger, individual liberty declines. I even believe
that our Founders were committed to the concept of citizen
legislators--people would come to Congress, do their work, and go home.
I don't believe they could perceive of the potential rise of career
politicians we experience today.
We also face a global security crisis that is getting worse by the
day. This administration has created a situation where our allies don't
trust us and our enemies don't fear us. Leading from behind has failed
us as a foreign policy.
Right now, we face the threat of nuclear proliferation starting with
Iran. As President Obama has conceded, this deal being negotiated would
leave Iran with a breakout time ``almost down to zero'' in 10 to 15
years. As Prime Minister Netanyahu reminded us when he spoke before
Congress, a nuclear Iran is not just a threat to Middle East security,
it is not only a threat to U.S. security, it is indeed a threat to
global security.
A nuclear Iran whose leaders are committed to the death of Israel and
America would spark an unprecedented wave of nuclear proliferation in
the Middle East. Under no circumstances can we allow Iran to become a
nuclear weapons State--not now, not in 10 years, not ever.
After battling terrorism for the past 14 years and fighting two major
wars, with thousands of American lives lost and billions spent, we
still face terrorist threats from jihadist Islamic groups who openly
vow to do us harm. We face a tough choice, however: Deal with them over
there or wait and deal with the consequences here at home.
We are also witnessing the return of great power rivalries. Last
year, Russia actually seized territory of a sovereign state and
continues their aggression today in the Ukraine. China is also growing
more aggressive, doubling its military spending and flexing its muscle
in the region.
New asymmetric threats, combined with traditional symmetric
challenges, create unprecedented demand on our military at the very
time this administration has reduced military spending to the point
that we are about to have the smallest Army since World War II, the
smallest Navy since World War I, and the smallest Air Force ever. This
is simply unacceptable.
To address this global security crisis and create a new beginning, we
must have a consistent and strong foreign policy. However, to have a
strong foreign policy, we must have a strong defense.
Providing for the national defense is one of only 6 reasons outlined
in the Constitution why 13 Colonies formed our Union in the first
place. To have a strong defense, though, we have to have a strong
economy, as we proved during the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
Our own fiscal irresponsibility jeopardizes our very ability to fund
a strong military. ADM Michael Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, once said that the greatest threat to our national
security is our own Federal debt. This debt crisis threatens our
ability to defend our country, stand for freedom, and maintain our very
way of life. It is a primary reason why we need to create a new
beginning.
This debt crisis affects each of us every day. While the economy
lurches along, we see working middle-class Americans struggling. Many
people are having difficulty finding jobs, and those with jobs are
lucky to have a job. Their wages remain stagnant, making it harder and
harder to get from payday to payday. Many families can't afford to buy
a home or plan for the future. Moms and dads fear they can't send their
kids to college or prepare them for a good job. Many college graduates
today have sizable student loans and still can't find meaningful
employment. A comfortable retirement is only a dream for many.
Back home in Georgia, people share my outrage with Washington's
fiscal irresponsibility. From what I have seen so far up here, there is
not enough great sense of urgency in tackling this skyrocketing debt
crisis. There are no innocent parties up here, either. Both sides have
pushed us to the brink, contributing to this unsustainable level of
debt we face today. In the last 6 years alone, the Federal Government
has spent $21.5 trillion, but it borrowed $8 trillion, so that today we
have a Federal debt of more than $18 trillion. We simply cannot afford
everything we are doing as a Federal Government. We are already
overtaxed and overregulated.
The progressive policies of the past 100 years and particularly the
egregious policies of this current administration have failed the very
people they were intended to help--the working middle class. Instead,
Washington has created a spiraling situation that will only take us
deeper into debt.
What is worse, we have over $100 trillion in future unfunded
liabilities related to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Federal
pensions, and the interest on the Federal debt. While developing a
long-term solution to this debt crisis, we also need to protect today's
seniors and save our safety net programs so they will be there for
people who really need them the most, when they need them. Shockingly,
Social Security and Medicare trust funds will be totally insolvent in
just a few short years, and worse, this administration has no plan to
deal with that.
Unfortunately, we are already past the tipping point in this fiscal
catastrophe. If interest rates today were at their 5.5 percent 30-year
average, we would already be paying almost $1 trillion in interest.
That is twice what we spend on our military, and it is totally
unmanageable.
People back home expect Washington to work. This fiscal
irresponsibility drives people back in Georgia absolutely crazy.
Doubling down on bigger government, more Federal programs, and more
government spending is not the answer, as has been proven repeatedly
over the last 100 years. We have to break the gridlock in Washington to
solve this problem. One side wants to increase taxes; the other side
wants spending cuts. The result is that we have had gridlock in
Washington for a generation.
The real solution, of course, is to grow our economy. Just 1
percentage point of incremental GDP growth would generate over $3
trillion of Federal tax revenues in the next decade alone. Combine that
with the elimination of truly duplicative programs, and we can develop
a long-term plan to solve this debt crisis, as well as get Americans
back to work in meaningful, well-paying jobs.
To create a new beginning, my focus in this body will be to add to
the debate about how to grow our economy, rein in our outrageous
spending, and solve this debt crisis.
To grow our economy, three priorities should be addressed right away.
First, we need to totally reinvent how we fund our Federal Government.
Many States, such as Georgia, have a balanced budget law, and so should
Washington. American families can't spend more than they take in, and
neither should their government.
Our archaic tax system is choking growth, holding back innovation,
and discouraging investment. Eventually, I believe, we should
transition from an income tax to a simple consumption tax, such as the
fair tax, that would level the playing field with the rest of the
world.
While that debate will take some time, there are things we can do
right now to stimulate our economy. We need to reduce our corporate tax
rate
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and eliminate entirely our repatriation tax to be more competitive with
other countries. At the same time, we need to eliminate corporate
welfare and make our tax system fairer and simpler for every American.
We also have to rein in our out-of-control regulators. This President
has created the fourth branch of government--the regulators--which
today makes more rules that affect our lives and our jobs than does
Congress.
Finally, we need to unlock our full energy potential to get this
economy moving. We need to develop our domestic natural resources.
Isn't it time we finally develop a long-term energy policy that
unleashes this potential while protecting our environment?
Doing these things now will also allow us to fund our infrastructure
needs, improve our education process, become more competitive with the
rest of the world, create well-paying, 21st-century jobs, and ignite
the next economic boom for our kids and grandkids.
I have used the word ``crisis'' carefully and thoughtfully today. The
first step toward making the tough choices required to change our
direction comes from a true realization that we indeed have a crisis.
Americans respond better than anyone in history to a true crisis, but
we are not always the quickest to recognize we have one.
To create a truly new beginning, it is time for this eminent body,
the U.S. Senate, to rise above partisan politics and do the right
thing. It starts with leadership. It starts with making hard choices.
It starts with telling the American people the unvarnished truth. It
starts with no longer kicking the can down the road. It starts with
having the courage to actually solve these problems independent of how
it might affect our reelection chances.
My motivation is very simple. I do not want to be a member of the
first generation in American history that has to tell its kids that we
are leaving them a country that is worse off than our parents left us.
Ronald Reagan once said:
Freedom is never more than one generation away from
extinction. We didn't pass it along to our children in the
bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on
for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset
years telling our children and our children's children what
it was once like in the United States when men were free.
Let us fight to find common ground to create a new beginning for our
country, for people back home who are struggling, and for the future of
our children and our children's children.
As I close, I am reminded of a seldom-quoted closing sentence of the
Declaration of Independence:
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm
reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually
pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred
honor.
Our Founders got it right. They would remind us of that commitment
and encourage us today to put our differences aside, to work together
to solve these sometimes overwhelming problems.
Together, we can put our differences aside. Together, we can do the
right thing. Together, we can create a new beginning.
Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
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