[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 35 (Tuesday, February 26, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H2222-H2226]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        RECOGNIZING NATIONAL DEBT AS THREAT TO NATIONAL SECURITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous materials on the topic of my Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Arizona?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, it is my privilege to lead this Special 
Order tonight as we consider the national debt as a security threat to 
the United States of America.
  I thank Senator David Perdue for his leadership. He introduced a 
concomitant resolution in the Senate. I also thank the more than 50 
Members of this body who are original cosponsors to this resolution.
  I also thank the more than one dozen conservative groups that 
endorsed this resolution and have come to understand that a structural 
deficit that nears a trillion dollars every year, a national debt that 
exceeds $22 trillion, is indeed a threat to our national security.
  Madam Speaker, I yield to my friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Roy).
  Mr. ROY. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Arizona for his 
leadership on this matter, and I appreciate his leadership very much on 
H. Res. 149, a resolution recognizing the national debt as a threat to 
our national security.
  In February 2000, the total national debt, including 
intragovernmental holdings, was $5.7 trillion. Federal spending as a 
percentage of gross domestic product was 17.5 percent. Today, the total 
national debt now exceeds $22 trillion.
  The last balanced budget was signed into law in 1997, and the 
Congressional Budget Office projects that Federal spending as a 
percentage of GDP is projected to be 20.8 percent this year. In 
February 2018, Congress passed a budget agreement that busted the 
previously established spending caps by almost $300 billion over 2 
years.
  All those numbers don't mean anything to the American people tuning 
in to C-SPAN right now. They are giant numbers. They are really 
difficult for people to understand and comprehend. But we are talking 
about the future of our Nation and what we are leaving to our children.

  We are leaving them with an economy that is anchored by $22 trillion 
in debt that is going to turn to $25, $30 and $40 trillion because, 
this year alone, we are going to have a trillion-dollar deficit, with 
no end in sight.
  We are making it to where our children can't comprehend what freedom 
is like in this country and what opportunity is like in this country 
because they are going to have an economy that is weighted down by this 
body's and the Senate's irresponsibility.
  Nobody in America balances their budgets at home like this. I assure 
my friend from Arizona, our States don't balance their budgets like 
this. Nobody looks at the total number for income you have, then blows 
it by 25 or 30 percent, and then goes to the bank and wonders why they 
might not give you a loan or help you finance a car.
  My concern is that we are allowing this to happen on the backs of our 
men and women in uniform. We are saying that, as a need to defend the 
United States of America and to spend money--which our men and women in 
uniform deserve to have the resources necessary as we ask them to go 
around the globe--we are using that as an excuse to continue to bust 
caps and to bust the limits that we put in place to hold us in check.
  Of that $300 billion that I was talking about the last 2 years, about 
40 percent of that is nondefense discretionary that rode on the back of 
what we are trying to do to help our men and women in uniform have the 
tools they need.
  There used to be an adage of guns and butter. We don't have a choice 
anymore about choosing between guns and butter. Have we cut butter at 
all while we go and increase money for the guns for our men and women 
in uniform? Have we even held it in check? No.
  We have plussed it up and continued to bust the caps, all while we 
know mandatory spending--spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social 
Security--all go up.
  The question I would ask is: When are we going to stop? Is it going 
to take placing a debt clock over the chair of the Speaker? Do we need 
to have something to remind us, sitting here in the body, what we are 
going to be leaving to our children? Because it is our responsibility, 
what we leave behind to our kids.
  It is irresponsible when we look at every bill, every one of these 
little bills that comes across our desk.
  People say, well, why did you vote ``no,'' Mr. Roy? Well, it was just 
another $500,000. It was just another $5 million.
  That is not how you spend at home. It is time that this body gets 
serious about spending restraint. It is time that this body recognize--
as I am very happy that my friend from Arizona has, and I am proud to 
join him in saying that this is an impact on our national security and 
a threat to our national security.
  When we know right now that the interest on our debt is pretty soon 
going to eclipse the amount of spending we are spending at the 
Department of Defense, that is a threat to our national security. We 
can't sustain it.
  When we say now that we are going to spend more money for the tools 
that our men and women need, how are we going to afford to spend on 
those tools in 2030 or 2040 when we are spending more, literally, on 
interest than we are on what they need?
  I am proud to join my friend to make the case here that this is a 
threat to our national security. I call on my colleagues to join us, to 
join this resolution. I call on them to have the same level of resolve 
to limit spending and to make sure that we pass down the greatest 
country to our kids that the world has ever known.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, when the gentleman from Texas talks about 
the crowd-out effect, that is what we see as one of the threats to our 
national security.
  When you look at the spending that is being bloated and plussed-up 
and increased, the ramifications of borrowing more and more money for 
an insatiable appetite to spend the Federal revenues and beyond to the 
tune of almost a trillion dollars a year--and it will continue to rise, 
make no mistake about that, unless we do something--it will ultimately 
crowd out spending for things like the military, spending for things 
like transportation and infrastructure, spending for any discretionary 
item.
  We are on that fast track today, so I appreciate my friend from Texas 
talking and discussing the crowd-out and the impacts on our future and 
our future generations.
  Madam Speaker, it is my privilege to yield to the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Williams).
  Mr. WILLIAMS. Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Biggs for leading 
this tonight.

[[Page H2223]]

  Madam Speaker, the national debt is the single greatest threat to our 
national security. Since 1997, Congress has failed to do its job and 
balance the budget. Earlier this month, the national debt reached $22 
trillion.
  For this reason, I am proud to cosponsor Congressman   Andy Biggs' 
resolution to recognize the national debt as a threat to national 
security. I commend him for introducing this important resolution in 
the U.S. House of Representatives, and I also commend Senator David 
Perdue for bringing it to the U.S. Senate.
  We must no longer rely on routine debt ceiling increases, nor can we 
risk the devastating effects that a growing deficit will inevitably 
have on our military and our national security agencies.
  In an effort to reduce the deficit and regain responsible spending 
practices, President Trump has laid out his National Security Strategy 
that highlights this critical need to reduce the debt through smart, 
fiscally responsible decisions.
  While it is clear we cannot undo the past, it is also clear that 
Federal spending cannot continue to go unchecked and immediate action 
must be taken. We can no longer defer to future generations to solve 
our problem and to bear this burden.
  I will continue to support legislation that cuts unnecessary spending 
and oppose legislation that recklessly adds to the debt. I ask my 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get serious and support this 
important resolution.

  It is time we stopped writing blank checks, and it is time to stop 
risking the national security of the United States of America. It is 
simple: Balance your books.
  In God we trust.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend, Congressman Williams 
from Texas, for his willingness to take a strong stand on this. I am 
particularly impressed by his reference to President Trump's National 
Security Strategy, which specifically mentions a portion of it is to 
bring down our national debt, to try to become a better fiscally 
situated nation.
  That will help our national security, now and in the future. This is 
exactly what President Trump is talking about. That is what we are 
talking about. That is one of the issues that we have before us today.
  I am grateful to my friend, the gentleman from Texas, who brought 
that forward and is supporting this important resolution.
  Madam Speaker, it is my privilege to yield to my friend from Maryland 
(Mr. Harris), the great congressman.
  Mr. HARRIS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona for 
yielding time.
  I thank the two gentlemen from Texas for introducing the topic to the 
American people. This is something every American should be aware of.
  They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Every American should 
look at a few pictures about our national debt.
  This first picture is a 110-year period going from 1930, before World 
War II, to 2050, just 30 years away. It shows what our national debt 
has looked like as a percent of our economy, and it is pretty striking.
  For the first 90 years of it, there is one huge peak: World War II, a 
world at war. At that time, our debt exceeded the size of our gross 
domestic product, the size of everything produced in the United States. 
Our debt rose to that amount after World War II.
  The Greatest Generation spent the next 30 years paying down our debt 
and growing our economy, so that we had an affordable debt.
  We had a little bit of rise in the 1980s and 1990s, as we defeated 
communism--again, a war situation.
  Then, following 2008 and following the last administration, we have 
skyrocketing debt once again to the point where, within 5 years, we 
will approach the debt we had during World War II, fighting the largest 
war this world has fought.
  Then, by 2048, 30 years from now, actually having a debt that is 150 
percent of everything we make in this country, that is the level we see 
with failing economies, some of the economies like Greece, Italy, the 
ones that have unsustainable debts. We are on a clear path to that.
  Now, let's talk about the size of our national debt. This chart goes 
from 2010. This is just 18 years, starting from 2010 and going to 2028. 
This is the interest payment on our national debt because, Madam 
Speaker, like every American knows, if you borrow money, you have to 
pay interest on it.

                              {time}  1915

  The fact of the matter is that right now, our interest, total 
interest payment, is about $200 billion.
  But, Madam Speaker, every American family knows, every senior who has 
saved for retirement knows that interest rates right now are very low. 
If you go and get a CD, what are you getting, a 1 percent, 2 percent 
return. Those interest rates will return to normal.
  And as the gentleman from Texas mentioned, we are accruing debt at $1 
trillion a year, so that by the time we reach 2028, the interest 
payment on our debt alone, due to the increased size of our debt and 
the increased interest rate is going to approach $1 trillion a year.
  Now, what does that mean?
  Well, Madam Speaker, there are a lot of things that the government 
funds. Those of you who are interested in the safety of Social 
Security, of Medicare and Medicaid, of Federal pensions, they know that 
we are approaching a zero sum game. We can't keep this debt going 
forever.
  In fact, this final chart I am going to show is 10 years, starting 
now, it shows the percent spending of GDP, so relative to our economy, 
what our net interest on our debt is; and then other things, like 
Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program, things that we think 
are important, defense. The yellow line, the defense budget, 
nondefense, discretionary spending, all these are relatively constant. 
All of them are going to be crowded out by net interest on the debt.
  Madam Speaker, Americans understand, you can't borrow forever. You 
can't do it on your cars; you can't do it on your houses; you can't do 
it on your credit cards; and we can't do it here in Congress anymore. 
This threatens our security, when, in 5 years, we will pay more 
interest on our national debt than we pay defending this country. We 
can't do it.
  Congress has to get its act together, clean up its act, and get our 
budget in balance.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland, and I 
appreciate his focusing on the interest, because he is right. In just a 
few short years, we will be spending more of our budget on interest 
than we do on defense; and then a couple of years after that, more on 
our interest than we spend on Medicare.
  Think about that. Think about where we are headed because of our 
profligate ways.
  In the first chart he showed, I was struck, as I remembered growing 
up in the Cold War era.
  Madam Speaker, I think those of us who grew up in the Cold War era 
remember that contest between us and the former Soviet Union and the 
amount of money spent by both sides. It is dwarfed by the spending that 
we are embarking on today as a percent of our GDP. That is where we 
are. That is where we have come. So it continues to be a problem in so 
many ways and on so many levels.
  Madam Speaker, it is my privilege now to yield to the gentleman from 
Colorado (Mr. Buck).
  Mr. BUCK. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Arizona for yielding, 
and I thank him for his leadership on this important issue.
  Madam Speaker, we have $22 trillion of debt, over $22 trillion of 
debt now. We are accumulating debt at approximately $1 trillion a year. 
America is financially bankrupt, and if we continue to place this 
burden on our children and grandchildren, we are also morally bankrupt.
  We are threatening our ability to react to world affairs, our ability 
to deal with the dynamic threats that we face in this world, not just 
land, not just sea, not just air, but space also.
  We need to balance the budget, but it requires us to make difficult 
decisions today, to ensure a prosperous future. And it requires us to 
make significant cuts to our discretionary spending.
  One of the amazing, unique characteristics of this place, of 
Congress, is that for some reason, we make a distinction between 
discretionary spending and mandatory spending.

[[Page H2224]]

  My grandchildren don't care if they have to pay back a debt that was 
created by mandatory spending or a debt that was created by 
discretionary spending. They don't care. A dollar is a dollar to them, 
and it should be to us, and we should take control of mandatory 
spending, just as we take control of discretionary spending.
  Since I was elected to Congress, I have fought hard against our 
country's out-of-control spending, and I have advocated for a balanced 
budget amendment to the Constitution that would force Congress to pass 
a balanced budget every year.
  For the economic well-being of our country, I am proud to join my 
colleagues in cosponsoring this important resolution, and I would like 
to thank my dear friend and colleague, Mr. Biggs, for recognizing our 
country's serious spending problem before it's too late.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Colorado, Mr. Buck, 
and I appreciate him raising that important issue, that it is an 
oddity, isn't it, in Congress, that somehow we segregate money. We 
segregate money and say, oh, well, this money doesn't matter so much. 
But it becomes fungible when you are looking at the accumulation of 
debt that we are heaping upon our future generations.
  I appreciate the gentleman bringing that to our attention and 
reminding us, and I would just say, I appreciate his voting record, 
because I have watched it closely, and he is a man of his word when he 
says he has been fighting to balance the budget and reduce our deficit 
since he got here, because his voting record is actually true to that, 
and I appreciate that very much.
  Madam Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield to the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Cline).
  Mr. CLINE. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Arizona 
for the time, and thank him for bringing this issue to the forefront.
  Madam Speaker, I am distressed by the lack of numbers in the Chamber 
right now because this truly is the greatest threat to the security of 
this Nation that we face.
  When I ran for office last fall, I promised the citizens of 
Virginia's Sixth Congressional District that I would reintroduce 4 
words to Washington: ``We can't afford it.'' These are four words that 
have been needed to have been repeated over the last 22 years, as the 
last time a Federal budget with a surplus was signed into law was 1997.

  In Virginia, where I served in the House of Delegates until last 
year, we are required to balance our budget each year. And because we 
have placed a priority on fiscal responsibility, Virginia is frequently 
listed among the best states in which to do business.
  In contrast, the Federal Government has an outstanding public debt of 
more than $22 trillion. Every year, since 1997, Congress has failed to 
maintain a fiscally responsible budget and, instead, has relied too 
much on raising the debt ceiling.
  Because of this practice, on August 5, 2011, the credit rating of the 
United States was reduced by Standard & Poor's from AAA to AA+, and has 
remained at that level ever since.
  Virginia, through its fiscal responsibility, has maintained its AAA 
bond rating, one of only a few States to have that honor.
  Not only is the current practice of not passing a balanced budget 
fiscally irresponsible, it poses a threat to our national security. As 
part of his National Security Strategy, President Trump has highlighted 
the need to reduce the national debt through fiscal responsibility, and 
I commend him for it.
  In September 2011, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 
Michael Mullen warned: ``I believe the single biggest threat to our 
national security is debt.'' And at that time, our national debt was 
close to $15 trillion. Now, almost 10 years later, our national debt 
has increased by $7 trillion, a 46 percent increase.
  Madam Speaker, I am proud to stand with Congressman Biggs, my fellow 
cosponsors, and a bipartisan group of national security leaders, in 
support of this resolution:
  Recognizing that the national debt is, indeed, a threat to the 
national security of the United States;
  Recognizing that deficits are unsustainable, irresponsible, and 
dangerous; and
  Committing Congress to restoring regular order in the appropriations 
process and addressing the fiscal crisis faced by the United States. 
The future of our great republic depends on it.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Cline), for his comments and his efforts and his willingness to stand 
on this important issue and recognizing--and promising to people and 
responding to that promise; because I can tell you, when I first 
considered even running for Congress, one of the things that motivated 
me was this horrific debt, which I have watched explode even more since 
I got here; not because I am here, but in spite of my efforts.
  So, today, we are preparing to introduce our resolution, which will 
be later this week, Senator Perdue, his cosponsors, my 50 original 
cosponsors--more than 50 original cosponsors. And we recognize that, as 
of today, the national debt is more than $22 trillion. You have heard 
that. Can you hear it enough without taking action?
  The resulting total interest expense for the fiscal year 2019 is $192 
billion. $192 billion. Interest does not sleep. It doesn't take a 
holiday; it doesn't take a vacation. Interest accumulates without 
ceasing until you pay your debt.
  Our national debt as a percentage of GDP is 104 percent. The last 
time a Federal budget was balanced and was signed was 1997.
  Our total Federal tax receipts for fiscal year 2018 were $3.329 
trillion. But somehow--and we all know how--our Federal outlays totaled 
$4.1 trillion, with a deficit of $780 billion. And we know how. We know 
how that happened. We look to each other in this body.
  Since the last time Congress balanced the Federal budget in 1997, 
Congress has failed to maintain a fiscally-responsible budget and has 
relied on raising the debt ceiling. How many times have we raised the 
debt ceiling? It is almost more than you can count.
  Congress failed to pass a balanced budget for fiscal year 2019 and 
failed to restore regular order to the legislative process by not 
allowing Representatives to offer and debate amendments. When we have 
regular order, it permits the House to separately debate and adopt all 
appropriation bills in a timely fashion and facilitates congressional 
oversight on Federal spending.
  Estimates are Medicare will run out of money in 2026, Social Security 
in 2034.
  As my friend from Virginia, Mr. Cline, said: Congress' 
ineffectiveness has caused the U.S. credit rating from Standard & 
Poor's to drop from AAA to AA+. Without a targeted effort to balance 
the Federal budget, our credit will surely continue to fall.
  President Trump's National Security Strategy highlights the need to 
reduce the national debt through fiscal responsibility.
  Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis warned that: ``Any nation 
that can't keep its fiscal house in order eventually cannot maintain 
its military power.''
  Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats warned that: ``Our 
continued plunge into debt is unsustainable and represents a dire 
future threat to our economy and to our national security.''
  Former Secretaries of Defense Leon Panetta, Ash Carter, and Chuck 
Hagel warned: ``Increase in the debt will, in the absence of a 
comprehensive budget that addresses both entitlements and revenues, 
force even deeper reductions in our national security capabilities.''
  And former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen 
warned: ``I believe the single biggest threat to our national security 
is debt.''
  And so what must the House do?
  First, we have to recognize that the national debt is, indeed, a 
threat to our national security. We must realize that deficits are 
unsustainable, irresponsible, and dangerous.

                              {time}  1930

  We must restore regular order in the appropriations process, and we 
must commit to addressing the fiscal crisis faced by the United States.
  I mentioned it before, but when you are spending a pot of money and 
you have limited resources, regardless of how great those resources 
are--I mean, we have had record tax revenue for the last 14 months, 
record revenue, more than any time in the history of the United States 
of America, and we still outspend that revenue.

[[Page H2225]]

  As we do so, we have to borrow money, because we have created a 
structural deficit. So, foundationally, we put ourselves in a position 
where we have to borrow money; and when you have to borrow money, you 
have to pay interest. As you have to borrow more money, which we do, 
you are going to start crowding out what you can spend those limited 
resources on.
  Who holds our debt? One of the biggest holders of our debt is also 
one of our greatest potential adversaries, and that is China. China has 
been, for the last 25 years, expanding their military, building a blue-
water navy, expanding their capacity for rockets and missiles, and also 
taking in our debt.
  This places us at risk if we are ever in a conflict, which I pray we 
never are. I hope we never are. But if we are in a conflict with an 
adversary who holds significant amounts of our national debt, we are at 
risk. And you have to acknowledge that.
  What has helped us out so far is the fact that the U.S. dollar is the 
international medium of exchange in international transactions, 
economic transactions. If we were to lose that, the ability to borrow 
funds to sustain our unsustainable spending would go away. And I bring 
that back to China.
  China has ambitions to make its own currency a regional currency of 
exchange. They would like to replace the United States dollar as the 
international medium of exchange as well.
  What else is an actual physical problem when you have the kind of 
debt and deficit spending that we have is that you cannot pay to 
replace and maintain your internal infrastructure, and we see that 
today. Bridges, roads, airports, all of these need maintenance. They 
need upkeep. They need expansion. We need new roads. We need new 
highways, but we can't pay for it, because we are going to be in a 
position of being overextended. That places us at risk, because you do 
need internal infrastructure.
  Madam Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield to my good friend, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho).
  Mr. YOHO. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague, Mr. 
Biggs from Arizona, for yielding. This is such an important topic that 
we are talking about, national debt.
  I remember when I came to Congress in 2013, Admiral Mullen said that 
the biggest threat to America is our national debt. Hillary Clinton, 
Secretary of State at the time, said she agreed with that. One of the 
few times I have agreed with Mrs. Clinton.
  But national debt today is $22 trillion. When I came into Congress, 
it was $14.5 trillion. When President Reagan left office, it was about 
$2.5 trillion. It doesn't matter who is in the White House. Our debt is 
going up until this body, Congress, addresses our debt.
  If you do a pie chart of our debt, 71 percent of our debt is 
mandatory spending, 29 percent is discretionary. Discretionary was 
described to me as the money we have left over at the end of the month 
after we pay all of our bills. That is discretionary.
  The interesting thing is, in 1964, those numbers were reversed. 
Mandatory spending was 29 percent, discretionary was 71 percent. So we 
were a cash-rich Nation. We could do things. We could do a space 
program. We could do the infrastructure bills that we did that this 
Nation needed.
  Today, that is flipped around to where 71 percent of every dollar 
this government takes in is already spent. We don't vote on that in 
Congress. Those are things that happen without us. The only things we 
vote and we shut the government down on is that 29 percent.
  If we do not address our mandatory spending, mandatory spending will 
address us as a Nation.
  I was on an interview, and they said, well, President Obama doesn't 
want to mess with mandatory spending, which is Social Security, 
Medicare, Medicaid, interest on our debt, retirement programs for our 
Federal employees. And I reminded the interviewer, and they said this 
about President Trump: He doesn't want to deal with mandatory spending.
  I said: I understand that. But either this President or the next 
President deals with mandatory spending or mandatory spending will 
dictate to this Nation what we have to cut, and those are called 
austerity measures.
  All you have to do is look at Puerto Rico, Spain, Portugal, Greece, 
where they had mandatory austerity measures where programs were cut, 
and they were cut by other governments that controlled their debt.
  Today, about 30 percent of our debt is controlled by foreign nations, 
the other 70 percent, the American taxpayer owns, but it would be 
tragic to allow us in this body to allow another nation to say: You 
have got to get rid of that program.
  That is unconscionable. It is irresponsible of us. And if we do not 
deal with that debt, that debt will deal with us.
  Madam Speaker, this is something I appreciate Mr. Biggs standing up 
and having this Special Order on. This is something we talk about 
repeatedly in our district. We have town halls on this.
  When you look at the discretionary spending, that is the stuff that 
runs all of government outside of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, 
the retirement programs. That means the Department of Defense. That 
means the Department of Education, Justice, the Department of Homeland 
Security. All the research money that goes into our research 
universities comes out of the discretionary funding of government.
  I am telling you, as a Nation, if we do not address this, this Nation 
will not survive, and history will repeat itself from great countries 
that have lasted for a period of time. They have always come to a 
demise, and it was because they haven't paid attention to the things 
that are the very basic.

  Madam Speaker, I appreciate my colleague for bringing this up. This 
is something that repeatedly--if you look at this Congress, the 
Democrats have been in charge of the House since January 2 or 3. We 
don't have a budget. We haven't addressed anything dealing with debt. 
But they have spent a lot of time dealing with President Trump and 
trying to remove him from office and finding out reasons why he 
shouldn't be the President. Madam Speaker, we as Americans need to come 
together and deal with the debt, and I appreciate the gentleman's 
efforts.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Florida for taking 
time to come down and give us his insight on this monumental problem.
  One of the things that he talked about, Madam Speaker, is that we 
have got to take care of our processes, our procedures. He is right. It 
doesn't matter whether it is Republican or Democrat; our processes have 
been broken.
  I can't even begin to tell you. I have been here a little over 2 
years. I bet you we have done a dozen and a half short-term spending 
bills, continuing resolutions. I bet it is that many. It seems to me 
like that many. I think we did three government shutdowns last year. I 
don't know when the next one is going to be. It wouldn't surprise me if 
it was 2 weeks from now, whenever it is. But the reason we do those 
things is because our budget process fails.
  I remember sitting in a meeting and I heard someone say: We have got 
a 10-year budget plan to balance our budget. And I heard somebody else 
stand up and say: Well, I have been here 10 years. Ten years ago, I was 
told we had a 10-year budget plan, so we ought to be up to snuff. We 
ought to be balanced by now, because it is 10 years since that 10-year 
budget plan.
  I think it was Mr. Yoho who said that.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back to Mr. Yoho.
  Mr. YOHO. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman yielding, because 
I came here and they said: Well, don't worry about this, because this 
will balance in 5 years or this will balance in 10 years.
  And I laugh, but I shouldn't be laughing. We should be crying, 
because here I am, 7 years, and guess what: It will balance in 10 
years.
  It will not balance. And, again, it is up to us, the Members of the 
House and the Senate, because we control the purse strings. But we have 
done a terrible job at it, and it goes back to leadership on both 
sides.
  This is something that should not be a partisan issue. This is 
something that should be an American issue, because America is at stake 
here. It is not a Republican Party or a Democratic Party. We don't 
serve a party is what I tell people in my district, and I am sure you 
do the same thing. I serve a Nation, and that Nation is the greatest 
Nation on Earth. If we don't get our

[[Page H2226]]

fiscal house in order, this Nation will not be the Nation it is.
  So, again, I don't think it will balance in 10 years. It won't 
balance in 20 years unless we change the dynamics, and they need to 
change now.
  Mr. BIGGS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.
  Madam Speaker, reclaiming my time from the gentleman from Florida, 
when we look at that and the promises constantly, this is getting to my 
point: The process needs to get back to regular order. It needs to get 
back to 12 individual bills--this is what we talked about--12 
individual bills that go through a process where there is debate; there 
are amendments; there is discussion; and there is accountability.
  Nothing provides more accountability than bills that have single 
subjects; nothing provides more transparency than bills that have 
single subjects; and nothing allows the American people to see what we 
are doing in Congress like single subjects.
  So when you take 12 subjects, which are your budget bills, and you 
combine 3 or 4 of them into a minibus and 6 or 7 into an omnibus, and 
you say vote on these things--usually we are given just a short period 
of time to read those things and analyze them anyway; usually they come 
in under some closed rule or some highly structured rule--well, you are 
preventing a couple of things:
  Number one, we are not going to get to a balanced budget because, 
ultimately, what you are also preventing is accountability, because 
when the American people can see how you voted in a single area on a 
single issue, they know whether they agree with you or not. They know 
whether you should be doing that, and they will let you know. They give 
you the feedback. That is the accountability that we need if we are 
going to balance this budget over time and correct our course.
  Now, there is an economic theory called path dependence. Sometimes it 
is called increasing returns. Kenneth Arrow wrote a lot about this, and 
what it boils down to is this: It is an analysis, really, of why 
decisionmakers make suboptimum decisions and then persist on the course 
even after they know it is a suboptimum decision.
  Well, what typically happens is regimes and institutions are built 
up. There is feedback, and people will persist on that because they are 
building up regimes and institutions; and, ultimately, they have 
propelled themselves so far down, they are what we call locked in. To 
exit that path, the cost is so high that they don't want to exit that 
suboptimal path and move to a more optimal path.
  But I am here to tell you tonight that as long as we stay on this 
suboptimal path where we don't have these 12 budget bills, we don't get 
back to regular order in budgeting, as long as we do CRs and then claim 
that we have done a normal budgeting path when we have created 
cromnibus bills or omnibus bills or minibus bills, we are not going to 
be able to exit the path that we are on.
  If we are going to sustain this Nation, we are going to need to exit 
the path that we are on and move to a more optimal path.

                              {time}  1945

  That is really what this resolution is about. It is encouraging 
people from both sides of the aisle. I am not blaming one side or the 
other. I am just saying that if we are going to get this done, 
everybody in this House has to look internally. Everybody in this House 
needs to say: What are we doing with our process? Everybody needs to 
recognize that if we continue on this path, at some point there is no 
more path to run down.
  We just heard from a series of speakers that the numbers go up and, 
at some point, you reach a tipping point, and that tipping point says 
you cannot go forward. I would rather we move over to a suboptimal path 
now and pay that price, which is typically a short-term, corrective 
price. In the scheme of things, it may take longer than just a short-
term, but we have to move over because, if we don't, our choices are 
taken away from us.
  I will tell you that if we would have gotten on the path 2 years ago, 
we would have had more choices and more options. Every day we go 
further down this path, the fewer options we have until the end. Mr. 
Yoho is correct, and all of my friends who have spoken tonight were 
correct, and the more than 50 cosponsors here, they are all correct: If 
we don't do something, it will be imposed upon us.
  If it is imposed upon us, we won't have control. We will not be able 
to handle this in a way where we hurt the fewest people, where we can 
feather the landing as much as possible, where we can maintain our 
economic status, where people can still find jobs, and where people can 
achieve the American Dream that they perceive that they want to 
achieve. Those things get taken away from us because, ultimately, this 
country is built on individual freedom and individual accountability.
  If we have to take that horrible measure of receiving something like 
our debts being called in, or we can't find lenders, or the cost of our 
loans--imagine if the cost of our debt today would just move up a 
couple of points--imagine what that would look like. If we can't do 
this of our own volition, we will be subject to someone else's will and 
the very essence of the American Dream--individual freedom and 
individual accountability--will go away. And why? Because that 
accountability will be foisted upon us by coercive forces.
  Madam Speaker, I conclude tonight with gratitude to the 50-some-odd 
men and women who have signed on to this resolution. I implore all in 
this body to join myself, to join me, to join Senator Perdue and those 
who have signed on and sponsored a companion resolution in the Senate, 
and let's make the hard choices today so that we might preserve the 
freedoms for our children and grandchildren.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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