[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 15, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H3830-H3835]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REPUBLICAN STUDY COMMITTEE BUDGET
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2019, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Banks) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
General Leave
Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their
remarks.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Indiana?
There was no objection.
Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, Mike Mullen, called our national debt ``the single biggest
threat to national security.''
Since then, we have added more than $7 trillion more in red ink. Our
national debt today stands at $22 trillion, and it is only getting
worse.
The Congressional Budget Office is projecting trillion-dollar
deficits in perpetuity. These deficits will leave future generations
like my daughter's generation saddled with higher taxes, stagnant
growth, and a lower standard of living. This is simply unacceptable.
Thankfully, pro-growth policies implemented by President Trump and
congressional Republicans have led to a booming economy with 3.2
percent GDP growth and unemployment below 4 percent.
Our strong economy provides Congress a unique opportunity to tackle
this problem, but bold leadership is required to do so.
Unfortunately, it is clear that there will be no such leadership from
the Democrats. The Democrats have failed to perform the most basic
function of government, which is passing a budget. In fact, they have
not even bothered to bring a budget to the floor for a vote. Why, you
might ask? Because the radical left is now in control of the Democratic
agenda and demanding trillions of dollars in additional spending for
programs like the Green New Deal, which aims to eliminate everything
from air travel to requiring every single building in the United States
to be rebuilt or upgraded, banning farting cows, and will cost upwards
of $92 trillion to implement; or, another budget-busting initiative
like Medicare-for-all, which would increase government spending by $32
trillion over the next decade.
{time} 1715
Think about that for a moment. The Democrats look at $22 trillion in
debt,
[[Page H3831]]
trillion-dollar deficits, and think that we aren't spending enough
already of our taxpayer dollars.
Thankfully, the Republican Study Committee is here to do something
about it, and we have taken the challenge head-on.
As chairman of the Republican Study Committee's Budget and Spending
Task Force, I am very proud to have worked with a task force of eight
of my colleagues, as well as the rest of our 141-member strong
Republican Study Committee, to produce the ``Preserving American
Freedom'' budget resolution.
This budget reduces government debt by cutting $12.6 trillion in
wasteful spending over the next 10 years.
It ensures permanent solvency for Medicare and Social Security so
that these programs will exist for the seniors who rely on them today,
as well as for future generations.
It repeals ObamaCare and gives unprecedented control to the States to
design healthcare programs that fit the unique needs of their citizens.
It reforms welfare to move more people into employment with a sense
of purpose and self-reliance.
Finally, it matches President Trump's commitment to national security
by fully funding the border wall and making the necessary investments
in our military to ensure the safety of the American people from
foreign threats.
The ``Preserving American Freedom'' budget is the only serious
proposal from Congress to address Washington's addiction to spending
and a bloated and growing national debt. I am very proud to have led
the RSC's effort to tackle this generational challenge and ensure a
brighter future for all Americans.
Madam Speaker, tonight, we are going to hear from some of my
colleagues about this very important budget proposal and what we can do
to address fiscal responsibility so desperately needed in Washington,
D.C.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Cloud).
Mr. CLOUD. Madam Speaker, I am rising also to join my coworkers in
advocating for fiscal responsibility as Congress seeks to craft a
budget.
The RSC budget is bold, and I am pleased to see it include such
proposals as requiring the Congressional Budget Office to account for
debt servicing in the cost estimates they prepare for Congress. My
bill, H.R. 638, the Cost Estimates Improvement Act, would do that very
thing.
Before legislation passes either the House or the Senate, lawmakers
should know how much it will actually cost. This would seem to go
without saying, but lawmakers consistently overlook one key cost, the
new interest payments their spending will create. Folks back home
understand how important this is, that we should be honest about the
true cost of spending.
If you were budgeting for monthly car payments and only considered
the list price of the car itself and didn't factor in the extra cost of
interest payments, you would later discover that the total cost is more
than you could afford. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Congress
does when considering new spending.
Congress relies on the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and
the Joint Committee on Taxation to estimate the cost of legislation.
But Congress does not require either of them to include the cost of
servicing the additional debt that is created by authorizing or
reauthorizing spending. This results in an incomplete picture of the
total actual cost.
Servicing national debt is becoming a substantial part of Federal
spending. Within just a few years, our Nation will be spending more on
interest payments than on the entire Department of Defense. This should
alarm all of us, as this will increasingly crowd out other spending
priorities.
I introduced H.R. 638, the Cost Estimates Improvement Act, to address
these problems by requiring the Congressional Budget Office and the
Joint Committee on Taxation to add the cost of servicing the debt to
the cost estimates of any future legislation.
In essence, Congress is not considering the comprehensive budgetary
impact of spending and tax proposals. This distorts congressional
decisionmaking in favor of more spending and debt accumulation.
Congress routinely ignores the true costs and overstates the benefits
of new spending. The American people have to account for the cost of
debt in their family budgets, and providing Congress with accurate cost
estimates that include the cost of debt servicing is a commonsense
reform that would hold Congress to the same standard, forcing lawmakers
to reckon with the actual cost of raising our national debt.
Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr.
Mitchell), my good friend and fellow classmate of the last
congressional class, a great conservative leader in the Congress.
Mr. MITCHELL. Madam Speaker, I thank the budget action team chair for
this fine work and for yielding time.
We should be debating right now in Congress a budget. We should be
debating ideas from the Democrats, ideas from the Republicans, the RSC
budget. We should be doing that to develop a road map for the current
year and for future years for appropriations, what our priorities are.
You will note that we are talking about it, but it is pretty quiet
down here today. Why? Because, unfortunately, the leadership of the
Democratic Party has been unable to produce a budget. They can't agree,
even among themselves, what a budget should be.
I spent 35 years in private business. Budgets are pretty basic.
Without them, I don't know how you operate. Apparently, we are going to
try, and that is unfortunate.
My focus tonight is on the Federal budgeting and appropriations
process and what we need to do to fix it. We can fix individual items
in our budget, but long term, we need to fix the process, or we are, in
fact, as noted earlier by Mr. Cloud, doomed for some pretty dire
outcomes.
The Federal budget and appropriations restraints under current law
are totally ineffective. They simply do not work. And you know what? We
can fix this.
Virtually all Federal spending right now is mandatory. Two-thirds of
what we spend every year is called mandatory spending. It is on
autopilot.
Let me give you some examples of what that means. $2,523 billion is
mandatory. Our interest payments in 2018 will be $325 billion. I want
you to stop and think about what a massive number that is.
The Federal debt crossed $22 trillion last year. It now exceeds the
entire annual production of the United States and equates to more than
$67,000 for every American in this country. Over the next 10 years,
interest alone on the Federal debt will be the third largest Federal
expenditure.
Now, at home, if that was what you were dealing with, you would be
calling a debt counselor. If your interest payment alone was the third
highest expenditure you had--never mind principal, just the interest--
you are in serious trouble. Here, we call it government.
This process robs the American people of their voice, their
representation. Long term, it will rob them of the basic opportunity
for services if we don't get this under control.
The RSC ``Preserving American Freedom'' budget proposal and what I
propose address that issue.
First and foremost, we must address what is called mandatory
spending. Mandatory spending has taken on this huge component. As I
said, it is two-thirds of Federal expenditures.
We need to move everything except Social Security, Medicare, and
TRICARE to discretionary spending and require everybody in this room
and this building to vote, to put their priorities forward, rather than
have it be on autopilot.
The second thing we need to do is not have it simply be whatever we
spent last year. How much more are we going to spend? We need to
require zero-based budgeting of all agencies every few years--maybe 3
years because they are so big, frankly--where they have to justify down
to the penny what they are spending money on. Because you know what a
budget cut is in Washington? A budget cut in Washington is you get less
money than the increase you asked for and they tell you they took a
budget cut.
I spent 35 years in private business. A budget cut means you actually
spend less than what you spent last year. You
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spend less money, less real cash, not that you didn't get as much as
you asked for.
Frankly, that is like my teenagers and allowance. Well, you cut my
budget. No, I didn't give you as much as you asked for.
Second, the next thing we need to do is we need to use a 51-vote
requirement for budgets, 51 votes to pass a budget, a simple majority.
We need to say 51 votes to make any change in discretionary outlays.
That way, in fact, we can manage our budget appropriations and not have
the system manage us, not have the Senate decide no, we need 60 votes,
and we just go along our merry way, putting out money hand over fist.
Additionally, we need to change a few rules about how we manage
ourselves. We need to require there be no recess until budget
appropriations are completed. Everyone stays here. Frankly, I think we
just lock the doors and stay here till we get it done because, far too
often, we will just do a continuing resolution.
You would be disgusted at the number of continuing resolutions that
happen for a week, 3 days. All these continuing resolutions, all we do
is spend the same money. So, sorry, no recess until we get it done.
Additionally, we need to withhold the pay for all Members of Congress
until we get the job done, until there are budget and appropriations
resolutions done for the year.
When we hit the time that we should be funded already for the year,
if it is not done, everyone on the payroll here that is a Member of
Congress doesn't get paid, because I know how to get folks' attention
after 35 years in private business.
There is one way to put it: Follow the money. Other ways are not
appropriate on the floor of the House, but you have the idea.
We have to address this issue. The only way to address this is to get
our appropriations under control.
One of the things I proposed, in conjunction with another Member, is
the Protecting Our Children's Future Act, which talks about these
changes that must be made in how we do budgeting and appropriations in
a process. Otherwise, we just do the same thing over and over again
here in Congress, and that, Madam Speaker, is the perfect definition of
insanity.
I appreciate the time to talk about something I think is so urgent
because, without this fundamental change, we are tilting at windmills.
We need to make this change sooner than later.
Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, what I hear from Hoosiers all over my
district is that they sent their Representatives here to bring back
fiscal sanity, to balance our budget. That is what hardworking Hoosier
families do every day.
It is what they have come to find in their State legislature in my
great home State of Indiana as well. Indiana has a balanced budget
amendment. We have legislators who go to the State house and pass
fiscally responsible budgets every 2 years.
It was a pleasure of mine for 6 years to serve with the next speaker,
somebody who is a true American hero and one of the great conservative
leaders of this freshman class in the new Congress.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Baird).
Mr. BAIRD. Madam Speaker, I rise today to offer my support for the
RSC 2020 budget.
I have a copy of that here, so I encourage everyone to take the
opportunity to study it and look for those positive aspects that are
important that Congressman Banks and his team put together to have a
balanced budget.
It reduces Federal spending by over $12 trillion in the next decade
and balances our Federal budget in the next 6 years.
As the gentleman mentioned, the State of Indiana passed an amendment
to the constitution in 2018 to require our budgets to balance, and
Hoosiers have enjoyed a balanced State budget since 2012.
We are among a minority of States that have a Triple-A credit rating,
and Indiana has cut 15 different taxes while still balancing our budget
and funding key State priorities.
This proposed budget addresses out-of-control spending and rightfully
aims to significantly decrease our national debt. We are $22 trillion
in debt as a Nation. That is not my money. That is money that belongs
to the taxpayers. Because we have been paying interest on this debt for
decades, it is really the money of our next generation of American
taxpayers, our kids and our grandchildren.
Madam Speaker, I am proud of what Hoosiers have been able to do in
our State, and I will continue to fight for that same Hoosier common
sense here in D.C.
{time} 1730
Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, the State of Indiana has so much to be
proud of. Indiana provides a road map for the rest of the Nation when
it comes to fiscal responsibility.
There are few leaders in the House of Representatives who do as much
for the conservative cause and promote fiscal responsibility as
Representative Hice from the great State of Georgia.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Hice).
Mr. HICE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend for
yielding, and I appreciate those kind words.
Madam Speaker, I rise with my colleagues this evening in support of
the Republican Study Committee budget for 2020.
Here in Congress, there are immense problems and vast issues that we
deal with, and sometimes they can feel overwhelming. For that reason,
it is important that we have a purpose, that we have a vision, that we
have a pathway to get us out of some of the issues that we face and to
give us a sense of purpose for getting through those things, a
playbook, if you will.
Madam Speaker, I just want to publicly commend my colleagues who have
labored so diligently to put together this draft. I especially want to
recognize the RSC chairman, Mike Johnson, and the Spending Task Force
chairman, Jim Banks, my good friend. Their leadership has been
invaluable, and we are deeply appreciative to all of them.
I am particularly pleased that in this budget they have included a
proposal to eliminate official time. This is something I have been
working on for a long time.
For those who may not be familiar with it, official time allows a
Federal employee who is part of a union to conduct union activities in
the course of their workday even if that means not doing the job that
they were hired to do.
In many cases, people are hired to do a job and yet 100 percent of
their time is spent doing Federal union activities, and so the taxpayer
is paying these people to do a job which they are not doing. It ends up
these agencies have to hire someone else to do a job while the first
individual is doing union activities rather than that for which they
were hired.
Over the years since I have been here, I have personally tried to cut
some of the official time usage. That didn't work. We have tried
diligently to reform official time, to no avail. We have even tried to
just provide some degree of transparency, and yet in every attempt,
everything that we have tried to do, we have faced tremendous
opposition both from Federal employee unions and many of their allies
here in Congress.
Make no mistake, the opposition is real; it is strong; it is
entrenched in this place. And yet we have got to continue to move
forward. We have got to try to address these issues.
The Federal bureaucracy has tremendous power and influence over our
lives, and yet in this case of official time, there is little to no
transparency or accountability.
To add to the problem, it is virtually impossible to remove a Federal
employee. According to the GAO, the Government Accountability Office,
it can take between 170 and 370 days to remove a bad actor, a bad
worker in a Federal position, and this is because of the appeals
process, grievances that can be filed, complaints that just drag on and
on and on.
There are thousands, by the way, of Federal employees who agree with
me. Recently, a survey found that 31 percent of Federal employees feel
that there are few to little steps taken to remove or deal with poor-
performing employees in the Federal Government.
So, Madam Speaker, we need to restore fiscal sanity around here. We
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need to enforce accountability and instill transparency in our Federal
Government, and I believe this RSC budget is a step in that direction.
It rises in stark contrast to the nonexistent budget of the Democratic
majority.
So with that, again, I thank my friend for yielding to me.
Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments
tonight.
Madam Speaker, as I said before, there are 140 members of the
Republican Study Committee. Many of those 140 members are new freshman
Members who were elected just beginning of this Congress, who are
conservative Members who stepped up to the plate to preach fiscal
responsibility, to keep the commitments that they made on the campaign
trail. One of those new Members is my colleague and friend,
Representative Hern from Oklahoma.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Kevin
Hern).
Mr. KEVIN HERN of Oklahoma. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for
yielding.
Madam Speaker, I stand with my colleagues today to stress the
importance of fiscal health in our country.
There is a very real problem here. If we don't address it, we are
condemning our children to doom.
My colleagues across the aisle like to use the 12 years left
hyperbole to talk about the necessity to act on climate change, but
they ignore the fiscal cliff we are standing on, a much more imminent
threat to the well-being of our country and our people.
Instead of addressing the debt crisis, the Democrat majority chose
not to draft a budget at all this year. That tells us all we need to
know about their priorities.
Speaker Pelosi herself said: Show me your budget, and I will show you
your values.
So, without a budget, what are the majority's values?
The RSC budget addresses our deficits and aims to balance by 2025.
This budget refocuses spending on our core constitutional
responsibilities and limits the growth of government.
Forty-nine out of the 50 United States are required to have a
balanced budget, but the Federal Government does not have that
requirement. A budget that balances is the first and most important
step towards financial well-being for our country.
I spent more than 30 years as a business owner before coming to
Congress. In the business world, a company will fail if they
continually spend more money than they bring in. You just can't do it.
That is a foreign concept to many of my colleagues here. In fact,
several people in this building believe that the best way to address
our debt is to ignore its existence entirely. That is just simply
ridiculous. Problems don't just disappear. They don't disappear for you
or me. You have to take corrective action, and this budget does just
that.
The former Secretary of Defense, General James Mattis, testified that
our national debt is the greatest threat to our democracy. It is rather
chilling that we borrow money from other nations to fund things like
our military, who then must protect us from the very nations that we
borrow money from.
We can only defend ourselves on borrowed money for so long. What
happens when we run out of other people's money?
I find it interesting that Democrats only seem to care about our debt
after we start putting taxpayer dollars back in people's pockets. No
one is talking about the fact that Democrat proposals coming from
Congress will, alone, cost over $100 trillion in new spending. Why
aren't we holding hearings about that?
This budget is the only budget put forward in the House so far. It
deserves our attention and our consideration because we are the only
ones trying to right the ship.
Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.
As the gentleman from Oklahoma said, the Republican Study Committee
budget is the only budget proposal on the table. It is the only
proposal that balances the budget, that begins to rein in wasteful
government spending and begins to pay down a disastrous $22 trillion
national debt.
There are few Members in this Congress whom I have served with who
have preached fiscal responsibility as much as my friend and my
colleague from Georgia (Mr. Allen).
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen).
Mr. ALLEN. Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Banks for yielding, for
the Special Order here this evening, for his leadership in crafting
this very important budget, and for this discussion we are having on it
tonight.
Madam Speaker, obviously, we have been waiting on a budget to vote on
in the United States Congress and have yet to see a budget. Then I
think we learned that there may not be a budget in the United States
Congress this year.
That is very hard to understand because we are spending $4 trillion
to $4.2 trillion. Two-thirds of that $4.2 trillion is mandatory
spending, which is basically on automatic pilot, and it is
skyrocketing. The biggest increases in our deficit are created by this
mandatory spending.
On the discretionary side, it is about a third of what we spend
totally. As far as discretionary spending goes, we have had some modest
increases.
For the first part of the time that I was in Congress, we basically
had budget caps, and, actually, discretionary spending was held to the
same level the entire time.
I think it is sad that we are financing our standard of living in my
generation on the backs of my children and their children and their
children and their children.
So what do we do about it?
I am very proud to talk about what Jim Banks and his leadership and
what the Republican Study Committee have done in presenting here this
evening. This budget exemplifies fiscal sanity and preserves American
freedom.
As most of you know, I spent my career in the running of small
businesses, starting out in the construction industry, then
participating in the banking industry and electronic medical records
and real estate development. I did this in conjunction with my wife,
Robin, as my partner.
Many times, we would sit down at the kitchen table, just like every
other American family, and we would map out a budget. I knew that
spending more than my means was simply out of the question.
Well, folks, why can't we do that here in Washington? We need more
fiscal common sense here in Washington, and the RSC fiscal year 2020
budget does just that.
Picture this: $12.6 trillion in total deficit reduction over 10
years, balancing the budget in just 6 years by 2025. On that fact
alone, I would hope that every Member of this body would offer their
support.
This budget also fosters a rewarding environment for economic growth
and job creation.
We have heard it over and over again from those who deal in
investments and deal with the economy and the growth of the economy
that the biggest wind at our face is this budget deficit. It is a
headwind. It is going to be a headwind against the growth of this
economy if we don't get serious about a budget.
This budget will give us that opportunity for economic growth and job
creation.
Right now, we have the best economy in the world: 263,000 jobs were
created last month, and over 7 million jobs are available throughout
this Nation, far exceeding the number of jobseekers.
I was so glad to work with my colleagues here in Congress the last 2
years and with the President in making this happen. But the American
people made it happen. All we did was provide an opportunity. We
reformed regulations and we passed a tax reform bill that gave the
economy a boost.
Frankly, in dealing with the budget deficit and going forward, our
only hope in this is to grow our economy. We must have GDP growth.
In a telephone townhall with constituents from Georgia's 12th
District last night, 73 percent of participants reported that our
economy is headed in the right direction. When I ran for Congress in
2014, 70 percent of the people in my district said that the economy was
going in the wrong direction, and we have flipped it.
However, a soaring economy also creates challenges. As we face
increasing workforce needs, this budget prioritizes moving Americans
off the sidelines and back into the workforce, rewarding work and
promoting innovation.
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Madam Speaker, I am the grandfather of 13 beautiful grandchildren,
and the last thing I want to do is leave an insurmountable debt behind
for our future generations. I strongly encourage all of my colleagues
to get onboard with the RSC budget to restore a sense of fiscal
responsibility to Washington. Our future depends on it.
Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia, a great
friend and a great conservative in the House of Representatives, for
being here tonight.
Madam Speaker, when the chairman of the Republican Study Committee,
Mike Johnson from Louisiana, asked me to take on this task as chairman
of the Budget and Spending Task Force, I was very proud to do so, not
just because I have enormous respect for Chairman Johnson as a
conservative leader in this Congress, but because of the stature and
reputation of the Republican Study Committee.
{time} 1745
At one point, our Vice President, from my home State, Mike Pence, one
of the greatest conservative leaders in this Nation, was chairman of
the Republican Study Committee. And so, too, was another man whom I
respect just as much, one of the greatest leaders in our Nation, the
Republican whip, Mr. Steve Scalise, from Louisiana, chair of the
Republican Study Committee, too. The reputation of RSC is important
because it is the conservative vehicle in the Congress to advance
conservative principles. No one does that more on a daily basis than my
friend from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise).
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise).
Mr. SCALISE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana for
yielding and for his kind words, too, especially. He has been a great
friend and a great leader on this front. I want to commend him for
taking on the task of putting together a budget, Madam Speaker, that
confronts some of the challenges that our country is facing in a way
that not only protects those promises that were made, for example, to
seniors.
Seniors were promised the safety net of Medicare, and yet, if we do
nothing--and there are some suggesting that we leave Medicare where it
is today--it actually goes bankrupt, Madam Speaker, in the next 8
years. It would be irresponsible for us, as Members of Congress, to sit
back and say we are afraid to confront these important issues, because
failing to confront them literally would lead to a bankrupt program for
seniors today and a broken promise by the Federal Government to those
seniors.
So we save Medicare from bankruptcy and, in fact, we do it in a way
that nothing changes for current seniors. In fact, the only thing that
would change is if we didn't do this, it would go bankrupt. So the
program is actually solvent again, not only for current seniors, but
for younger people, too, who don't think it will be there. In fact, it
won't be there for them the way it is for current seniors if we don't
make these bold reforms.
Madam Speaker, we also save the Social Security program, another
important promise made to people who work through their years and then
want to retire and have a safety net. And, today, maybe they have got a
lot of other means of savings, too. They might have 401(k)s, or they
might have a pension plan from their company. But they also paid into
that Social Security trust fund. And, again, if we do nothing, that
program goes bankrupt, as well. So we save that program, again, not
only for current seniors, but then for younger people. It will also be
there for them, too, generationally saving it.
Just like when Ronald Reagan worked with Tip O'Neill to save Social
Security from bankruptcy, they did it in a way that actually
strengthened the program. So for those people who want to hold their
head in the sand and say, don't do anything, not doing anything means
those two vital programs--Medicare and Social Security--would go bust
for seniors today. We can't let that happen.
Madam Speaker, I thank our leader, Mr. Banks, for doing that.
And then, again, we strengthen defense. We continue to build on the
reforms we have made to our economy so that we are able to create more
jobs, so that we repeal the death tax. We continue lowering taxes,
which has gotten such a great revolution in job creation and higher
wages for workers. The things that we are doing that are working, we
build upon those things and make this country even stronger and greater
for generations.
So while putting a budget together is tough--and I know the other
side hasn't even passed a budget out of committee, Madam Speaker--we,
with this RSC budget, have shown what bold conservative reforms can do
to strengthen programs like Medicare, like Social Security, encourage
innovation in failing programs, block granting Medicaid to States so
States can innovate, strengthening defense, and, again, building on the
great successes we are seeing in our economy so that wages can be
higher, and we protect people with preexisting conditions.
These are the kinds of things that people call on us to do. We come
here to Congress to do the big things, to tackle the tough problems in
a way where we protect people who count on us and actually strengthen
this country for future generations, so we can build on this great
American Dream.
Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, this Republican Study Committee budget
proposal was a gigantic effort: over 300 member proposals from the 141
members of the Republican Study Committee who offered ideas and
proposals to include in this budget proposal.
Over the past several weeks, we met on a weekly basis, almost a dozen
times, to put together this budget proposal, assembling a task force of
eight conservative members, who gathered on a weekly basis to comb
through the Federal budget to talk about ways that we could put forth
something that conservatives, not just in Congress but throughout the
country, could be very proud of.
I am really proud that, on our task force, we had Members who came
from different States, different perspectives, who had different ideas.
That made the effort stronger and, in the end, it allowed us to produce
a stronger budget proposal. One of those members, I am very proud to
say, is my friend, the representative from Florida, my colleague,
Representative Yoho.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Yoho).
Mr. YOHO. Madam Speaker, I appreciate the chairman of the RSC Budget
Committee for yielding to me, along with Chairman Mike Johnson, for
leading the way on this task. I thank all of my colleagues who
participated in this, and the RSC staff who did the hard work. They
were there every night and every day to bring this budget together--
Richard Stern, Jay, and Mark. Many times, they don't get recognized for
the work that they did, but yet they put in a lot of effort.
So why do a budget? Everybody asks, why do you guys worry about a
budget? Well, this House is tasked with the power of the purse. We are
the ones who are supposed to be in charge of a budget and spending the
people's money, because the American people care how we spend their
money. They want us to spend it smartly, prudently, and responsibly. If
you don't have a budget, can you do that?
We have got a budget. Right here, we have got a budget. This is a
budget. This is a good budget. We are at $22 trillion in debt. This
Nation is at $22 trillion in debt.
In the previous administration, we saw the debt double. This
administration, it will probably double again. And if a Democrat gets
in, or a Republican, it will probably double again. If this body does
not come together, not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans,
this problem will never be addressed. What happens is a political
divide happens because we can blame the other side for not doing what
they are supposed to.
We didn't have a budget last year and the Democrats don't have a
budget this year. So how serious is this body about correcting this?
The Republican Study Committee has a budget. This budget needs to be
looked at.
I was born in the fifties--1955--and I grew up during the sixties.
Our mandatory spending in this country was roughly 30 percent: 70
percent was discretionary spending. Do you know what that allows you to
do? That allows you to do an interstate system, and it allows you to
have a space program and have aspirations of going to
[[Page H3835]]
the Moon and coming back by a Democratic President who put country
above politics. We came together, and we did that because we could.
Do you know what? We can't do that today, because, today, 71 percent
of our spending is mandatory, and 29 percent is discretionary. But let
me tell you who can do that.
China can go to the Moon. China can do infrastructure. In fact, they
are doing it all over the world. Do you know why? Because they are cash
rich. We are cash poor. In fact, they hold a large portion of our debt.
Let me tell you what $22 trillion in debt is. If you take $22
trillion and divide it by 330 million Americans, roughly, that comes
down to $67,000, not per family, but per individual. So for 300 million
Americans, they are $67,000 in debt.
Is it my fault? Yeah, I guess so, because I am here. It is your
fault, it is their fault. If we are here, this is our generation's
fault, and this is something that we have to come together as Americans
to fix.
If we don't have a budget, can we fix a budget problem? If we don't
have a budget, can we acknowledge a problem?
As I pointed out, the other side doesn't have a budget. There is a
budget and if we come together as Americans and put down the crazy
politics of fighting one side over the other, we can fix the problems
of this country. We can fix education, we can fix healthcare, we can
fix infrastructure, and we can plan for a future brighter than today.
We can create a vision for this country 50 to 100 years down the road,
but we can't do it if we are fighting over budgetary problems in this
Nation.
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the honor to be able to be on this
committee. I hope it sinks into the other side that we come together,
and we come together as Americans.
Mr. BANKS. Madam Speaker, we need to confront this fiscal challenge
now, as it is no longer a far-off concern.
Currently, we are set to run trillion-dollar deficits in perpetuity.
The Social Security trust fund will be bankrupt by 2035. The Medicare
trust fund will be bankrupt by 2026. Without bold and immediate action,
this growing debt will condemn America to a future that is less
prosperous and less free.
My colleagues and I from the Republican Study Committee are
determined to make sure that this never materializes. The Republican
Study Committee preserving the American freedom budget would not only
prevent that bleak future, it would ensure even greater prosperity for
all Americans for years and generations to come.
I could not be prouder to lead this effort on behalf of the
Republican Study Committee and its 141 conservative members.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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