[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 130 (Thursday, July 23, 2020)]
[House]
[Pages H3698-H3699]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF RON RICE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Arrington) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and celebrate the 
life, love, and special friendship of Ron Rice.
  He had a heart as big as the Texas Panhandle, and he was a friend as 
faithful as the west Texas sunrise. His signature contagious laugh can 
be heard from heaven even in this day of profound grief.
  But Uncle Ronnie, Joy, Tracey, Darren, and Rusty know what the 
Scripture tells us and what God promises: that to be absent from the 
body as a child of God is to be present with the Lord. So on this day, 
Mr. Speaker, we don't grieve as the world grieves. As the Scripture 
says, we should be pitied among all men if our hope is in this fallen 
world. No, sir. We rally around the Rice family today. We join them in 
thanking God and worshiping and praising God because Ron is home with 
his Lord and Savior, Jesus, in eternal happiness, joy unspeakable, and 
peace everlasting.
  God bless the Rice family.
  Guns up, Ron. You got the best seat in the House.


                         Reducing National Debt

  Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, Admiral Mullen was asked at a hearing 
what he thought the greatest threat to national security was. His 
response was powerful, simple, and very clear. He said the greatest 
threat to our national security is our national debt. I would add that 
it is not just a threat to our security, but it is a threat to our 
prosperity; it is a threat to the blessings of liberty and opportunity 
for our children; and it is a threat to domestic tranquility.
  There is not a greater threat that looms larger on the horizon. There 
is not a greater challenge in this 21st century and for my generation 
than the potential and the prospects of a sovereign debt crisis.
  We have no doubt experienced an unprecedented public health and 
economic disaster as a result of the pandemic. But if we don't commit 
to reducing our national debt, we will indeed face a crisis far graver 
than what could come out of this pandemic.
  We have experienced the largest generational retirement in history, 
runaway healthcare costs, and record spending. Discretionary, 
nondefense, and defense spending all have amassed a whopping $1 
trillion in debt. This is pre-COVID. That is $1 trillion in annual 
deficit spending, spending $1 trillion more on our Nation's priorities 
and our budget over what we have to spend.
  We have done that year in and year out, to the tune now of a $23-
trillion debt and climbing. This is pre-COVID, I want to remind you, 
Mr. Speaker.
  Prior to COVID and the trillions of dollars that we are spending, we 
were

[[Page H3699]]

on course to spend more to service our debt to bondholders like China 
than all of our national defense combined in less than 10 years.
  Now, the CBO has projected that we will add almost $4 trillion to our 
national debt by the end of this fiscal year. As a result, we put 
ourselves in a very, very tenuous position. We will exceed, Mr. 
Speaker, our debt per the size of our economy as it was in World War 
II, which was the largest debt position we ever held. We will set a 
very dangerous precedent for the next generation. We will put them in a 
very, very bad position.
  So, Scott Peters and I got 30 Democrats and 30 Republicans, and we 
picked a few budget reforms that would put us in a place and force 
Congress to reduce our debt and hand this country in a better fiscal 
position to our children.
  We sent a letter with these three initiatives and reforms to our 
leadership. We are imploring all of our colleagues and leadership from 
both Houses: Please seize this opportunity to include these budget 
process reforms so that, when we get through this crisis, we won't have 
to endure the ultimate crisis.
  We will not, Mr. Speaker, be able to bail out of that, print money, 
or borrow enough. It will be a disaster of epic proportions, so I 
implore my colleagues to please support budget process reforms in this 
next COVID legislation.

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