[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 139 (Wednesday, August 5, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4892-S4893]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             NATIONAL DEBT

  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I rise today to address a 
topic that Washington has been ignoring for decades. For years, 
Republicans fought against wasteful spending under the Obama 
administration. My party argued that our debt and deficits were 
unsustainable, and they were leaving a burden that our children and 
grandchildren simply can't afford. Unfortunately, my party has shown an 
almost equal disregard for the dangers of a growing national debt and 
annual deficits, as have the Democrats.
  Congress spends taxpayer money with no accountability--something you 
would never do in business or in your personal life--and our Federal 
Government is borrowing an unprecedented amount of money. Congress 
borrows money with no plan to pay it back. Our families and our 
businesses cannot do that. Congress is leaving debt for the next 
generation. Parents and grandparents don't do that.
  This year, between mid-March and late June, the Treasury's total 
borrowing rose by about $2.9 trillion, and the Federal Reserve's 
holdings of U.S. Treasury debt rose by about $1.6 trillion. The Federal 
Reserve is creating an artificial market for treasuries to keep 
interest rates low. This is not sustainable and will have dire 
consequences. There will come a time when they can't purchase any more 
treasuries and rates will increase.
  When the Federal Reserve can no longer keep interest rates low, 
everything from car loans to student loans

[[Page S4893]]

to mortgages become more expensive for the American people, and the 
interest on our debt, which is already the fourth largest expenditure 
in the Federal budget, will become our largest expenditure. For every 1 
percent increase in our interest rate, we are going to spend almost $2 
trillion over 10 years. That is more money the taxpayers get no return 
on.
  Even during the economic boom we were experiencing, our Federal 
Government could not live within its means. Our Federal Government was 
set to spend approximately $4.6 trillion while collecting only $3.6 
trillion in taxes in one of our greatest economies ever.
  Now, as we continue to address the coronavirus pandemic, the Federal 
Government this year will spend more than $7 trillion and collect much 
less than $3 trillion. The market is telling us that lenders are not 
confident this pandemic is being handled in a fiscally responsible 
manner. We are seeing the price of gold at a record high and the dollar 
devaluing, and this is just the beginning.
  Now Congress wants to spend more, even though we still don't know how 
much has already been spent from previous relief packages. What is 
happening in Washington, DC, is wrong. It is unfair to Americans who 
work hard every day to take care of their families.
  For months, I made a weekly video called ``Washington Waste 
Wednesday'' to highlight all the ways Washington is currently wasting 
taxpayer dollars. It wasn't hard to find examples. Officials in 
Washington have failed to make the tough decisions that will put our 
Nation on a fiscally successful path. It is the most inefficient place 
you can imagine.
  These poor choices mean a day of reckoning is coming. If our 
financial system comes crashing down because of excessive government 
spending and borrowing, history suggests we will have runaway 
inflation, with the price of goods skyrocketing. That will hurt the 
poorest families and those living on a fixed income. With inflation, 
fixed incomes will stay the same while the prices for necessities go up 
month after month. For hourly workers, wages will not grow fast enough 
to cover the ever-increasing costs of goods and services. This happened 
in the United States in the 1970s.
  Let's not forget about the mandatory spending programs that Congress 
takes no accountability for. Medicare is running out of money. When 
Medicare runs out of money in 2026, either doctors and hospitals will 
be paid significantly less or Medicare recipients will receive less 
care. Medicaid costs are increasing by about 5 percent a year. Social 
Security will run out of cash reserves by 2035. At that time there will 
be an automatic 20-percent reduction of Social Security payments.
  Our country is like a failing business without a plan. We can't 
accept this fate.
  I ran for Governor of Florida in 2010 because I could not stand to 
watch the fiscal mismanagement by politicians anymore. Over my 8 years 
as Governor, we made the tough choices to turn the State around. We 
grew the economy by over 30 percent, added almost 1.7 million new jobs, 
paid down almost one-third of State debt, and cut taxes by more than 
$10 billion. I was the first Governor in 20 years to actually pay down 
State debt.
  I ran for the U.S. Senate to do the same thing at the Federal level. 
I was tired of watching career politicians in Washington spend other 
people's money without a care. Washington seems to have forgotten that 
trillions of dollars in new spending means trillions in tax increases 
somewhere down the road. They want short-term solutions regardless of 
consequences.
  Career politicians say they care about you. When they run huge 
deficits, do they care about you?
  When they raise your taxes, do they care about you?
  When they overpromise benefits for Social Security without a funding 
source, do they care about you?
  When they overpromise Medicare benefits without a funding source, do 
they care about you?
  Maybe the intentions are good. Who knows? But, unfortunately, you 
can't pay for Social Security with good intentions. You can't pay for 
Medicare with good intentions. You can't build a lethal military with 
good intentions. And you can't open a business with just good 
intentions. These good intentions have created $27 trillion of debt 
that our children and grandchildren will have to answer for. Now they 
want to spend another $3 trillion. It is time to wake up.
  We can fix this and put our Nation on a fiscally responsible path. We 
fix this by doing what I did in Florida. We need to focus on growing 
the economy, cutting taxes and burdensome regulations, and streamlining 
permitting. We fix this by helping every American get a good job. We 
fix this with a focus on buying American, with the understanding that 
buying products made by our adversaries, like Communist China, hurts 
American jobs and manufacturing and threatens our national security. We 
fix this by making good trade deals with other freedom-loving 
countries, and we fix this by getting a return on every taxpayer dollar 
we spend.
  Turning around a failing business is hard. I have done that. Turning 
around a failing State is also hard--even harder. I have done that. 
Turning around the future of a nation sounds impossible, but it is not.
  If elected leaders don't want to do the hard work--and it is going to 
be hard--then they should go home. They can no longer hide behind the 
cowardice of political expediency.
  Politicians in Washington are afraid to tell you the truth, so here 
it is: If we want our country to survive and thrive and continue to be 
a beacon for freedom, prosperity, and hope around the world, we will 
need to make tough choices. We will need to be more productive, and we 
cannot rely on government programs paid for through more borrowing. We 
will need to reassert the fundamental principle of conservatism that 
the private sector and individuals--not the government--should be the 
driving forces behind our economic stability and success.
  As long as I am a Member of the U.S. Senate, I will fight to rein in 
the out-of-control spending that is putting our children's and our 
grandchildren's futures at risk.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Lankford). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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