[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 130 (Monday, July 26, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H3889]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         RETURN OF DEBT CEILING

  (Mr. BURCHETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURCHETT. Madam Speaker, the return of the debt ceiling on July 
31 should flash fiscal warning signs for every elected official in 
Congress.
  The debt ceiling was suspended for 2 years back in 2019. Since then, 
Congress has kept up its reckless spending habits like a teenage 
shopaholic at the mall with a credit card.
  Now, government debt is over 100 percent of our domestic product--100 
percent, Madam Speaker.
  We clearly ignored the spending problems that got us into this mess 
in the first place. There needs to be a limit on how much debt elected 
officials can put on the taxpayers' shoulders.
  My legislation, the Reforming America's Fiscal Toolkit Act, would 
amend Congress' budget process to keep government debt lower than our 
gross domestic product. This would limit how much financial trouble 
Congress can get the country into.
  You know what they say, Madam Speaker: The first step to solving a 
problem is recognizing you have a problem, and dadgummit, Congress has 
a problem.
  Congress needs to put a spending check on itself, or our country is 
going to end up like that out-of-control teenage shopaholic: bad 
credit, high interest rates, broke, and living in their parents' 
basement.

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