[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 140 (Thursday, August 5, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S5926]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE NATIONAL DEBT

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, the Senate is considering an infrastructure 
bill, and I am glad we are. For too long, Americans have been compelled 
to send their tax dollars overseas to improve the infrastructure of 
other countries. I have been fighting, for several years, to invest in 
infrastructure here at home, which is why I find it frustrating that 
the very people who celebrate this package today actually opposed my 
efforts in the past.
  We have a short memory here in the Senate. Only 2 years ago, I 
offered my Penny Plan for Infrastructure for a vote. My plan would have 
invested nearly $40 billion in infrastructure over those 2 years. In 
those 2 years, nearly 20,000 miles of roads could have been resurfaced. 
Instead, those investments weren't made and 2 additional years of wear 
and tear passed by.
  The parade of Senators coming to the floor and expounding upon the 
urgency of this package is nothing less than shocking, particularly 
when those same Members voted against 20,000 miles of resurfaced roads 
only a short time ago.
  The Penny Plan was not my only effort to invest in infrastructure. 
Six years ago, I worked on a bipartisan package that would have made $ 
130 billion available for infrastructure. Had my plan been enacted into 
law, Americans would now be driving on 130 thousand miles of new roads.
  So, why for more than 5 years have my infrastructure proposals been 
stifled? For only one reason: each of my proposals were paid for.
  And if there is only one thing Congress always agrees on: never pay 
for any new spending. Ever.
  Proponents of this bill claim it is paid for. And by using budgetary 
gimmicks, they hope they will erect enough smoke and mirrors to obscure 
this bill's enormous price tag. But this $1.2 trillion bill is not paid 
for. And, perhaps the most alarming part of the cost, is the authors of 
this bill know it is not paid for. And we know that because they wrote 
the bill so as to exempt it from rules that require the bill be paid 
for.
  You see, Congress passed a law back in 2010 mandating that new 
spending has to be paid for. That law is called statutory pay-go, or 
pay as you go. And if Congress can't help itself and refuses to offset 
the cost of new spending, pay-go is enforced by an automatic cut to 
spending elsewhere.
  But Congress rarely adheres to its own rules. Instead, Congress 
waived pay-go more than 60 times over the past decade and added over 
$10 trillion to our debt.
  This time is no different. This bill, which its proponents say is 
paid for, also carries a provision that says pay-go won't apply to it.
  The only way to ensure Congress adheres to pay-go is through a point 
of order. If this bill is actually paid for, then you should have no 
trouble supporting the point of order. But if you vote to waive the 
point of order, if you vote to exempt Congress from its own rule 
requiring that we be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, then stop 
telling people something you know is not true. The truth is, this bill 
is not paid for.
  And every American should ask a simple question: Why won't Congress 
obey its own rules?
  This bill plus the next pork-laden bill will add trillions of dollars 
of new debt. We are adding debt at an unprecedented pace. There will be 
repercussions. A day of reckoning awaits.
  But today there is a choice to make. A vote for the point of order is 
a vote not to keep adding debt.
  I urge my colleagues to vote with me to stop the bleeding, to stop 
the red ink that threatens our country's future.

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