[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 150 (Monday, September 19, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H7956]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2015
                      FISCAL CRISIS FACING AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2021, the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Barr) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. BARR. Madam Speaker, I rise today in solidarity with the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Smucker), my good friend, to raise an 
important issue that my constituents, my friend from Pennsylvania and 
his constituents, and, frankly, constituents all over this country care 
about, and that is the state of the fiscal crisis facing our country 
right now.
  This is really not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. All 
hardworking American taxpayers of all political persuasions should be 
concerned about the state of the fiscal mess that we face in our 
country: a $31 trillion national debt that is literally burying our 
children and our grandchildren in a mountain of debt. This is 
mortgaging our future, and we need to get our fiscal house in order.
  The American taxpayer works hard for their income, and they deserve a 
government that lives within its means. That is why I am proud to stand 
shoulder to shoulder with my colleague Mr. Smucker, who will later 
highlight this issue of fiscal recklessness and the need to tighten our 
belts and to live within our means so that we do not continue to put 
this burden on our children and our grandchildren. We need to stop the 
spending spree and live within our means.
  Just to highlight how serious this problem is, Madam Speaker, it is 
not a lack of tax revenue. The issue is not that we don't tax the 
American people enough from Washington, D.C. The issue is that we are 
overspending.
  In fact, this year, the Federal Government has raised more revenue 
from taxes than in any period in history, and it is actually over a 
trillion dollars when you consider inflation, a trillion dollars more 
in tax revenue in inflation-adjusted terms.
  The problem with our debt and deficit is not that we are taxing the 
American people too little. The problem is that we are living beyond 
our means, spending well beyond our means, and it is not only 
threatening the future fiscal solvency of our country. This 
overspending, this addiction to deficit spending, has delivered a 
historic 40-year high inflation crisis. It has created excess demand. 
When combined with the constraints that this administration has put on 
energy production, it is a classic supply-demand mismatch, overspending 
creating excess demand, combined with constraining energy, a war on 
domestic energy production constraining the supply. That supply-demand 
mismatch has pushed up prices.
  What is the result of that, Madam Speaker? It means the Federal 
Reserve must engage in a precipitous quantitative tightening process. 
It must raise interest rates fast. It must engage in tightening 
monetary policy. What does that mean? Higher interest rates. And higher 
interest rates mean higher debt service costs. We have to pay higher 
interest on the national debt, which compounds the problem.
  The solution, Madam Speaker, for the fiscal policy policymakers, 
those of us in the Congress and the White House and the executive 
branch, is to start living within our means. Then and only then can we 
get our inflation crisis under control and the Federal Reserve can 
start lowering interest rates once again.
  Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his 
leadership in advocating for fiscal sanity in Washington and the 
restoration of fiscal responsibility. We need to exercise fiscal 
discipline and get this ship turned around.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________