[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 15 (Tuesday, January 24, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S64-S66]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              DEBT CEILING

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, we have seen this movie before. The Senate 
finds itself in familiar territory. The United States narrowly avoided 
hitting the debt ceiling over a year ago, but now we are staring down 
the barrel of another debt crisis.
  The United States hit the debt limit last Thursday, according to the 
Secretary of Treasury, and now the Treasury is using what they refer 
to, euphemistically, as ``extraordinary measures'' in order to prevent 
the government from defaulting on its debts. Unless the Congress takes 
action in the coming months, the American economy will be confronted 
with an unprecedented crisis.
  But here is what I find strange: Despite the fact that we are 
hurtling toward this disaster, the White House seems completely 
disinterested in finding a solution. President Biden has drawn a 
redline. He said: We are not going to negotiate on the debt ceiling. In 
other words, he expects Congress to raise the debt ceiling with no 
conditions attached and let this reckless runaway spending and 
outrageous debt continue to rise.
  Now, I don't want to disparage drunken sailors, but it seems to me 
that that is the model for how the White House is responding.
  It is as if you or I were spending beyond our means on our credit 
card, and then the issuer of the credit card said: You know, you are 
going to have to pay the money back at some point.
  And you say: To heck with that. I want you to raise my credit limit 
even higher, without any demonstrated means or plan to actually pay the 
money back.
  We know what would happen for you and me is the issuer of the credit 
card would cancel our credit card, as well it should, if we responded 
the way that the White House is responding.
  So apparently what the administration plans to continue to do is 
continue this spending bender. It can't cover the current bills--now it 
is roughly $30 trillion--and it expects somebody, anybody, maybe 
nobody, to pay the money back and to deal with this ever-growing 
national debt.
  We know this is an even bigger problem in inflationary times because 
the more money the Federal Government continues to spend, it is like 
throwing gasoline on inflation, and consumers have already experienced 
sky-high prices--some of the highest prices in 40 years--on everything 
from gasoline to food, to housing, and to the essentials of life.
  So why in the world does it make sense for the administration to say: 
We are not even going to talk; we are not even going to negotiate with 
the House when it comes to the debt ceiling. We are just going to keep 
spending as much money as we can, racking up more and more debt.
  I know that President Biden has children and grandchildren. Is he 
concerned for their welfare?
  We are writing checks that we are not going to have to pay back, Mr. 
President. You and I are at the age where this bird is not going to 
come home to roost in our lifetime, but it will in the lifetimes of our 
children and grandchildren, including those of President Biden.
  So how responsible--or I should say how irresponsible--is it for the 
President to say: We are just going to keep on keeping on, and we are 
not even going to talk about what we need to do to deal with this 
mounting debt. We are not even going to entertain any reasonable ideas 
or suggestions about how we dig our way out of this hole.
  Well, the American people witnessed our Democratic colleagues' 
wasteful spending over the last 2 years and chose a new direction in 
the midterm elections that gave Republicans the House after 2 years in 
which our Democratic colleagues spent $1.9 trillion on the so-called 
American Rescue Plan and then another 700-or-so billion dollars on the 
so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which, by the way, doesn't reduce 
inflation, but that is what it is called.
  In response, the voters gave Republicans the majority in the House. I 
can only imagine that part of that was a response to what they saw as a 
reckless spending binge that was going to continue without end if they 
maintained Democratic control of both Houses and the White House.
  So the new reality of divided government means there is only one path 
we can take to avoiding a debt bomb: Republicans and Democrats have to 
reach a compromise.
  I know the Presiding Officer believes that part of our responsibility 
is to negotiate and try to come up with common ground where we can and 
not simply to give the Heisman to one another and say we are not even 
going to talk.
  I don't know why we are here as Members of Congress or why you would 
want to be President of the United States when you would see such a big 
problem growing bigger by the day and say: Forget it. I am not talking. 
I am not going to try to solve the problem. That is somebody else's 
issue; that is not ours.

[[Page S65]]

  I don't believe that is a responsible reaction, and I don't think 
most Members of Congress think it is a responsible reaction, but that 
is where we are today, but it needs to change.
  As we know, the reality of Republican control of the House means that 
the negotiation on the debt ceiling--and there has to be a 
negotiation--in reality, has to be between the House and the White 
House. Nothing we do here that would get 60 votes would pass the House, 
I believe. I think that is pretty clear.
  But in order to avoid a catastrophe, a bill not only has to pass the 
House, it needs to get 60 votes in the Senate and the President's 
signature. Those are the facts.
  Now, drawing unreasonable lines in the sand and issuing ultimatums do 
nothing to solve the problem. Instead of doling out marching orders, 
the President needs to do his job and listen to what is being proposed 
and to negotiate a solution.
  Nobody I know of thinks that breaching the debt ceiling is an 
acceptable outcome. If that is true, and I believe it is true, then 
there is only one alternative: try to work together to come up with 
some negotiated outcome that avoids breaching the debt ceiling but at 
the same time provides some answer to those people concerned--and I am 
one of them--about the ever-increasing debt and what high interest 
rates that are used to combat inflation are going to mean in terms of 
how much money we are going to have to pay to service that debt and 
where that will come--out of things like defense spending or other 
priorities.
  President Biden served as a Member of the Senate for many, many 
years, and he ran on the promise of continuing his same approach as a 
dealmaker as President of the United States. In fact, he pointed to his 
record in the Senate and as Vice President as proof of his ability to 
reach across the aisle and to strike a compromise.
  Now, I know in some quarters ``compromise'' is a dirty word these 
days, but there is no other way for us to function here because none of 
us is a dictator, none of us can say: This is the way it is and 
actually be able to accomplish what they seek.
  Instead, the President does have some record--a good record, in one 
instance--of doing exactly what he refuses to do today.
  As Vice President, Joe Biden helped negotiate the 2011 Budget Control 
Act, which was the last substantial and meaningful attempt to rein in 
wasteful Washington spending.
  At that point, our economy was still recovering from a recession 
caused by the financial crisis in 2008. Federal spending soared, 
revenues plummeted, and it was clear that something--something--had to 
be done to stave off an even bigger economic crisis.

  President Obama was in the White House, and Congress was divided; 
Democrats controlled the Senate, Republicans controlled the House in 
2011. And as it turns out, then-Vice President Biden was a key 
negotiator. He helped broker the agreement, working principally with 
then-Senator McConnell, the Republican leader, to come up with a bill 
that passed with strong bipartisan support.
  So here we are, a dozen years later, and we find ourselves in a 
similar condition, without the solution.
  Our economy is recovering from an unprecedented pandemic. Federal 
spending has soared. A large part of that was roughly $5 trillion that 
Democrats and Republicans spent together because we saw no alternative 
but to try to respond to the COVID crisis in a way that addressed 
public health needs--like coming up with a vaccine--and helped sustain 
our economy during this crisis.
  But then the wheels came off the bipartisanship over the last 2 
years, as I mentioned, with the ARP and the IRA, to use a couple of 
acronyms.
  But the American people have nowhere else to turn but here for to us 
address this problem.
  Now, I think it is easy to engage in the blame game, and we do it 
here all the time. In fact, here in Washington, DC, it is a world-class 
sport, but at some point you have got to quit pointing the finger and 
you have got to try to step up and roll up your sleeves and try to 
solve the immediate problem.
  I am not suggesting we can solve all of our problems or even do it 
permanently, but we can address this current crisis by doing what we 
are paid to do, what we are elected to do, what we took an oath to do, 
which is to represent our constituents to the best of our ability.
  So this is the time for President Biden to step up. He is President 
of the United States, and he has done it before when he was Vice 
President in 2011.
  All it would take to start this process is to invite the House, the 
Senate: Come. Sit around the table to discuss the problem and to try to 
listen to what potential solutions there might be, just as he promised 
to do on the campaign trail.
  So it is time for him to do what he promised to do all along and 
lead. Presidents can't be a spectator. They can't sit on the sidelines. 
Nobody in America expects a President of the United States to do that. 
And the fact is, the President is not just a leader of the Democratic 
Party. He is the elected leader of the United States of America--all 
330-plus million of us.
  So taking a partisan position, knowing the challenges that the House 
is going to have dealing with a debt ceiling, and just sort of enjoying 
watching them struggle to deal with this is not an act of courage. It 
is not an act of leadership. We expect our Presidents to make tough 
decisions, just as we ourselves are expected to make tough decisions 
and to try to come up with solutions.
  I can't imagine any responsible person in the country, much less in 
Congress, who would take the position that a clean debt ceiling 
increase is the way to go. I mentioned that a moment ago.
  Who is going to pay the 30 trillion back we already owe? Is the idea 
that we can just continue to heap debt upon debt upon debt? Does 
anybody think that is a good idea? How, if we have another fiscal 
crisis like we had in 2008, would we be able to respond? How, if we had 
another pandemic, would we be able to respond with this debt 
handcuffing Congress when we need maximum flexibility to be able to 
respond?
  And I mentioned the interest rates that are higher than they have 
been in a long time, which continue to eat up more and more tax revenue 
just to service that debt to pay their bondholders on their investment.
  So this is not just a problem that can be punted. This does not call 
for partisan responses. This calls for statesmanship. It calls for 
leadership.
  And as part of this, we have to look at what got us in this condition 
in the first place. Why it is that we need to raise the debt ceiling.
  We know that America's debt crisis didn't appear overnight. It has 
been building for decades. And lest anybody believe that I am 
suggesting that this is strictly a Democratic problem, it has really 
been something that both political parties have contributed to over 
time. Somehow, we became anaesthetized or desensitized to the fact that 
we continue to spend borrowed money. It is true that we point to the 
various crises we have had, and we say, ``Well, we really didn't have 
any other choice.'' But now we do have a choice. We can respond to this 
responsibly and do our jobs.

  Well, we need to get out-of-control spending habits in check. No 
household, no city council, no county government, no State government 
could possibly do what the Federal Government is doing. They have to 
live with a balanced budget. They have to live within their means. I am 
not suggesting it is going to be easy--because it is not--but it is not 
optional.
  One of the most important things we can do as part of this response 
is to return to a regular appropriations process in funding the 
government each year. The idea that we can do this through an omnibus 
appropriations process, like we were forced to do last year in backing 
it up to December 23rd, right before Christmas, and threatening a 
shutdown, is not the right way to do business.
  The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have 12 separate bills 
to fund each of the different components of the Federal Government. 
These bills are supposed to pass both Chambers and be signed into law 
before the end of the fiscal year, which is September 30. That didn't 
happen in 2022 or 2021. The Democratic-led Senate did not pass a single 
appropriations bill,

[[Page S66]]

and I understand why. The majority leader Senator Schumer and Speaker 
Pelosi realized that delaying the appropriations process and not going 
through this regular order gave them immense power because they could 
decide what went into that omnibus bill. They could say yes to some and 
no to others, and they knew that the only alternative would be a 
government shutdown and that rank-and-file Members of the Senate and 
the House would be left with no other choice than to vote yes or no.
  Congress cannot continue to operate like this. We have to swear off 
this newfound habit of continuing resolutions and last-minute omnibuses 
and return to a regular, on-time appropriations process. It is more 
transparent. It allows every Member of the Congress to participate, to 
offer amendments, to debate, and to vote--something denied to rank-and-
file Members of Congress when you do this through an omnibus bill at 
the end of the year. But we shouldn't stop there. We need to look at 
broader reforms to the government's spending habits. The good news is 
that there are a number of ideas that have been proposed.
  Last Congress, Senator Romney, the Senator from Utah, introduced 
something he calls the TRUST Act, which creates a process to save 
Social Security and protect this critical lifeline for Americans. 
Social Security, you might recall, is going to become insolvent in the 
coming years. This is a responsible way to save Social Security and to 
address what is, roughly, a part of the two-thirds of the Federal 
spending. In other words, about a third of it is discretionary spending 
we appropriate, and the other two-thirds is mandatory, or automatic, 
spending. I am a proud cosponsor of this legislation, and would 
encourage the President and our Democratic colleagues to consider it as 
part of the debt ceiling discussion.
  I am also a supporter of a balanced budget amendment to the 
Constitution. As I said, Republicans and Democrats are responsible for 
where we are today, but it would finally make clear that we have to 
live under the same sort of spending limits that every family in 
America has to live under and that every local and State government has 
to live with--a balanced budget. Now, that is common sense. Families 
and businesses across the country have no choice but to operate within 
a balanced budget.
  My State of Texas has a balanced budget requirement, and lo and 
behold, it just started the current legislative session with a $33 
billion surplus. We are looking at a $30 trillion debt. My State has a 
$33 billion surplus in part, I believe, because it is required by law 
to balance its budget each year.
  I have introduced, cosponsored, and voted for balanced budget 
amendments in the past, and I plan on doing so again this year. That 
should be part of the conversation.
  There is a wide range of ideas from our colleagues that would help 
the Federal Government get its financial house in order, and I would 
hope that the President would take these ideas and his responsibility 
seriously. No matter how inconvenient this may be for President Biden, 
we are operating under a divided government. The ``drunken sailor'' 
approach may have worked when the Democrats controlled both Houses of 
Congress, but it won't succeed now. It is time for the administration 
to sober up and get serious about bipartisan solutions. It is the only 
path out of this mess.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hickenlooper). The clerk will call the 
roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask for permission to complete my 
remarks before the recess.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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