[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 1, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S185-S186]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              DEBT CEILING

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, on another matter, today, President Biden 
and Speaker McCarthy will sit down to discuss options to avoid a debt 
crisis and rein in government spending.
  The one thing that President Biden and Speaker McCarthy agree on is 
that we cannot breach the debt ceiling. I guess that is at least a 
start. From there, there doesn't seem to be a lot of common ground, not 
yet anyway. With a potential default on the horizon, this topic has 
gotten a lot of attention, but as we all know, America's debt crisis 
didn't appear overnight. It has been building for decades.
  As I have said before and will say again, Republicans and Democrats 
have not exactly covered themselves with glory when it comes to deficit 
spending and increasing the debt. Washington has spent and spent with 
no meaningful steps to balance the budget. We are writing checks--
spending money--that we know people of my generation will never have to 
pay back but that younger generations certainly will. That strikes me 
as profoundly immoral. The national debt has skyrocketed from $3.2 
trillion in 1980--$3.2 trillion in 1980--to $9.7 trillion in 2000 to 
$31.5 trillion today.
  I think it was Everett Dirksen who said, years ago, ``A billion here, 
a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money.'' 
Nobody ever thought to use the T-word until recently.
  During COVID-19, we worked together to avert a public health crisis 
and an economic catastrophe during the pandemic, and we did that on a 
bipartisan basis, but in the last 2 years, our Democratic colleagues 
have spent another $2.5 trillion-plus in purely partisan spending 
bills: the so-called American Recovery Act and the Inflation Reduction 
Act.
  There has been more than $2.5 trillion in partisan spending, and the 
President takes the position that he won't even negotiate on the debt 
ceiling, when he is the one person whose signature is required to sign 
something into law. And by his signature, he has raised the debt more 
than $2.5 trillion in partisan spending in the last 2 years, and he 
won't even negotiate? It strikes me as unsustainable and certainly 
irresponsible.

  The President was happy to take a tour across America to brag about 
these costly bills, but when we hit the debt limit, he is nowhere to be 
seen. He is pointing the finger of blame at the Republican House of 
Representatives and at the Speaker and suggesting that, well, if you 
want to cut spending, tell us where you would cut.
  Let's look at spending that the President and Democrats were solely 
responsible for. If we could cut back $2\1/2\ trillion of spending, 
that would do a lot to address the current level of debt. But the 
President's position is, it is not my responsibility. I don't really 
care. And he wants to try to lay all of this at the feet of Speaker 
McCarthy. It is wildly inappropriate and irresponsible.
  In short, President Biden has made clear that he expects Congress to 
raise the debt limit with no conditions attached, but that also means 
to let this runaway spending and accumulating debt continue. That is 
the part he doesn't say but is implicit in his position.
  Republicans have made clear that his position is untenable. For one, 
it is a matter of financial prudence. Congress can't raise the debt 
ceiling just to keep spending like there is no tomorrow. We need to get 
government spending in check, and the best way to do that is on a 
bipartisan basis. But there is also a matter of practicality.
  Republicans now control the House, meaning that the only viable path 
to success means compromise. We have a divided government--that is what 
the midterm elections gave us. Some of my colleagues like to say that 
divided government is the best time to do hard things. I think that is 
true, but if it doesn't change behavior, those hard things never get 
addressed.
  President Biden can roll out as many ultimatums as he wants, but the 
reality is his party no longer controls all the levers of government 
like it has during the last 2 years. And in order to avoid a debt 
crisis, which he said is nonnegotiable, he is going to have to work 
with Republicans.
  Today's meeting with Speaker McCarthy is a start, but at minimum, I 
hope the President will walk back his statement about not negotiating 
and understand that he has no choice but to work with Republicans, just 
like Speaker McCarthy has no choice but to work with President Biden. 
That is the nature of a divided government that the voters gave us with 
the midterm elections, and we need to get serious about workable 
solutions.
  Secretary Yellen has said she thinks that the government will not 
default before June, which means we have approximately 4 months to work 
this out. I hope today's meeting between the President and the Speaker 
marks the beginning of bipartisan negotiations, and I am eager to learn 
more about their discussion.


        20th Anniversary of Space Shuttle ``Columbia'' Accident

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, on a final matter, today marks a solemn 
anniversary for our country. Twenty years ago today, the Space Shuttle 
Columbia was making its return to Earth on the heels of a mission 
dubbed STS-107.
  After 16 days in orbit, the shuttle was bound for Kennedy Space 
Center in Florida, where members of the astronauts' families and 
countless spectators gathered to watch its landing, which is always an 
exciting and inspiring sight.
  The shuttle was traveling across the southern part of the United 
States, and as it crossed Texas on a beautiful Saturday morning, 
something terrible happened. Folks along the flight path stood in their 
yards, excited to watch a glimpse of Columbia returning from its 28th 
mission. They watched the orbiter streak across the sky at some 12,000

[[Page S186]]

miles an hour, when, suddenly, they heard a loud noise and saw the 
shuttle begin to come apart.
  We soon realized that the worst had happened: The shuttle broke into 
several pieces as it reentered Earth's atmosphere, and all seven 
astronauts aboard lost their lives.
  The crew of Columbia included two Texans: Rick Husband and Willie 
McCool, along with Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, 
Laurel Clark, and Ilan Ramon. They were scheduled to land at Kennedy 
Space Center just 15 minutes after passing over Texas.
  The disaster left a field of wreckage that stretched from Fort Worth, 
across East Texas, and into Louisiana. Texas is a big place, but that 
means virtually the whole breadth of our State was covered with 
wreckage.
  The government, of course, immediately launched a massive search to 
recover pieces of the space shuttle in order to determine what went 
wrong. NASA officials, National Guard troops, and law enforcement at 
all levels began scouring the landscape to recover pieces of the 
shuttle. Divers from the Environmental Protection Agency led efforts to 
recover pieces that fell into the Toledo Bend Reservoir near Hemphill.
  Some 25,000 volunteers from Texas and Louisiana helped search an area 
that covered 2.3 million acres. They ranged from college students at 
nearby Stephen F. Austin to teams of ham radio operators who helped law 
enforcement with communications. As Texans and Americans do, people 
from all walks of life came together at a time of tragedy and rallied 
behind a unified effort to help bring answers to a nation in mourning.
  This tragedy happened just a couple of months into my first Senate 
term, and I witnessed this massive response effort in action.
  In the aftermath, I visited an area in Nacogdoches, which is over in 
East Texas, where tents were set up by search teams. It was remarkable 
to see the dedication of men and women firsthand engaged in this 
effort.
  Search crews battled the rain and cold temperatures as they combed 
through pine forests and underbrush searching for wreckage. Recovery 
teams and volunteers found everything from a 600-pound piece of a main 
engine to the sole of a spacesuit boot. These discoveries, of course, 
were crucial to the investigation, which helped NASA understand what 
went wrong and how we could prevent similar accidents from occurring in 
the future.
  In the months and years since, the Agency underwent an extensive 
transformation of its culture and operations to improve the safety of 
future missions. Jon Clark, a former NASA flight surgeon, whose wife 
Laurel was killed on Columbia said:

       Their sacrifice has evolved into a safer space program.

  Those changes are no consolation for the families who lost loved ones 
20 years ago today, but I hope they can find some comfort in the 
knowledge that these American heroes made a lasting impact on America's 
space program.
  I appreciate the Texans who came together in the wake of this tragedy 
to preserve pieces of Columbia and provide NASA and these families with 
answers that they so earnestly sought. Their efforts, then and now, 
have helped make the Nation's space program safer and more successful.
  As we mark the 20th anniversary of the loss of Columbia, I am proud 
to cosponsor a Senate resolution to commemorate the loss of Columbia 
and honor its crew. I appreciate the bipartisan support of Senators on 
both sides of the aisle who have joined in this effort, and I hope the 
resolution will pass unanimously today.
  Today, we pay tribute to seven courageous individuals who lost their 
lives aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. We remember, we honor, and we 
celebrate their commitment to research, exploration, and the pursuit of 
the extraordinary. We honor their legacy by continuing to push the 
boundaries of scientific discovery and human space.
  I yield the floor.

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