[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 6 (Thursday, January 11, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H59]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                A CALL TO CHAMPION FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Clyde) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CLYDE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call on this body to champion 
fiscal responsibility.
  It is no secret that the U.S. is steamrolling its way to fiscal ruin, 
rapidly barreling toward economic collapse and unfairly burdening 
future generations, yet few here in Washington seem to notice this 
fiscal calamity, let alone care enough to fix it. Far too many have not 
only become numb to our ballooning national debt and out-of-control 
deficit, but completely addicted to spending money that we simply don't 
have.
  The U.S. national debt climbs higher every second, swelling at such 
an alarming rate that hitting new trillion-dollar milestones has now 
become routine. In fact, in June, just 7 months ago, the national debt 
reached $32 trillion. This figure surged to $33 trillion 3 months later 
in September, and, just days ago, in just another 3.5 months, our 
national debt surpassed $34 trillion, amounting to roughly $100,000 for 
every American, for our constituents.
  Racking up more than $2 trillion in national debt in just 7 months' 
time is not a historic milestone; it is a historic failure. At this 
rate, we are adding roughly a trillion dollars to our national debt 
every 90 days--think about that--a trillion dollars every 90 days, 
setting us up to hit, if not exceed, $37 trillion by the end of the 
fiscal year. Unsustainable is an understatement.

  Every solitary Member should be enraged by this ill-fated trend, but 
despite all the warning signs, it is business as usual here in 
Washington, as evidenced by the recently announced agreement on the 
overall price tag for fiscal year 2024 appropriations.
  Make no mistake, the bipartisan spending deal is a total sham. No 
amount of smoke and mirrors can hide the swamp's irresponsible, 
wasteful, and reckless spending agenda. While leaders from both parties 
claimed that the top-line spending level matches the $1.59 trillion 
statutory cap set last year by the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the true 
total of programmatic spending is actually more than $68 billion higher 
at $1.658 trillion.
  The statutory FRA cap, which, in my opinion, is already far too high, 
should have been the ceiling, not the floor, to hide or excuse this 
excessive spending. That is right: New year, same uniparty.
  I vehemently oppose this sham bipartisan spending deal, and I am 
deeply disappointed that, yet again, at President Biden and Senate 
Leader Schumer's pleasure, critical leverage and key policy wins were 
abandoned.
  My constituents didn't send me here to greenlight more of the swamp's 
spending as usual, exacerbate our national debt, or concede in 
conservative policy battles. They sent me here to change the course of 
Congress, to change the status quo.
  I am fighting to do just that, but, if we are ever going to save our 
Nation, economy, and future generations from financial failure, we need 
more Republicans in both Chambers to join the fight. After all, we 
should be far more afraid of fiscal calamity than fighting the swamp.
  Therefore, I urge my colleagues to take our rapidly approaching 
financial ruin seriously by rejecting this irresponsible deal. Let's 
champion fiscal responsibility and return fiscal sanity to Washington 
by cutting spending, not carrying on business as usual while our fiscal 
House falls into a sinkhole of skyrocketing debt.

                          ____________________