[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Pages 21540-21543]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         THE ECONOMIC STIMULUS

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, it is only on a Friday that we can 
make sense. That is my attempt here this morning with respect to the 
upcoming stimulus bill. We have more than enough deficit stimulus 
already in the pipeline, almost, without a stimulus bill.
  The point is that, yes, we are going to have to spend, as the 
distinguished Senator from West Virginia has pointed out, for home 
security. The Senator has outlined our spending on homeland defense to 
the tune of some $20 billion, including airport security; Amtrak 
security; Federal, State, and local antiterrorism enforcement; 
infrastructure security; highway security; clean and safe drinking 
water; bioterrorism response; border security. Actually, we have to 
add, necessarily, unemployment compensation and health care.
  So let's say definitely all of us will be supporting--and should--
deficit stimulus; otherwise, it makes no difference to the economy. It 
must be spent for home security with respect to the initiative of the 
distinguished Senator from West Virginia.
  For starters, we are beginning this fiscal year with a horrendous 
deficit. I think of Mark Twain who once said that the truth is such a 
precious thing, it should be used very sparingly. That is the credo 
when we come to Government finance here in Washington. Specifically, we 
count Social Security revenues--I want to be specific in my limited 
time--twice. Sure, the government receives the well over $500 billion 
that payroll tax payers pay in to the Social Security Trust Fund. The 
American people paid that amount in fiscal year 2001 for a surplus of--
other than paying out the regular benefits, $163 billion. But the 
Social Security law, section 201, says, wait a minute, we don't want 
that money to languish and sit there, we want to gain interest on it.
  So we issue T-bills, you and I buy the T-bills--the money comes into 
the Government, and what do they do? They count that again as revenues. 
So you count the money first as it comes in from the payroll tax 
payers, and you count it a second time from the purchase of the 
Treasury bills, in compliance with section 201.
  Now, let's understand it. We ended the fiscal year with a $133 
billion deficit. I encourage my fellow Senators and the American public 
to view the public debt to the penny as issued by the Secretary of the 
Treasury on September 28, 2001 at: http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/
opdpenny.htm.
  Madam President, you can see that the national debt went up from the 
end of fiscal year 2000--the end of September in the year 2000--from 5 
trillion 674 billion some odd dollars to 5 trillion 806 billion some 
odd dollars. It will show on the chart a $133 billion deficit. That is 
verified in the final monthly Treasury statement made for fiscal year 
2001. You can access this report at: http://www.treasury.gov.
  Madam President, immediately it highlights a half truth because they 
show a surplus, and that is how they talk about the surplus and how it 
is diminishing. But don't bother with that. Go down to page 20, the 
particular culmination of all their moneys, and you find out how much 
revenue the Government took in and how much was spent. Every year since 
Lyndon Johnson's day, we have ended up with a deficit. Not just the 
$133 billion deficit as of the last fiscal year, only a month ago. I 
will ask unanimous consent to have this particular document printed in 
the Record, the budget realities.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                               HOLLINGS' BUDGET REALITIES
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                                                              Annual
                                                            U.S. budget   Borrowed trust      Unified     Actual deficit                   increases in
               Presidents and fiscal year                   (outlays in        funds       deficit with    without trust   National debt   spending for
                                                             billions)      (billions)      trust funds        funds        (billions)       interest
                                                                                            (billions)      (billions)                      (billions)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Truman:
    1946................................................            55.2            -5.0           -15.9           -10.9           271.0  ..............
    1947................................................            34.5            -9.9             4.0           +13.9           257.1  ..............
    1948................................................            29.8             6.7            11.8            +5.1           252.0  ..............
    1949................................................            38.8             1.2             0.6            -0.6           252.6  ..............
    1950................................................            42.6             1.2            -3.1            -4.3           256.9  ..............
    1951................................................            45.5             4.5             6.1            +1.6           255.3  ..............
    1952................................................            67.7             2.3            -1.5            -3.8           259.1  ..............
    1953................................................            76.1             0.4            -6.5            -6.9           266.0  ..............
Eisenhower:
    1954................................................            70.9             3.6            -1.2            -4.8           270.8  ..............
    1955................................................            68.4             0.6            -3.0            -3.6           274.4  ..............
    1956................................................            70.6             2.2             3.9            +1.7           272.7  ..............
    1957................................................            76.6             3.0             3.4            +0.4           272.3  ..............
    1958................................................            82.4             4.6            -2.8            -7.4           279.7  ..............
    1959................................................            92.1            -5.0           -12.8            -7.8           287.5  ..............
    1960................................................            92.2             3.3             0.3            -3.0           290.5  ..............
    1961................................................            97.7            -1.2            -3.3            -2.1           292.6  ..............
Kennedy:
    1962................................................           106.8             3.2            -7.1           -10.3           302.9             9.1
    1963................................................           111.3             2.6            -4.8            -7.4           310.3             9.9
    1964................................................           118.5            -0.1            -5.9            -5.8           316.1            10.7
Johnson:
    1965................................................           118.2             4.8            -1.4            -6.2           322.3            11.3
    1966................................................           134.5             2.5            -3.7            -6.2           328.5            12.0
    1967................................................           157.5             3.3            -8.6           -11.9           340.4            13.4
    1968................................................           178.1             3.1           -25.2           -28.3           368.7            14.6
    1969................................................           183.6             0.3             3.2            +2.9           365.8            16.6
Nixon:
    1970................................................           195.6            12.3            -2.8           -15.1           380.9            19.3
    1971................................................           210.2             4.3           -23.0           -27.3           408.2            21.0
    1972................................................           230.7             4.3           -23.4           -27.7           435.9            21.8
    1973................................................           245.7            15.5           -14.9           -30.4           466.3            24.2
    1974................................................           269.4            11.5            -6.1           -17.6           483.9            29.3
    1975................................................           332.3             4.8           -53.2           -58.0           541.9            32.7
Ford:
    1976................................................           371.8            13.4           -73.7           -87.1           629.0            37.1
    1977................................................           409.2            23.7           -53.7           -77.4           706.4            41.9
Carter:
    1978................................................           458.7            11.0           -59.2           -70.2           776.6            48.7

[[Page 21541]]
    1979................................................           504.0            12.2           -40.7           -52.9           829.5            59.9
    1980................................................           590.9             5.8           -73.8           -79.6           909.1            74.8
    1981................................................           678.2             6.7           -79.0           -85.7           994.8            95.5
Reagan:
    1982................................................           745.8            14.5          -128.0          -142.5         1,137.3           117.2
    1983................................................           808.4            26.6          -207.8          -234.4         1,371.7           128.7
    1984................................................           851.9             7.6          -185.4          -193.0         1,564.7           153.9
    1985................................................           946.4            40.5          -212.3          -252.8         1,871.5           178.9
    1986................................................           990.5            81.9          -221.2          -303.1         2,120.6           190.3
    1987................................................         1,004.1            75.7          -149.8          -225.5         2,346.1           195.3
    1988................................................         1,064.5           100.0          -155.2          -255.2         2,601.3           214.1
    1989................................................         1,143.7           114.2          -152.5          -266.7         2,863.3           240.9
Bush:
    1990................................................         1,253.2           117.4          -221.2          -338.6         3,206.6           264.7
    1991................................................         1,324.4           122.5          -269.4          -391.9         3,598.5           285.5
    1992................................................         1,381.7           113.2          -290.4          -403.6         4,002.1           292.3
    1993................................................         1,409.5            94.2          -255.1          -349.3         4,351.4           292.5
Clinton:
    1994................................................         1,461.9            89.0          -203.3          -292.3         4,643.7           296.3
    1995................................................         1,515.8           113.3          -164.0          -277.3         4,921.0           332.4
    1996................................................         1,560.6           153.4          -107.5          -260.9         5,181.9           344.0
    1997................................................         1,601.3           165.8           -22.0          -187.8         5,369.7           355.8
    1998................................................         1,652.6           178.2            69.2          -109.0         5,478.7           363.8
    1999................................................         1,703.0           251.8           124.4          -127.4         5,606.1           353.5
    2000................................................         1,789.0           258.9           236.2           -22.7         5,628.8           362.0
    2001................................................         1,853.0           254.8           281.0           +26.2         5,602.6           369.0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Historical Tables, Budget of the U.S. Government FY 1998; Beginning in 1962 CBO's 2001 Economic and Budget Outlook. March 14, 2001.

  Mr. HOLLINGS. The document takes us from President Harry Truman right 
on up to the Johnson Administration. You can see that, in 1968-69, when 
I had the privilege of serving here and worked on that with George 
Mahon over on the House side, the distinguished chairman of the 
Appropriations Committee at that time. We cut it back again another $5 
billion. We called over to Marvin Watson in December of 1968 because 
President Johnson was very sensitive about guns and butter--paying for 
the war in Vietnam and the Great Society. So we cut it back another $5 
billion, and we ended up with a true surplus that particular year, a 
$2.9 billion surplus. But you can see the minus marks coming through.
  This particular chart shows that the Congressional Budget Office 
projected by March 14 of this year that we would have a $26.2 billion 
surplus. Truth: We ended up with a $133 billion deficit.
  Where do you find that truth out? Turn to page 20 of `Final Monthly 
Treasury Statement,' and you will see that at the beginning of fiscal 
year, 2001, we had a debt of $5,674,178,000,000.
  By the close of the fiscal year last month, the debt had already gone 
up to $5,807,463. So it has gone up some $133 billion. We ended up with 
a deficit of $133 billion.
  I ask unanimous consent that page 20 of the ``Final Monthly Treasury 
Statement'' be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

               TABLE 6.--MEANS OF FINANCING THE DEFICIT OR DISPOSITION OF SURPLUS BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, SEPTEMBER 2001 AND OTHER PERIODS
                                                                      [$ millions]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                      Net transactions (-) denotes net         Account balances current fiscal year
                                                                      reduction of either liability or   -----------------------------------------------
                                                                               asset accounts                      Beginning of
   Assets and liabilities directly related to budget off-budget   -----------------------------------------------------------------------
                             activity                                              Fiscal year to date                                     Close of this
                                                                    This month --------------------------    This year      This month         month
                                                                                 This year    Prior year
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        LIABILITY ACCOUNTSBorrowing from the public:
    Treasury securities, issued under general Financing
     authorities:
        Debt held by the public..................................       -1,508     -110,688     -218,382       3,449,998       3,340,818       3,339,310
        Intragovernmental holdings...............................       39,096      243,973      236,289       2,224,180       2,429,058       2,468,153
                                                                  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Total Treasury securities outstanding..................       37,588      133,285       17,907       5,674,178       5,769,876       5,807,463
                                                                  ======================================================================================
        Plus premium on Treasury securities......................          -32           62          697           2,699           2,793           2,761
        Less discount on Treasury securities.....................       -4,176       -8,555       -5,157          75,541          71,162          66,986
                                                                  ======================================================================================
          Total Treasury securities net of Premium and discount..       41,731      141,902       23,761       5,601,336       5,701,507       5,743,238
                                                                  ======================================================================================
    Agency securities, issued under special financing authorities          394         -661         -832          27,672          26,617          27,011
     (see Schedule B, for other Agency borrowing, see Schedule C)
                                                                  ======================================================================================
      Total federal securities...................................       42,125      141,240       22,929       5,629,009       5,728,124       5,770,249
                                                                  ======================================================================================
        Deduct:
            Federal securities held as investments of government        39,122      232,995      246,455       2,235,763       2,429,635       2,468,757
             accounts (see Schedule D)...........................
            Less discount on federal securities held as                 -1,007        1,633          719          16,867          19,508          18,500
             investments of government accounts..................
                                                                  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Net federal securities held as investments of             40,130      231,361      245,736       2,218,896       2,410,128       2,450,257
               government accounts...............................
                                                                  ======================================================================================
              Total borrowing from the public....................        1,996      -90,121     -222,807       3,410,113       3,317,996       3,319,992
                                                                  ======================================================================================
Accrued interest payable to the public...........................       11,677       -4,728        1,608          44,211          27,806          39,483
Allocations of special drawing rights............................            4          -44         -440           6,359           6,312           6,316
Deposit funds \1\................................................         -127        4,160       -1,248           2,625           6,912           6,785
Miscellaneous liability accounts (includes checks outstanding           -3,966        4,160         -404           4,140          12,266           8,301
 etc.)...........................................................
                                                                  ======================================================================================
      Total liability accounts...................................        9,584      -86,571     -223,291       3,467,448       3,371,293       3,380,877
                                                                  ======================================================================================
                     ASSET ACCOUNTS (DEDUCT)Cash and monetary assets:
    U.S. Treasury operating cash: \2\
        Federal Reserve account..................................        4,263        1,337        1,818           8,459           5,533           9,796
        Tax and loan note accounts...............................       33,627       -9,776       -5,618          44,199             795          34,423
                                                                  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 21542]]
          Balance................................................       37,890       -8,440       -3,799          52,659           6,329          44,219
                                                                  ======================================================================================
    Special drawing rights:
        Total holdings...........................................            7          603           33          10,316          10,913          10,919
        SDR certificates issued to Federal Reserve Banks.........  ...........        1,000        4,000          -3,200          -2,200          -2,200
                                                                  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Balance................................................            7        1,603        4,033           7,116           8,713           8,719
                                                                  ======================================================================================
    Reserve position on the U.S. quota in the IMF:
        U.S. subscription to International Monetary Fund:
            Direct quota payments................................  ...........  ...........  ...........          46,525          46,525          46,525
            Maintenance of value adjustments.....................           29         -330       -3,336           1,691           1,332           1,361
            Letter of credit issued to IMF.......................        3,089        7,017       -5,194         -35,827         -31,899         -28,810
            Dollar deposits with the IMF.........................          -18           -4            4            -117            -103            -121
            Receivable/Payable (-) for interim maintenance of                6       -1,966        2,234           1,418            -554            -548
             value adjustments...................................
                                                                  --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              Balance............................................        3,106        4,717       -6,292          13,690          15,301          18,407
                                                                  ======================================================================================
            Other cash and monetary assets.......................          656        8,309          954          24,937          32,590          33,246
                                                                  ======================================================================================
              Total cash and monetary assets.....................       41,659        6,190       -5,105          98,401          62,932         104,591
                                                                  ======================================================================================
    Net Activity, Guaranteed Loan Financing......................        2,145        4,319       -4,438     \3\ -22,013         -19,839         -17,694
    Net Activity, Direct Loan Financing..........................       -2,852       19,090       21,566         105,459         127,402         123,549
    Miscellaneous asset accounts.................................        4,582        1,564       -1,603        \4\ -119          -3,137           1,445
                                                                  ======================================================================================
      Total asset accounts.......................................       45,534       31,163       10,419         181,729         167,357         212,891
                                                                  ======================================================================================
Excess of liabilities (+) or assets (-)..........................      -35,950     -117,734     -233,710      +3,285,720      +3,203,935      +3,167,986
                                                                  ======================================================================================
Transactions not applied to current year's surplus or deficit              560       -9,430       -3,207  ..............          -9,990          -9,430
 (see Schedule A for Details)....................................
                                                                  ======================================================================================
Total budget and off-budget federal entities (financing of             -35,390     -127,165     -236,917      +3,285,720      +3,193,945      +3,158,555
 deficit (+) or disposition of surplus (-))......................
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Includes the cash balances only and does not include any investments held by funds.
\2\ Major sources of information used to determine Treasury's operating cash income include Federal Reserve Banks, the Treasury Regional Finance
  Centers, the Internal Revenue Service Centers, the Bureau of the Public Debt and various electronic systems. Deposits are reflected as received and
  withdrawals are reflected as processed.
\3\ Includes an adjustment of $943 million in September 1999 to reflect additional reporting by the Department of Education.
\4\ Includes an adjustment of $11 million in September 1997 to reflect additional reporting by the Department of Treasury.. . . . . No Transactions.Note.--Details may not add to totals due to rounding.

  Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that ``The 
Debt to the Penny'' be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                         The Debt to the Penny

       Current month and amount:
       11/01/2001; $5,817,190,945,192.56.
       10/31/2001; $5,815,983,290,402.24.
       10/30/2001; $5,821,971,462,166.69.
       10/29/2001; $5,822,039,361,288.25.
       10/26/2001; $5,824,411,453,143.54.
       10/25/2001; $5,823,620,074,112.16.
       10/24/2001; $5,820,311,931,563.74.
       10/23/2001; $5,821,675,171,748.09.
       10/22/2001; $5,819,200,893,343.94.
       10/19/2001; $5,819,139,910,042.71.
       10/18/2001; $5,819,279,815,278.59.
       10/17/2001; $5,820,599,313,961.29.
       10/16/2001; $5,820,976,918,375.44.
       10/15/2001; $5,818,887,492,619.52.
       10/12/2001; $5,813,332,736,265.82.
       10/11/2001; $5,811,762,115,860.32.
       10/10/2001; $5,805,746,196,414.92.
       10/09/2001; $5,808,819,610,348.90.
       10/05/2001; $5,810,495,191,205.19.
       10/04/2001; $5,803,751,789,864.65.
       10/03/2001; $5,797,694,485,722.59.
       10/02/2001; $5,815,899,927,829.86.
       10/01/2001; $5,806,151,389,190.21.
       Prior months and amount:
       09/28/2001; $5,807,463,412,200.06.
       08/31/2001; $5,769,875,781,034.48.
       07/31/2001; $5,718,303,095,621.12.
       06/29/2001; $5,726,814,835,287.17.
       05/31/2001; $5,656,181,958,605.26.
       04/30/2001; $5,661,347,798,002.65.
       03/30/2001; $5,773,739,939,951.53.
       02/28/2001; $5,735,859,380,573.98.
       01/31/2001; $5,716,070,587,057.36.
       12/29/2000; $5,662,216,013,697.37.
       11/30/2000; $5,709,699,281,427.00.
       10/31/2000; $5,657,327,531,667.14.
       Prior fiscal years and amount:
       09/29/2000; $5,674,178,209,886.86.
       09/30/1999; $5,656,270,901,615.43.
       09/30/1998; $5,526,193,008,897.62.
       09/30/1997; $5,413,146,011,397.34.
       09/30/1996; $5,224,810,939,135.73.
       09/29/1995; $4,973,982,900,709.39.
       09/30/1994; $4,692,749,910,013.32.
       09/30/1993; $4,411,488,883,139.38.
       09/30/1992; $4,064,620,655,521.66.
       09/30/1991; $3,665,303,351,697.03.
       09/28/1990; $3,233,313,451,777.25.
       09/29/1989; $2,857,430,960,187.32.
       09/30/1988; $2,602,337,712,041.16.
       09/30/1987; $2,350,276,890,953.00.
       Source: Bureau of The Public Debt.
  Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, you can see we are already in the red 
$8.5 billion. The debt is on the way up.
  What had happened in August was the Congressional Budget Office came 
over to the Budget Committee and Mr. Crippin projected a $104 billion 
deficit for fiscal year 2002. In the last couple of weeks, he has come 
back and amended that to some $140 billion more. He said the downturn 
has been far more extreme than he ever expected. So he adds another 
$140 billion to the $104 billion, which is $244 billion. We start off 
with $244 billion, without the stimulus, without the moneys for defense 
that we are bound to pass before we leave in the next few weeks, 
without the moneys for education that we are bound to spend, without 
the moneys for agriculture for the farm bill that we are prepared to 
provide. I am looking at all of that, and I made this comment at the 
Cabinet table just last week to the Vice President--the President had 
to excuse himself to receive a head of state--but I said: Mr. Vice 
President, we are starting off now knowing at the very beginning of 
fiscal year 2002 that we have over some $300 billion in the pipeline of 
stimulus that people are not looking at.
  I will bet anybody any amount of money anytime--give me whatever odds 
you want--that the deficit for fiscal year 2002 will exceed $300 
billion. I want to see my colleagues in the Senate take me up on that 
bet. We are still talking surpluses, is my point, and we know the truth 
is that we are going to have at least a $300 billion deficit.
  Yes, let us take care of home security, if it is $20 billion, $25 
billion, $30 billion--whatever it is. But none of these fast forward 
tax cuts and calling it stimulus, because it is a political 
opportunity: We will give you what spending we want, and we will take 
what tax cuts we want. That game has to stop.
  The cold sobriety of the moment is, this country is at war. We have 
to sacrifice, and we will sacrifice in the context of the economy, 
trying to hold the line as much as we can; specifically, let's not take 
anymore loss of revenues and call it stimulus. Let us go forward with 
strengthening home security and

[[Page 21543]]

appreciate the reality that we are in trouble. The ox is in the ditch. 
We have fooled ourselves all year long. I pointed it out time and 
again.
  I have such a high regard for our distinguished chairman in the 
Senate, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, who is doing an outstanding job as 
our chairman, that I hate to appear as the dog in the manger constantly 
bringing up the record, the record, the record, showing the deficit, 
the deficit, the deficit. But we have had a deficit. We ended up with 
one, as I said we would, as of last year of $133 billion. We are 
already going into the red, and we have not even started the level of 
spending that will be required. Let us hold tight to home security, 
unemployment compensation, and health care, and stop right there to 
hold down the long-term interest rates. That is what is stultifying any 
kind of economic comeback from the recession we are in.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Arizona.

                          ____________________