[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4480]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             THE DEBT LIMIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Porter). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sandlin) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. SANDLIN. Mr. Speaker, there is a phrase that famously set atop 
President Truman's desk stating, ``The buck stops here.'' Mr. Speaker, 
looking at the administration's fiscal year 2004 budget, nothing could 
be further from the truth.
  President Truman's phrase implies that real leaders have to make 
tough choices. Real leaders do not assure the American people that our 
country can afford a war of indeterminate length and massive new tax 
cuts simultaneously. In fact, the budget is nothing more than smoke and 
mirrors. Did you know that in spite of an imminent war, not one single 
dime, not one penny, not anything is budgeted for the looming war? That 
means the entire budget is nothing but a farce.
  Though our country's anticipated effort to disarm Saddam Hussein and 
his weapons of mass destruction is necessary, and certainly we support 
our military 100 percent in their efforts, any future action in Iraq 
which is likely to come will by necessity increase our Federal spending 
and expand our deficit and the national debt for years and years and 
years to come. In addition to war with Iraq, which appears nowhere in 
the budget, the White House is pushing full steam ahead with its $388 
billion plan to exempt dividend income from individual taxation. That 
may be good long-term planning and certainly no one supports taxing 
anything twice; that is poor policy. But the question is, can we afford 
it right now today at this time in the face of record deficits? The 
only realistic outcome of the revenue losses and increased government 
spending included in the President's budget is massive increases in the 
national debt. In the interest of bipartisanship, to quote another 
popular former Republican President, Mr. Reagan, ``There you go 
again.''
  Just 8 months ago, the House passed an increase in the statutory debt 
limit by a single vote. Now, here we go again, having to raise the debt 
limit for the second time in 12 months. Last June, Congress had to 
raise the debt limit by $450 billion, to $6.4 trillion. Amazingly, this 
increase in the debt limit was $300 billion less than Treasury 
requested. Our debt is currently over $6 trillion and we are spending 
over $1 billion a day in interest. In fact, 180 of every $1,000 that 
east Texans send in to the government goes to interest payments alone. 
That is outrageous. It is unacceptable.
  Treasury and the majority party in the House will not even specify, 
will not tell us what their desired increase in the debt limit is. It 
is feasible it will be over $7 trillion. At what point? When will the 
majority realize its fiscal irresponsibility in burying this Nation 
under a mountain of debt? John Adams said, ``Facts are stubborn 
things.''
  What are the facts? Just 2 years ago, we had a projected budget 
surplus of $5.6 trillion. Those predictions of surpluses are long gone, 
and they have been replaced with projections of deficits and higher 
debt levels for as far as the eye can see. In fact, our financial 
condition changed to the worst, $8 trillion in 24 months. Equally 
amazing is the fact that as a direct result of the President's fiscal 
year 2004 budget, total spending in interest alone to finance the debt 
will increase from $332 billion in 2002 to nearly $500 billion in 2008. 
Further, the higher debt levels embedded in the President's budget will 
result in $1.1 trillion more in spending on interest payments on the 
debt than the government projected just last year. That is simply a 
waste of money.
  It seems all fiscal discipline has blown out the window with this 
budget and any hope for our children and grandchildren to live in 
fiscally prosperous times. Instead, we are saddling future generations 
with accumulating debt payments. Just how much will a family have in 
net cash savings if this administration's tax cut and budget is passed? 
If the President's current tax cuts and spending plans are enacted, the 
average American family of four will pay approximately $6,500 a year in 
higher interest payments, far outstripping any negligible tax savings. 
In addition to the higher long-term interest rates Americans will face 
as a result of government borrowing in the capital markets, national 
priorities like health care, Social Security, and homeland security 
needs will be underfunded as the Federal Government pays more and more 
and more money to finance our national debt. An exponentially rising 
debt has consequences and is financed by sacrificing our seniors and 
our children, sacrificing Social Security, sacrificing Medicare, and 
sacrificing education.
  Congress needs to hold increases in the debt limit to no more than 
$100 billion at a time until Congress and the White House have worked 
together to balance the unified budget by the end of the decade and to 
include PAYGO rules and discretionary spending caps.

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