[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 24064]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          A FISCAL U-TURN: BACK IN THE HOLE AND STILL DIGGING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I joined many of my colleagues 
in Little Rock, Arkansas, for the official dedication of the William 
Jefferson Clinton Presidential Center, a place where scholars and all 
Americans can study the many remarkable achievements of 8 years of the 
Clinton administration.
  As I sat through the dedication ceremonies today, I reflected on the 
unparalleled economic prosperity that America experienced during 
President Clinton's tenure. I also could not help thinking about the 
important matter we would be confronted with on the House floor later 
in the day, a vote to raise the debt limit for the third time since 
President Clinton's successor took office. With today's vote, the 
majority of this House has agreed to a whopping $800 billion increase 
in the debt ceiling from its present level of $7.38 trillion to $8.18 
trillion.
  The impending breach of the statutory debt ceiling is the latest 
warning about the Nation's fiscal health. Our debt has been growing 
faster than our economy's ability to repay it due in large part to a 
reckless economic policy over the last 4 years. These policies have 
undone the hard work it took to balance the budget during the 1990s and 
have left us awash in a sea of red ink.
  At the beginning of the Clinton administration in 1992, the Federal 
budget deficit was at a historic high of $290 billion, 10 million 
Americans were out of work, and the Nation's economic growth rate was 
the lowest in more than half a century. In response, President Clinton 
and the congressional Democrats worked together to enact the 1993 
Deficit Reduction Plan which passed the House and Senate without a 
single Republican vote. The balanced budget plan demonstrated that 
guided by common sense and realism, we could slash the deficit in half 
while also making important investments in our future including 
education, health care, science, and technology.
  The plan included more than $500 billion in deficit reduction and cut 
taxes for 15 million of the hardest pressed Americans as well as small 
businesses.

                              {time}  2340

  What followed is unarguable: the creation of more than 22 million new 
jobs and the Nation's lowest unemployment rate in 30 years. The Nation 
went from the largest budget deficits in history to the largest budget 
surpluses in history. Four consecutive years of debt reduction also 
followed, a total of $453 billion paid down, bringing the public debt 
down to $2.9 trillion lower in 2001 than projected in 1993.
  When President Clinton left office, we were on track to eliminate the 
Nation's public debt by 2012, making America debt-free for the first 
time since Andrew Jackson was President.
  Today, we continue the fiscal U-turn that this Congress and 
administration have steered us into over the last 4 years. Today's vote 
to increase the debt limit marks yet another unfortunate milestone in 
our Nation's history where we have the largest deficits we have ever 
had, $413 billion, and absolutely no plan in sight to put our fiscal 
House in order.
  For years, members of the Blue Dog Coalition have warned that we were 
spending money we did not have, that the administration had no economic 
plan, and that tax cuts alone were not a substitute for an economic 
plan for our country's future. This Congress continues to reject 
efforts to budget in the same way that your family and mine does, by 
paying as you go.
  Even as we sought to stave off the day of reckoning, middle-class 
Americans are paying for our profligacy in the form of rising interest 
rates. As a result, American consumers are paying more for their 
mortgages and on their credit cards.
  With the retirement of the baby-boom generation beginning in just 4 
years, we must rededicate ourselves to ensuring that our children and 
future generations are not saddled with the enormous responsibility of 
paying for our economic health and our safety. We owe it to the 
American people to stop imperiling the Nation's economic future by 
borrowing money to pay for irresponsible policies.
  We all acknowledge that the September 11 attacks and the resulting 
war on terrorism as well as the war on Iraq have put an additional 
stress on our economy. But instead of spending political capital to ask 
all Americans to share in the Nation's sacrifice, the President and the 
majority today took the easy way out.
  Mr. Speaker, the day of reckoning is at hand, and with today's vote 
we must all acknowledge we have hit rock bottom.
  In his farewell address to the Nation from the Oval Office in 
February, 2003, President Clinton left the American people with three 
thoughts about our future. His first admonition was that America must 
maintain its fiscal responsibility. Pointing to record deficits turned 
into record surpluses and the paying down of our national debt, he 
urged us to stay on track. ``If we choose wisely,'' he said, ``we can 
pay down the debt, deal with the retirement of the baby-boomers, invest 
more in our future, and provide tax relief.''
  Unfortunately, this Congress and this administration have not chosen 
wisely. The juxtaposition of today's dedication of the Clinton Library 
and this evening's vote to increase the national debt is a clarion call 
to return to the sound fiscal policies that were central to the 
economic boom of the 1990s. We have a duty to the American people to 
restore sanity and discipline to our Nation's finances.

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