[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 3773]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           A SERIOUS ECONOMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BERRY. Mr. Speaker, this is very serious business. If this was 
not so serious, I think it would be easy for us to make jokes about 
some of the things that have been said on this floor this evening.
  As I listened to the gentleman from Oklahoma describe this wonderful 
economy, I could not help but wonder where in the world he was coming 
up with this idea. We have lost over 2 million jobs in this country. We 
may have created some, but we have lost a lot more. It does not do any 
good to distort things or make these things up or make it look like 
something that it is not.
  Come to the First Congressional District of Arkansas and tell someone 
that does not have a job and does not have health care and their 
unemployment has run out that things are great in America and they are 
going to get better because we are going to cut taxes on the wealthiest 
people in this country some more.

                              {time}  2000

  We may have to reduce Social Security and Medicare benefits to do 
that, but we are going to do it. Things are great in America. People 
that do not have a job just do not believe this.
  It is time for this country and the leaders of this country and this 
administration to develop some integrity and credibility.
  Back in January of 2001, the Blue Dog Coalition reached out to the 
new administration; and we said, if you want to cut taxes, we will work 
with you; we would love to do it. Let us work together and cut spending 
by an equal amount, and let us not get back in the deficit ditch. They 
sent Vice-President Cheney over to see us and he said this: we think 
you are nice people, but we do not need you. We are in the majority in 
both Houses, and we are going to do what we want to do, and they did.
  That very year they projected that the budget would have a $262 
billion surplus in 2004. It has, in fact, a $521 billion deficit. In 
2005, they said we will have a $269 billion surplus. Now they say we 
are going to have a $364 billion deficit. They said the Medicare bill 
will cost $400 billion, but now it is going to be $535 billion. They 
said the war is not going to cost that much; it is going to be real 
quick, and it is going to be over with. Now it is $50 billion now and 
$50 billion in a few months, and they do not include it in the budget. 
They do not even really acknowledge that it exists, but we are still 
borrowing these moneys from our children and grandchildren.
  It is time for some integrity. If we are doing so good, why are we 
broke? Why are we going in debt by the trillions of dollars? Why are we 
borrowing this money from our children and grandchildren when they face 
the perfect economic storm? Record budget deficits and a national debt 
exceeding $7 trillion, one more than one-third of our debt held by 
foreigners and growing every day; a trade deficit of $400 billion that 
contributes to the exporting of jobs; and the approaching retirement of 
the baby boomers. This is the perfect economic storm; and yet the 
administration continues to refuse to sit down in a realistic, rational 
way with both sides of the aisle and let us face this thing that has 
been created by the Bush administration.
  Let us face what has really happened to our country. Let us face what 
has really been put on our children and grandchildren. Let us not 
continue day after day to live in a fantasy land and make up an economy 
and make up the idea that everything's wonderful, when we know, in 
fact, there are nearly 9 million people that do not have a job in this 
country. There are 44 million that do not have health care, and that 
situation gets worse every day.
  Most of all, Mr. Speaker, we must be honest with the American people 
and tell them what is really happening and not continue to deceive our 
children and grandchildren and put them in a position where they are 
going to wake up and inherit this great Nation or what was once a great 
Nation, and it is going to be so far in debt they cannot even pay the 
interest; and not only that, but the infrastructure will have crumbled. 
The education system will have been underfunded so long that they 
cannot fix it, and then we are going to just dump that on them. What 
responsible person would do that to their own?

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