[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 24239-24242]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2005, the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate being recognized. I have 
got a couple of things I wanted to talk

[[Page 24240]]

about this afternoon as we wind up what has been a very busy week here 
in Washington. We have had our plate full, and have worked aggressively 
on issues that are of importance to the American people, and certainly 
are of importance to my constituents in Tennessee. But over the past 
week and during this time as we have been plugging away working on the 
budget for this Nation, working on how we reform government, we have 
watched a group of Democrats from across the aisle come down here 
during the evenings, and every evening they talk about everything that 
they believe the Republican majority is doing that is wrong. They talk 
about everything that they think is wrong with America, they talk about 
everything they think is wrong with our employers, and they talk about 
everything they think is wrong with American families and with the 
values that we hold dear.
  You know, I do not think they think we are doing a thing right. I do 
not think they think there is much right with America. And if you turn 
to C-SPAN any given evening, and you see a bunch of people down here 
complaining, that is them, because they are tuned up, and they are 
going to it every evening with the negativity and what is wrong, what 
is wrong.
  The left in this Congress does not want to see spending cuts, and 
they certainly do not want to see tax relief. They are not interested 
in reducing the size of the Federal Government. They want to grow it. 
And when they talk about wanting to grow it and add more to it, guess 
what? They are talking about using American taxpayer money.

                              {time}  1345

  It is going to take the money out of your pocket to pay for their 
want list. And what I cannot help but notice day after day when 
listening to the left in this body criticize everybody and everything 
and complain about everything is the tremendous level of self-
indignation.
  It is the sort of self-righteous indignation that you typically see 
coming from some of the TV talk show pundits, but lately it seems to be 
a hallmark of the Democratic House talking points that they are 
outraged about spending. Their solution is to propose more and more 
spending, but they are going to tell you they are outraged with the 
spending. They are going to tell you they are outraged with the 
deficit. They are going to tell you they are outraged with the debt. 
But more and more spending, more and more spending, that is what they 
want.
  They are outraged that government failed in the Katrina response. Yet 
they want to make that inefficient and ineffective bureaucracy bigger 
and more powerful. At the same time as they are making it bigger and 
more powerful, guess what, they want to make it more centralized.
  They are outraged, absolutely outraged that we have high gas prices, 
yet they oppose domestic exploration for oil. They oppose refinery 
construction. They oppose refinery expansion. And this is not something 
new. This is something that they have been opposing for years. My 
goodness, some of them even worked with former President Clinton. They 
are outraged about gas prices, but you know what, I guess they are not 
outraged that former President Clinton vetoed drilling in ANWR. Now, 
you know you cannot have it both ways.
  They are outraged that Social Security is going to run short of 
funding, but they do not want to reform it, and they do not want to 
address that; but they are going to be outraged about it. They are 
outraged that this war on terror is not over, yet they take every 
opportunity they can possibly take. They come down here and any time 
that they can find the time they want to talk about withdrawing from 
Iraq and appeasing the very world leaders who let the Middle East get 
away with terrorism for decades before we took a firm stance. But they 
are going to tell you they are outraged that this war is not over. They 
have known it is going to be a long war. We have all known that.
  Mr. Speaker, I guess they think they have got the market cornered on 
outrage. Maybe they do. Maybe they do. I mean, it seems that there is 
nobody around that does outrage better than the Democrats. As my mother 
used to say when people would get upset, she would look at them and 
say, Just rave on, rave on. You can talk all day long. That talking is 
not going to accomplish one thing. Actions will accomplish things.
  But, Mr. Speaker, in order to get from outrage to action it takes 
something to fill in that void and that is called ideas, and ideas is 
something they just do not have. Now, maybe the outrage makes for great 
TV ratings on reality shows; but you know what, this is not a TV show. 
What this is is real life. It is the U.S. House of Representatives. It 
is a governmental body that works to construct the laws that you and I 
and my family and your family, everyone lives under; that free 
enterprise functions under; that we work under each and every day.
  But you know, we do not hear ideas coming from the other side when 
they come down here and claim that we are not doing anything right and 
that everything is wrong. They are not laying out an alternative agenda 
because they cannot agree on one. They want to make the government 
agencies we have got bigger. They want a bigger, more centralized 
government. They want more Federal control. They want more Federal 
mandates on local government, and they want your money to come and pay 
for this.
  I hope that my constituents in Tennessee understand this and are 
listening to this because Federal mandates are something that they are 
tired of, and I hope that they are listening. I hope the American 
people realize they want a bigger government. They want to grow it. 
They want more Federal control on our State and local governments. They 
want more Federal mandates on local governments, and they want the 
money out of your pocket to come and pay for it.
  They want to make the taxes we have got on the books higher. They 
want higher taxes. They want higher rates, higher fees, more taxes and 
in more areas of your life. They are the elitist of government, and 
they think that they know better than you know. They want to give the 
government that too often tramples on your rights more power. That is a 
game plan. Centralized power for them and less individual freedom for 
you and for me, for your family. That is their vision.
  For 10 years the Republicans have been in the majority here in the 
House. We have done a lot of good things. We have balanced budgets. We 
have faced debt which has been brought on by recession and war. We have 
pushed hard to get an out-of-control Washington bureaucracy under 
control and to get it reduced. We have enacted major, major tax reform 
and tax relief for working families. We have put 98 programs up for 
elimination this year. We have taken a hard-line approach to terrorism. 
We have gone after the ridiculous regulations, overly burdensome 
regulations that strangle small business, that keep entrepreneurs from 
taking an idea that they have and growing that idea and bringing it to 
fruition, getting capital for that idea, getting that idea into a 
commodity that goes to market. Those are the regulations that we are 
addressing and rolling back so that we are freeing up free enterprise.
  We have worked to prevent the sort of universal health care plans the 
left proposes that would destroy the quality of care in this Nation. 
What do my constituents want to see in health care? Access, access to 
health care. Physicians in communities, physicians who are able to open 
their doors and practice. That is what they want to see. Not a one-
size-fits-all plan that is directed by some bureaucrat sitting in a 
building in Washington, D.C. They want a physician in their community. 
That is what we are working for. Freeing up health care, access to 
health care.
  Mr. Speaker, you will hear a lot of complaints from the left about 
tax relief. Well, you know, they just absolutely despise tax relief. My 
constituents seem to appreciate marriage relief, marriage tax relief, 
child tax credits, sales tax deductibility, lower income tax rates. 
Goodness, a lot of my

[[Page 24241]]

constituents even tell me if 10 percent is good enough for God, it 
ought to be good enough for the government. Let us get that rate down 
even further, even further. They know better how to spend their money 
than the Federal Government, and they would like to be keeping it.
  You know, one of my colleagues earlier today mentioned something I 
want to talk about for just a second. Today, despite the war, despite 
natural disasters, we have seen that in the third quarter of 2005 that 
our GDP grew at 3.8 percent. And I hope my colleagues are listening and 
hear this. This year, this quarter, despite a war, despite natural 
disasters our economy has grown 3.8 percent.
  Now, for everybody at home that is a booming economy. That is 
tremendous growth, and we believe debt reduction requires a booming 
economy and spending reductions. You grow the economy and you cut back 
on your spending. You cannot cut the debt without both elements. You 
have to work it from both sides of the table. Make the tax reductions 
that are going to allow that economy, the free enterprise sector, to 
grow; and at the same time when you are looking at the public sector, 
start reducing what government is spending. It is an amazing thing.
  You reduce what you are spending, you increase those revenues, your 
deficit is reduced and your debt is reduced. Hard as they try, the 
Democrats in this body cannot make the case with a straight face that 
raising taxes, which is their platform, raising taxes, raising those 
taxes on American families, that raising those taxes will increase 
economic growth. It just does not happen. 3.8 percent growth.
  Mr. Speaker, I will have to remind my colleagues also that equals 
jobs, it equals jobs growth. We have seen over 3 million new jobs in 2 
years. We are seeing more. It equals increased small business 
manufacturing output, small business manufacturing output increases 
rights here on American soil. It equals a more productive free 
enterprise.
  Well, let me get back to our 10 years of majority here in the House. 
Last night I watched the left attack those 10 years of work; and as I 
said, in my opinion we have done a lot of good things in those 10 years 
and we have suffered some setbacks, and in my opinion we are not done. 
We have got a lot of good work left that we can do. We are going to 
continue taking the shackles off free enterprise and freeing it up.
  We are going to continue getting government off the backs and out of 
the pockets of hard-working American families, getting government off 
the backs and out of the pockets of small business owners all across 
this great land. We are going to continue working, restoring individual 
liberty and freedom and hopes and dreams. What you see is a work in 
progress because there is always room to improve, but our agenda is the 
right agenda. Yes, we want to see across-the-board spending reductions; 
the left does not.
  We want to see major immigration reform that gets this illegal 
immigration crisis under control. We want to see border security 
addressed immediately this year. The left does not. We want to see a 
very aggressive global war on terrorism that treats terrorists like the 
murderers that they are. Many on the left do not join us in that 
desire.
  We want to see a tax reform and relief that takes this nightmare of a 
Tax Code that we have volumes and volumes and volumes and simplifies it 
so that it is simpler, it is flatter, and it is fairer. The left does 
not.
  Mr. Speaker, we have heard a lot of talk about independent 
commissions around here lately. Well, a lot of the folks in my district 
are not real happy when they hear talk of independent commissions. They 
feel like that is our job. They have got people on the left just 
clamoring for a Katrina Commission. Well, now, I do not know about you, 
but who needs a commission to tell us that government failed? It seems 
pretty obvious to me. The city of New Orleans government, the Louisiana 
government, the Federal Government all failed. Period. I do not need a 
commission to tell me that.
  I would hope that the Democrats do not need an expensive government 
commission to tell them that either. What I do know and what I believe 
the left does not know is that failure can be laid right at the 
doorstep of this massive wasteful bureaucracy that you and I and every 
American taxpayer is paying for day after day after day. Bigger is not 
always better. Bigger is not always more responsive.
  One of the things we learn is that smaller local governments are 
generally the ones that are on the frontline, that are more responsive 
to the needs of communities. That is where the rubber meets the road.

                              {time}  1400

  We are paying a lot for this bureaucracy, and we are getting very 
little in return on our money. What we get is a slow process. We get 
the runaround. We get less accountability.
  The left in this country had control of this House for 40 years prior 
to the Republican majority, and in that time they created an enormous, 
huge bureaucracy. Over the past 10 years, we have been trying to reform 
and reshape that government, to make it more responsive to the American 
people. As I said, it takes time because they fight us every single 
step of the way. Every time we try to reduce something, to reform 
something, to cut back, to pare down, they fight us.
  Clearly we have not succeeded enough or the Katrina response would 
have been better, but I beg to differ when the left criticizes 
Republicans for this big, ineffective government. If we had our way, if 
they would join us, we would be looking at companies like FedEx, one of 
our good Tennessee companies, for ways to reform government for the 
21st century. We would be looking at other constituent companies in 
Tennessee, people like Tractor's Supply Company, efficient small 
businesses that work well.
  The Democrats are more concerned about the jobs, about the jobs big 
government creates than the jobs small business creates, and they are 
more concerned about those big government jobs than they are about the 
effectiveness of government. How dare we ask a Federal agency to pare 
down? How dare we ask them to reduce their payroll? How dare we ask 
them to become more effective or more efficient?
  I want everyone at home to know that it is Republicans who want a 
government that is leaner, that is smarter, that is more responsive. We 
want to reform government. We want change.
  I think there is a philosophical difference between the Democrats and 
the Republicans. They think government, big government, big buildings, 
big programs is the hallmark of a great Nation. We Republicans think 
that great individuals, individuals with freedom and power and hope and 
opportunity, that is the core and the center of a great Nation.
  We want to drag a bureaucracy that is based on 19th-century 
government into the modern age, drag them kicking and screaming if 
necessary, because we do not believe big government equals effective 
government.
  There are some core functions our Federal Government should be 
capable of handling. Defense and disaster response are clearly at the 
top of the list, and we should not let an outdated system and an 
overgrown civil service deliver poor service slowly.
  In closing, I know that many on the left are going out and slamming 
our across-the-board spending reductions. They are slamming our budget 
control ideas. They do not think government has room to cut.
  Mr. Speaker, in the 3 years I have been in this Congress, I have sat 
through oversight hearing after oversight hearing where government 
agencies have the absolute audacity to tell us that they cannot account 
for millions of our tax dollars, millions upon billions of dollars, and 
in the same breath they ask for more funding. Enough.
  I want to see reform. I hope this body wants to see reform. I want to 
see spending reductions, and I want a government that will actually 
perform its core functions.
  Many on the left have been standing in the way of reform. They want 
to

[[Page 24242]]

protect the bureaucracy that was built over 40 years of their control. 
I think it is their monument, and, yes, they will stand here and they 
will rail against every reform we have ever offered because it is their 
crowning achievement. It is the monument to themselves and their 
policies.
  But I think it is time for the American people to know that this 
party and this leadership is focused on the American family. We are 
focused on families who are strong and productive and free, families 
who are free, Mr. Speaker, free to dream big dreams, free to have great 
adventures, to live out those hopes and dreams.

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