[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 17852-17857]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2000
             RESTORING ACCOUNTABILITY AND FISCAL DISCIPLINE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Ross) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. ROSS. Madam Speaker, this evening I rise on behalf of the 37 
member strong, fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. 
There are 37 of us that have come to Washington to try to give this 
Congress a good dose of common sense, especially as it relates to 
restoring accountability and fiscal discipline to our Nation's 
government.
  As you can see here, today the United States' national debt is 
$8,518,180,439,082 and some change. If you divide that number by every 
man, woman, and child in America, our share, each of us, of the 
national debt is $28,504. And, Mr. Speaker, where I come from, not many 
of us would be able to find that kind of money to pay back our share of 
the national debt. And I contend, Mr. Speaker, that the American 
people, it is wrong to ask them to pay for this out-of-control reckless 
spending that we have seen from this President and this Republican 
Congress.
  As a small child growing up, I always heard it was the Democrats that 
spent the money and that it was the Republicans that were fiscally 
responsible. Then I came to Congress and I learned the truth. It was 
from 1998 to 2001, under a President named Bill Clinton, that this 
country saw its first balanced budget and had surpluses. It was the 
first time in 40 years that a Democrat or a Republican had done that. 
And this President, this Republican Congress, I might add that this is 
the first time in over 50 years the Republicans have controlled the 
White House, House, and Senate, and what have they done? They have 
given us the largest debt ever, ever, in our Nation's history, 
$8,518,180,439,082 and some change. Again, for every man, woman, and 
child in America, for each of us, our share of the national debt is 
$28,504.
  Why do I raise this issue? Because it is time the American people 
know the truth. I raise it out of concern for the future of my country, 
our country. I raise it out of concern for my children, your children, 
your grandchildren because it is they who will be left to foot the bill 
for this out-of-control spending and lack of fiscal discipline that we 
are seeing from this Republican-led Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I am sick and tired of all the partisan bickering we 
hear and see in our Nation's capital. I don't care if it is a Democrat 
idea or a Republican idea. All I care about is, is it a common-sense 
idea? Does it make sense for the people who sent us here to be their 
voice, to be their representative at our Nation's capital, in these 
halls of Congress, on the floor of the United States House of 
Representatives?
  So tonight I am here tonight to only hold the Republican leadership 
accountable for the largest debt ever in our Nation's history but to 
also offer up common-sense solutions that I am asking Republicans to 
join me in supporting for the sake of our country, for the future of 
our country. Common-sense solutions that can put us back on a path 
toward a balanced budget and can restore this country to the shape and 
to the economy that we enjoyed in the late 1990s.
  The debt is important. Why? Because the total national debt, numbers 
do not lie, facts do not lie, the total national debt from 1789 to 2000 
was $5.67 trillion, and you see where it is today, $8,518,180,439,082. 
But by 2010 the total national debt will have increased to at least 
$10.88 trillion. That is a doubling. That is a doubling of the 211-year 
debt in just 10 years.
  Let me put it another way. This President and this Republican 
Congress have borrowed more money from foreign central banks and 
foreign lenders in the past 5\1/2\ years than the previous 42 
Presidents combined. Interest payments on this debt are one of the 
fastest growing parts of the Federal budget. And what the Blue Dog 
Coalition has coined as the debt tax, d-e-b-t, cannot be repealed. That 
is one tax that will not go away until this Congress gets its fiscal 
House in order and restores some bipartisan common sense here on the 
floor of the United States House of Representatives. The current 
national debt as you see, $8.5 trillion. Each individual's share, 
$28,504.
  Why do deficits matter? They matter because deficits reduce economic 
growth, and we have seen that. A lot of people have lost their jobs in 
the past 5 years, and some will say that we are now seeing people being 
put back to work. But ask yourself, for those of you who lost a job in 
the past 5 years and have been fortunate enough to find new work, most 
of you, at least the people I talk to in south Arkansas tell me that 
the job that they have taken pays 5, 10, 15, $20,000 less per year than 
the job they lost, and the job they lost oftentimes included health 
insurance and their new job does not.
  Why do deficits matter? They burden our children and grandchildren 
with these liabilities. It is our kids and grandkids that are going to 
be stuck paying this debt tax, d-e-b-t.
  Why do deficits matter? Because they increase our reliance on foreign 
lenders. Foreign lenders now own 40 percent of our debt. The United 
States is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign lenders. You want 
to talk about national security. Mr. Speaker, this is a national 
security issue. The United States of America is becoming increasingly 
dependent on foreign lenders. Foreign lenders currently hold a total of 
about $2 trillion of our public debt. That is right. Over $2 trillion 
of that number right there has been borrowed from foreign lenders. 
Billions more have been borrowed from the Social Security trust fund.
  When I came to Congress in 2001, the first bill I filed as a Member 
of Congress was a bill to tell the politicians in Washington to keep 
their hands off the Social Security trust fund. This Republican 
Congress refused to give me a hearing or a vote on that bill, and now 
we know why. They have raided the Social Security trust fund to pay for 
tax cuts for folks earning over $400,000 a year. Shameful. Shameful. 
Shameful.
  Compare this: Foreign holdings in 1993 were $623 billion. Today, over 
$2 trillion of our Nation's debt, money we have borrowed, from foreign 
central banks and foreign investors and foreign lenders. And who are 
they? Here is the top ten list. These are the countries that the United 
States of America have gone to and borrowed money from in order to fund 
tax cuts in this country for people earning over $400,000 a year. It 
may make for good politics, but, Mr. Speaker, I contend it makes for 
horrible, irresponsible fiscal policy.
  Japan, the United States of America has borrowed $640.1 billion from 
Japan. China, Communist China, we have borrowed $321.4 billion from 
Communist China. The United Kingdom, $179.5 billion. OPEC, imagine 
that, and we wonder why gasoline is so expensive. Our Nation, the 
United States of America, has borrowed from OPEC countries $98 billion. 
Korea, $72.4 billion. Taiwan, $68.9 billion. The Caribbean banking 
centers, $61.7 billion. Hong Kong, $46.6 billion. Germany, $46.5 
billion.
  And are you ready for this? Rounding out the top ten countries that 
the United States of America has borrowed money from to fund tax cuts 
in this country for folks earning over $400,000 a year: Mexico. The 
United States of America has borrowed $40.1 billion from Mexico.
  Our Nation today is borrowing about a billion dollars a day. That is 
a far cry from the time period 1998 through 2001 when our Nation 
experienced a surplus. Today, policies and the budgets passed by this 
Republican Congress and this Republican President have given us the 
largest debt ever in our Nation's history and one of the largest 
deficits ever in our Nation's history. Again, this President and this 
Congress have borrowed more money from foreign lenders in the last 5\1/
2\ years than the previous 42 Presidents combined. It is our children 
who will be left to repay these enormous loans to these foreign 
countries.
  On July 19, 2006, the administration released its mid-session review 
of the budget. After further examination, let

[[Page 17853]]

us take a closer look at what this report actually tells us. And let me 
just add, Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments or questions or 
concerns, I would encourage you, Mr. Speaker, to e-mail us at 
BlueD[email protected]. That is BlueD[email protected]. Again, we are 
37-members strong. We are fiscally conservative Democrats that are 
trying to bring a good dose of common sense to the floor of the United 
States House of Representatives. You can e-mail, Mr. Speaker, at 
BlueD[email protected].
  Let us look at the real numbers, the facts. Originally, the 
administration predicted that the deficit for fiscal year 2006 would be 
$318 billion. So back in July, July 19 to be specific, the President 
had a press conference to announce good news, that the administration's 
updated estimate of the deficit for 2006 would only be $296 billion, 
not $318 billion, as originally projected. That is the fourth largest 
deficit ever, ever, in our Nation's history. The largest was in 2004, 
$413 billion. The second largest was in 2003, $378 billion. The third 
largest was in 2005, $318 billion; and the fourth largest is projected 
to be in 2006, the President's own estimate, $296 billion.
  And the fact is, Mr. Speaker, these revised estimates do not account 
for the extent of our budget problems because they included in this 
calculation the annual surpluses of Social Security. When the Social 
Security surplus is excluded, as it should be, the politicians in 
Washington should keep their hands off the Social Security trust fund. 
Not counting Social Security, the real deficit for 2006 is not $296 
billion but rather $473 billion.
  Mr. Speaker, when this administration took office in 2001, it had an 
advantage no administration in recent times had enjoyed, a 10-year 
projected surplus of $5.6 trillion. The administration has replaced 
that surplus with reoccurring deficits and record debt. When the cost 
of items omitted from the mid-session review are included, the 
deterioration in the budget between 2002 and 2011 is about $8.5 
trillion.

                              {time}  2015

  You can see in 2000 the surplus and you can see how the deficits 
started and you can see where we are headed. Although these numbers are 
more positive than the administration's February forecast, they 
unfortunately do not represent any significant improvements in the 
long-term budget picture. Even the administration's 5-year forecast, 
which omits the cost of certain planned policies, never shows a deficit 
smaller than $123 billion.
  Mr. Speaker, let us look at this chart here. The administration's 
estimated future deficits fail to include the full cost of items on its 
agenda. And once likely costs are included, the deficit is never better 
than $229 billion for the foreseeable future. Look at the realistic 
deficits. Look at the realistic estimate that shows bleak deficit 
outlook all the way up to 2015, 2016. In fact, the true state of the 
budget is worse than the administration's forecast depicts because it 
omits certain costs, as I mentioned. When realistic adjustments are 
made for real items, annual items never improve to better than $229 
billion for any year over the next decade. And by 2016, the deficit 
grows to $444 billion. The administration's new estimates for the war 
in Iraq and Afghanistan reflect a total of $110 billion for 2007, $60 
billion more than the President's February budget. The budget says one 
thing, reality is another.
  And let me say, as long as we have men and women in uniform in harm's 
way, I am going to support them. My brother-in-law is in the United 
States Air Force, spent Christmas on a tanker refueling fighter jets 
over Afghanistan. My first cousin is in the United States Army. His 
wife gave birth to their first child during his service in Iraq. This 
war in Iraq has impacted just about every family in America in one way 
or another. I went there in August of 2004 when we had some 3,000 
National Guard troops from Arkansas. I visited with young men in 
uniform that I had taught in Sunday school and that I had duck hunted 
with, and I can promise you that as long as we have the men and women 
in uniform in harm's way, I am going to support them.
  This is where I disagree with this President. This President is 
spending $8 billion of your tax money every month in Iraq. But if you 
ask him to be accountable for your tax money, he will tell you you are 
unpatriotic. That is where I disagree with this President. I think any 
President, Democrat or Republican, should be held accountable for how 
they spend our tax money, and I believe it is time for this President 
to give us a plan, a plan that can allow us to put the Iraqi people 
back to work, a plan that will allow us to hire enough Iraqis to be 
able to take control of their police and military force so that the day 
may come when we can bring our men and women in uniform home.
  Beyond 2008, the administration provides no further funding for the 
war in Iraq or Afghanistan. The President's budget says that, beyond 
2008, there will be no war in Iraq or Afghanistan. I think we know the 
truth, and I think we know different. Based on a model presented by 
CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, costs for military operations in 
Iraq and Afghanistan could run as much as $371 billion over the next 10 
years, from 2007 to 2016. And this calculation is likely conservative. 
The report also estimates that the President's plan to partially 
privatize Social Security will worsen the unified deficit by $721 
billion over the next 10 years.
  And the report does not include the cost of addressing Medicare 
physician payments. And I can promise you this: if we don't fix 
Medicare, if we don't fix Medicare, a number of providers will no 
longer accept Medicare, and it will be the patients, the patients, who 
suffer. We deserve to do better than that by our seniors. We deserve to 
do better than that by those who count on us in their retirement years 
for health care. A long-term fix to the Medicare problem could cost 
from $127 billion to $275 billion over the next 10 years in the absence 
of other policy changes, and that is not even included in the budget or 
in these deficit projections.
  So the budget is meaningless. These projections are meaningless. This 
budget and these projections indicate that the war will be over in Iraq 
and Afghanistan by 2008, that there are no problems with the long-term 
future of Medicare, that there are no problems with Social Security.
  Mr. Speaker, I mentioned it before, but it is worth repeating. It is 
worth repeating that since President Bush took office, the amount of 
foreign-held Treasury debt has more than doubled, increasing from $1 
trillion to $2.1 trillion, meaning that this administration has already 
accrued more foreign debt than the previous 42 Presidents combined.
  Unlike deficits in earlier years, current deficits have been 
primarily financed by foreign investors. With the rise in foreign debt 
equaling three-fourths, the increase in publicly held debts since the 
start of the current administration, this rise of foreign held debt is 
troubling because it makes our economy beholden to foreign creditors 
and represents another financial burden passed on to future 
generations.
  You can see, from 2001 until now, how the amount of foreign-held debt 
has more than doubled under this administration and this Republican-
controlled Congress. Again, our government, the United States of 
America, has borrowed more money from foreign investors in the past 
5\1/2\ years than the previous 42 Presidents combined.
  Unlike deficits in earlier years, current deficits have been 
primarily financed by foreign investors, as I mentioned earlier. The 
rise in foreign debt is troubling because it makes our economy beholden 
to foreign creditors. The rise in foreign-held debt is troubling 
because it makes our economy beholden to foreign creditors and 
represents another financial burden passed on to future generations, 
specifically our children and our grandchildren.
  As I mentioned earlier, it is a national security issue; it is a 
threat to our national security when we are borrowing money from places 
like China and OPEC to operate and run the day-to-day operations of the 
United States of America. Foreign-held debt is fundamentally different 
from domestically

[[Page 17854]]

held debt since the interest payments on foreign-held debt flow outside 
the United States and reduce Americans' standard of living. The cost of 
servicing foreign-held debt is high. Local, State, and Federal 
Government interest payments to foreign investors totaled $114 billion 
in 2005, an amount that will grow rapidly if the Treasury continues to 
sell debt to foreign investors at the current rate.
  Why does all this matter? I think this best sums it up right here. 
Like interest payments on a family's credit card, every dollar spent on 
interest on the national debt is a dollar that doesn't educate a child, 
build a road, or keep the Nation secure. Because of recent record 
deficits, the government's annual interest payment is the fastest 
growing category of Federal spending over the next 5 years and has 
posted double-digit percentage growth for the past 2 years, interest 
payments towards spending on most national priorities, such as homeland 
security, education, veterans health care, yes, veterans health care. 
Isn't it time that our Nation keep its promises to our veterans?
  By 2011, annual interest payments under the administration's proposed 
budget will grow to $302 billion, a 38 percent increase from the 
current level. You can look here and see what is going on. Interest 
payments on the debt dwarf other priorities. In the red, you will see 
in the red that is the amount of money that we are spending of your tax 
money, I should say this Republican Congress is spending of your tax 
money, simply to pay interest on the national debt. In the light blue 
you can see the amount of your tax money going to educate your children 
and grandchildren.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. ROSS. I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I couldn't help but listen to the 
gentleman's very effective presentation of the plight of America today. 
And I thank you for yielding, because what caught my attention was the 
gentleman's very, very important analysis of homeland security and 
veterans.
  We are within 24 hours of honoring the victims of 9/11, and the 
tragedy is that we have in New York those first responders that 
survived and yet cannot get the health care that is owed to them 
because of the lack of sensitivity and responsibility of this Congress 
to provide resources for those victims, first responder victims who 
cleaned up or worked in the World Trade aftermath and cannot get the 
health care that they need. And it is a shame that veterans now of the 
Iraq war will be coming home injured and don't have the resources 
because of this enormous debt to provide for keeping veterans hospitals 
open and providing the 18,000-plus that are injured the resources that 
they need.
  And my final point is that, as you noted, homeland security as it is 
suffering, isn't it interesting that we went on a series of hearings 
throughout August and the constant refrain was the necessity of border 
security and securing America. But yet this debt, which has interest 
payments that cause us to really not finance the Republican majority 
these vital programs, specifically Homeland Security and veterans. So 
we don't have the money for border security, we don't have the money 
for more Border Patrol agents, we don't have the money for more 
equipment because of this enormous debt.
  So when we hear these voices raised about 9/11 and securing America, 
it really is with dual voices, voices of talk but no reality. Because 
with this enormous debt that Democrats really working together have 
over and over again tried to get the Republicans to stop these enormous 
tax cuts and recognize our priorities, we are now suffering with this 
enormous debt, and homeland security is suffering and our veterans are 
suffering.
  So I thank the gentleman for providing us with this insightful 
discussion, and I hope that we will get our priorities straight. And I 
hope we will move in a new direction, because, frankly, we are not 
going to meet the promise of America in terms of our obligations with 
this enormous mounting debt and the interest payments taking away from 
the very people who need it, securing our Nation, and our veterans who 
have put their lives on the line for this country.
  Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for her comments. And 
you are right, it is about priorities. And you can see where the 
priorities lie with this Republican Congress and this administration.
  Again, in the red, in the red you will see the amount of your tax 
money that is going to pay interest on the national debt. In the light 
blue you will see the amount of money going to educate our children. In 
the light green you will see the amount of money going to homeland 
security. That is right, there is a lot of talk these days about 
homeland security. That is the new buzz word. But look at the reality. 
In the green, that is the amount of your tax money going to homeland 
security. One out of every five packages in the belly of a plane on 
commercial flights today that are defined as freight, that is right, a 
lot of freight moves around this country on the belly of commercial 
airplanes, one in five packages today go unchecked. We feel safer. We 
feel safer because I take off my boots and take off my belt and go 
through a metal detector, and proud to do it. And I see all the 
suitcases and mine going through the x-ray machine. But the American 
people I don't believe realize that one in five packages on the belly 
of a commercial airplane is freight that goes totally unchecked. And 
the terrorists know this.

                              {time}  2030

  What is more important, protecting the American people or giving 
another tax cut to people earning over $400,000 a year?
  Ninety-four percent of the containers that enter America by way of 
ports go totally unchecked. Is America really any more safe today than 
it was before 9/11?
  Again, in the green, the amount of your tax money that is going for 
homeland security. Finally, in the dark blue, the amount of your tax 
money going to keep America's promises to our veterans. Again, in the 
red, the amount of money going to pay interest on the national debts.
  I raise this issue because the debt and the deficit should matter to 
the American people. It should matter to all of us because our Nation 
is spending over $.5 billion every 24 hours simply paying interest on 
the national debt.
  I have got folks who have been waiting over 25 years for Interstate 
49 in Arkansas. Give me just 4 days' interest. Give me just 4 days' 
interest on the national debt and I can build I-49. I have folks that 
have been waiting on I-69, which was first announced in Indiana 5 years 
before I was born. I am 45. I have got folks that have been waiting 50 
years for Interstate 69. Give me 3 days' interest on the national debt 
and I can build I-69 across south Arkansas.
  I got a call today from Fred Denton in McGehee, Arkansas. They have a 
really nice port there on the Mississippi River. They are losing 
industrial prospects and economic opportunities and jobs, like 
biodiesel plants, because they do not have rail. They need $10 million 
to get rail to that port. Give me just a few hours' interest on the 
national debt and we can get rail to Yellow Bend Port on the 
Mississippi River.
  These are America's priorities: Improving our infrastructure, 
educating our kids, honoring our veterans, protecting our homeland, 
honoring our troops by giving them the equipment and supplies they need 
to do their job as safely as possible, investing in our Nation's 
infrastructure, which creates jobs and economic opportunities.
  Those are America's priorities, but your tax money is not going 
toward them. Your tax money is simply going to pay interest. For the 
most part, it is going to pay interest on the national debt, and that 
is why I believe it is important that we get our Nation's fiscal house 
in order.
  The administration claims that its deficits are manageable, but 
mainstream economists agree that large persistent deficits undermine 
the long-term strength of the economy. Government borrowing raises 
interest rates.

[[Page 17855]]

And the cost of capital crowds out private investment and diminishes 
sustained economic growth.
  Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan last year warned that 
if these large budget deficits are not addressed, at some point, in his 
words ``at some point these deficits will cause the economy to stagnate 
or worsen.'' That is from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan 
Greenspan.
  Now, I have set the stage this evening for the problem at hand, but I 
told you I was also going to offer up, on behalf of the 37 Member 
strong fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, some common sense 
solutions. We are not here just to criticize the Republicans for the 
way they have managed and controlled this Congress under this President 
for the past 5\1/2\ years.
  We have talked about the facts and we have showed the numbers. And 
numbers don't lie. But I also promised this evening we would talk about 
a number of common sense solutions that we encourage and have asked 
Republicans to join us, as conservative Democrats, in embracing and in 
passing in this Congress for the sake of our country, for the sake of 
the American people.
  We have a 10-point plan in the Blue Dog Coalition. Ten points to 
budget reform, common sense budget reform, that can get these record 
deficits under control and restore us to the days of balanced budgets. 
We will go through those 10 points, but at this time I would like to 
introduce one of the founders of the Blue Dog Coalition, a real role 
model for me in my 5\1/2\ years here, and that is Mr. Tanner, the 
gentleman from Tennessee, who has developed a plan which includes 
legislation, which includes bills that we all got together and we wrote 
and I am cosponsoring. They are endorsed by the Blue Dog Coalition. 
They are common sense proposals that will restore accountability to our 
government.
  So I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee, a founder of the Blue Dog 
Coalition, Mr. Tanner, to discuss House Resolution 841, a common sense 
piece of legislation to restore accountability to this Congress and to 
these United States of America and our government.
  Mr. TANNER. Thank you very much, Mr. Ross. I assume the number you 
referred to are from the IG reports and the requirement that we have a 
hearing on them.
  Mr. ROSS. That is right. I didn't get into the details. I was saving 
it for you.
  Mr. TANNER. I want to talk about the government of the United States 
from a business standpoint, because the Congress of the United States 
is failing the constituents, the shareholders of our country. Every 
day, to whoever is watching C-SPAN, every day the Congress is failing 
in its primary responsibility as a third branch of government, as the 
legislative branch, to oversee the executive branch. And then you have 
the judicial branch that interprets the laws that are passed here, but 
Congress has completely abdicated its oversight responsibility under 
the Constitution of the United States of America as one of three 
separate but equal branches.
  And so I come to this not as a Democrat or a Republican but as a 
businessperson. My family has been in business in Tennessee for over 
100 years, and I know a little bit about accountability, about audits, 
about responsibility for money that is entrusted to one from another. 
Now, the Congress of the United States takes money away from all of us, 
Members of Congress included, in the form of taxation, an involuntary 
removal of money from our pockets through the form of taxation to the 
government. The government, as it relates to the Congress here in the 
Capitol, is supposed to oversee the money it appropriates to any 
administration. That is our primary responsibility, other than national 
security, of course. But if we remove that, we are supposed to look out 
for the taxpayers.
  This is the people's House. We are the primary representatives of the 
people in the national government here in the U.S. House of 
Representatives. The only branch of the Federal Government, the only 
office I know of that one cannot be appointed to. When someone who 
serves here dies or resigns, no one is appointed. It is a special 
election. And very seldom are there 435 Members here, because somebody 
has died or resigned for some reason, to seek another office or do 
something else, but there is no appointment here.
  So this is the only office I know of in the whole constellation of 
offices, State and Federal, where no one can be appointed. Everyone who 
sits in this House is elected by his or her peers, his or her 
constituents. So it is a special responsibility that we have, and this 
responsibility is not being discharged.
  Now, the reason I say that is because the last year we have from the 
GAO of the auditors determinations as to whether or not the executive 
branch of the government, all the Federal agencies, are able to produce 
an acceptable audit, in other words to tell us as representatives of 
the people, we who took money away from people involuntarily in the 
form of taxes, whether we appropriated it to this or any other 
administration, what did you do with it? I think that is one of the 
most basic responsibilities we have to our citizens and to our 
constituents.
  This GAO report for the fiscal year 2004, the last one we basically 
have, we have one later, 2005, but it is still incomplete, asks the 
Department of Agriculture if they could produce an audit? No. 
Department of Defense? Could they produce an acceptable audit? No. 
Department of Education? No. Department of Health and Human Services? 
No. Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD? No. Department of 
the Interior, which are all the national parks, can they produce an 
audit? Can they tell us what happened to the money we appropriated? The 
answer was no. The Department of Justice. The Department of Justice. 
The answer: No. Department of State. No. Department of Transportation. 
No. Department of Veterans Affairs. Mr. Ross talked about the veterans. 
The answer to, can you tell us what happened to the money that was 
appropriated to your department, was no. AID, Agency for International 
Development. No. NASA. No. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in charge of 
nuclear stuff in this country. The answer to, can you tell us what 
happened to the money, was no. Office of Personnel Management, in the 
White House. No. Can't tell us. Small Business Administration. No.
  In short, 16 of 23 Federal agencies could not produce an acceptable 
audit. What has Congress done about it? Virtually nothing. This is an 
abdication of one of the primary responsibilities of every Member of 
this House. Not Democrat, not Republican, but every Member who holds 
his hand up and says I promise to support the Constitution and all the 
rest.
  The people of this country, the shareholders of America, ought to 
demand at the very least that we can tell them what happened to the 
money that we took from them, and this government can't do it.
  The problem is, we have a friendly administration, a compliant 
Congress. Nobody wants to embarrass anybody else. I understand that. 
But what we have created here is a situation where this government is 
violating every business principle I know. There is not a private 
business in this country where one can go to the comptroller and say, 
here is a $5,000 expenditure, can you tell me what this is for, and get 
the response, I don't know; or I can't answer that question.
  Nobody would tolerate that. Nobody would put up with it. Yet that is 
what our shareholders, the American citizens, are witnessing every day, 
day after day, here in Congress. There are no hearings. There is no 
oversight. It is horror stories coming out of whether it be no-bid 
contracts for Iraq, whether it be no-bid contracts for Katrina. Money 
is leaving this place through a fire hose and nobody is asking the 
administration what happened to it. And if they asked them, they 
couldn't tell them. That is where we are tonight.

                              {time}  2045

  It is intolerable as a business person. And again, we have a 
responsibility as Members of Congress. I don't care

[[Page 17856]]

whether you are Republican or Democrat, we have a responsibility as 
Members of Congress to answer to our constituents, our shareholders, 
the citizens of this country, this is what we did with your money. We 
appropriated to whatever Department one wishes to choose, and we held 
them accountable for it. What did you do with the money?
  Well, we don't have that. We have a situation where there is no 
oversight, for an obvious reason: we have one-party government here. 
What we want to do and what I want to do is simply for lack of a better 
term audit the books. Before we ask the American people for one more 
red dime, we ought to find out what is happening to the money we are 
already taking away from them, and that is what the Blue Dog Coalition 
is all about. That is what we want to do. We want to call people in and 
say you got this and this appropriation, what happened to the money? It 
is that simple. And if you can't tell us, you don't get it next year.
  Mr. ROSS. Did you say there were 16?
  Mr. TANNER. According to the GAO in fiscal year ending 2004, 16 of 23 
Federal agencies, and 19 of 24 in fiscal year ending 2005, according to 
the GAO, couldn't produce a clean audit. I wish I had made this up, but 
I didn't. It would be easier to stomach. But nothing is asking.
  So we filed a bill that says when the inspector general of any 
Department identifies either, one, an unacceptable audit, in other 
words they can't tell you what they did with the money; or, two, they 
identify in government talk a high-risk program, what that really means 
is a program that was enacted that doesn't work. Our bill says when 
either one of those two events occurs, Congress must hold a public 
hearing on that within 60 days so that the American people will have 
some means to find out just exactly what is going on in this town, 
because right now there are no hearings. There is no oversight. There 
is no subpoena power. There are no subpoenas being issued to call 
people in and say, give us your books and tell us what you did with the 
money. That is not happening here.
  It is understandable. It is politics and I understand that, but the 
American people deserve better than that. They deserve better than 
that, not just from the Democrats but from the Republicans as well. 
They ought to be demanding. Even though it is a Republican 
administration, it doesn't matter. We are a separate but equal branch 
of government charged with this responsibility. We ought to hold the 
executive branch accountable.
  The citizens of this country, the shareholders in this deal, they are 
getting shortchanged every single day because it is not happening. If 
it was happening, you would not have these reports. It got worse in 
2005 from 2004. That is because nobody is asking them what did you do 
with the money. If they asked the administration, they couldn't tell 
them. That is an intolerable situation from a business standpoint, not 
just from politics, but from a business standpoint.
  I congratulate and appreciate you doing this hour tonight because 
this is something that the consequences, and I will be quiet because 
Mr. Cardoza has just joined us, but the consequences of this continuing 
borrowing of money from people who are not a U.S. interest are creating 
a financial vulnerability which is nothing short of a national security 
matter.
  It is not hard to imagine. China, Communist Red China, has acquired 
over $300 billion worth of our paper. It is not a stretch of anybody's 
imagination to understand that they may be interested in something Iran 
is doing that is not in our best interest, that they may make a move in 
Taiwan. I made the tongue-in-cheek statement here one night that it is 
getting to the point that if China attacks Taiwan, we have to go to 
China and borrow the money to defend Taiwan.
  That is a national security matter that is real. It is not a scare 
tactic. This is real, as it relates to the vulnerability that is 
created by us financing our government with foreign investment. That is 
number one.
  Number two, as you said earlier, Mike, we are transferring our tax 
base to interest. There is no country that has ever been successful 
with no infrastructure investment by the government and no human 
capital investment, human capital being education and health care. No 
country in the history of the world has been strong and free with an 
unhealthy, uneducated population. The more we transfer the tax base to 
interest and away from investment in infrastructure and the human 
capital of our citizens, our shareholders, the more we are creating a 
vulnerability in this country which is a national security matter.
  Mr. ROSS. I want to thank the gentleman from Tennessee, one of the 
founders of the Blue Dog Coalition, for being here this evening on the 
floor and outlining House Resolution 841, a commonsense proposal to 
restore accountability to our government. We are 37 members strong. We 
are Democrats, fiscally conservative Democrats, who want to restore 
some commonsense and fiscal responsibility to our Nation's government.
  Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments or concerns or questions for 
us, you can e-mail us at BlueD[email protected]. That is 
BlueD[email protected].
  At this time, I yield to our co-chair for communications within the 
Blue Dog Coalition, a good friend of mine and a leader of our group, 
Mr. Dennis Cardoza from California.
  Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Ross yielding me this 
time. I want to start this evening by thanking Mr. Tanner.
  In the 4 years I have been in Congress, he has been one of the true 
leaders of the Blue Dogs. I think of him as the conscience of the 
Congress these days with regard to the issues of fiscal responsibility 
and accountability and making sure that our government does the right 
thing.
  Mr. Ross, I want to thank you. I have traveled to your district. I 
know how much your constituents respect you on this matter and others, 
but it is really so important for the American people to understand the 
magnitude of the challenge that we are facing with regard to the 
national debt, and your leadership each and every week here on the 
floor means so much not just to me and the Blue Dogs but to the entire 
country.
  I want to talk about my recent work with my colleagues on a task 
force on waste, fraud and abuse. My distinguished colleagues, Mr. 
Waxman from California, Mr. Tierney from Massachusetts, and Mr. Tanner 
who you just heard, serve as Members of what we call the Truth Squad, 
which is charged with holding the Bush administration accountable for 
the mishandling of taxpayer dollars. That is something that this 
Republican Congress has simply failed to do.
  The Blue Dogs are committed to ensuring that this government account 
for its stewardship of taxpayer dollars. You heard Mr. Tanner: 
currently, 19 of 24 Federal agencies can't pass a simple, clean audit. 
That is happening under a Republican watch.
  This administration touts itself as being a businesslike 
administration, yet no business in America would tolerate the fiscal 
irresponsibility that is being conducted by this administration. It is 
really little wonder that with their lack of oversight of this Congress 
and lack of oversight in the administration, that we continue to see 
abuse and waste on this scale.
  The Blue Dogs believe that all Federal agencies should be required to 
pass a clean audit. The American public deserves nothing less.
  I introduced a bill this year, along with Mr. Tanner's piece of 
legislation, that says that any Cabinet Secretary who can't pass an 
audit for 2 years in a row can't run his agency, basically, couldn't 
run a business if he was running a pharmacy in Prescott or Hope, 
Arkansas, Mr. Ross. If you ran that and couldn't pass an audit, 
couldn't pay your bills, your wife, Holly, would say come back and run 
this business right.
  The reality is that we need to recall this administration and this 
Congress and tell them to run the business right. They are simply not 
doing it.
  As co-chair of the Truth Squad, I am working with my colleagues to 
bring

[[Page 17857]]

attention to the most egregious waste of taxpayers' dollars, the places 
where we are absolutely wasting taxpayers' dollars and putting that 
money down the drain. In fact, we have unveiled a new award called the 
Golden Drain Award. All told, the Truth Squad has identified with the 
help of our staff over $150 billion of American taxpayer dollars that 
have gone down the golden drain of waste, fraud and abuse.
  Mr. Waxman's Democratic side of the committee has documented all of 
these facts and has put out a report to this end. We created this award 
because it is essential that we bring attention to these outrageous 
instances of waste, fraud and abuse, otherwise they will never stop.
  Sadly, there is seemingly an endless list of nominees for this award 
under this Congress and this administration. We will unveil one or two 
or three on Thursday.
  Mr. Ross, since we have been here talking, we have talked about the 
waste in Iraq. You and I went together to your home district and went 
to the Hope airport to see the FEMA trailers, nearly half a billion 
dollars of FEMA trailers, that never got delivered to the people that 
needed them, but the taxpayers sure paid for them.
  We see how we have wasted money on homeland security and the borders 
and the airports, and they are still not secure. The ports certainly 
are not secure enough. The list goes on and on. The administration's 
track record for no-bid contracts, for waste in contracting, for lack 
of oversight in contracting is truly appalling; and we talked in a 
press conference 2 weeks ago, the Truth Squad did, about these 
egregious behaviors.
  Mr. Speaker, enough is enough. It is time for accountability. It is 
time to audit the books. The Blue Dogs that serve in Congress are fully 
committed to this. The Democratic Caucus is fully committed to this. It 
is time that the entire Congress be committed to this.
  Mr. Ross, I will close tonight's activities with one last thought, 
and that is that we owe the taxpayers more than we are giving them with 
the jobs we are supposed to do. We should be accounting for their money 
every single day we are here.
  Mr. ROSS. I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Cardoza), co-chair for communications for the fiscally conservative 
Blue Dog Coalition, for his leadership within the Blue Dog Coalition 
and for his efforts through legislation to restore accountability to 
our Nation's government.
  Mr. Speaker, no business in our country could succeed financially if 
it failed to fully report back to its shareholders on how it is 
spending its money. However, that is exactly, as we have learned 
tonight from Mr. Cardoza and Mr. Tanner, how our Federal Government is 
operating. The administration is not telling its shareholders, the 
American taxpayers, how it spends the money coming into Washington.
  In 2004, $25 billion of Federal Government spending went absolutely 
unaccounted for according to the Treasury Department. The Bush 
administration was unable to determine where the money had gone, how it 
was spent, or what the American people got for their tax money. Even 
worse, the Republican-controlled Congress failed to hold the executive 
branch accountable for this omission. And through these common sense 
pieces of legislation, we plan to hold every Federal agency accountable 
for how it spends America's tax money.
  The next year, the GAO reported that 18 of the 24 Federal agencies 
have such bad financial systems that they don't even know the true cost 
of running some of their programs. Yet Republican leaders in Congress 
did not force these agencies to fully account for how the money was 
being spent before doling out billions more of your tax money to the 
same programs.
  Clearly, Congress has failed to ask serious questions about the Bush 
administration's fiscal irresponsibility and record-high deficits 4 
years in a row that have now pushed the Federal debt to well over $8.5 
trillion.
  Mr. Speaker, the time has come to hold this administration and this 
Congress accountable for its reckless behavior. I believe Congress must 
act now to renew its constitutional responsibility to serve as a check 
and balance for overspending, waste, fraud and financial abuse within 
the executive branch.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, tonight in the past hour this number here 
increased by a little over $41 million. Our national debt is 
$8,518,180,439,082. The national debt in America is $8,518,180,439,082. 
And that number, Mr. Speaker, during the hour that we have been here 
talking about restoring fiscal discipline and commonsense to our 
Nation's government, has increased by over $41 million.
  It is time for this Congress to restore accountability to our Federal 
Government. This is not about beating up Republicans. I don't care if 
Democrats or Republicans are in control; I am going to hold them 
accountable. I am going to hold them accountable for how they spend 
American taxpayers' dollars.
  Mr. Speaker, tonight we stand before you not only talking about the 
problem but offering up common sense solutions that demand 
accountability within our government. The time has come to restore 
commonsense and fiscal discipline and accountability to the government 
of the United States of America.

                          ____________________