[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 5964-5970]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          DEBT AND THE DEFICIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania). 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. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening as whip of the 37-member 
strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. I rise this 
evening on behalf of the Blue Dogs, who are very concerned about this, 
our Nation's debt, which is $8,353,429,193,726 and some change. That 
means for every man, woman and child alive in America at this moment, 
it means their share of the national debt is $28,000. Many of America's 
priorities will continue to go unmet until we get our Nation's fiscal 
house in order.
  I plan to spend a good part of this hour discussing the debt and the 
deficit, but I just heard some things from a group that calls 
themselves the Official Truth Squad. They had the nerve to come to the 
floor of the United States House of Representatives and say it is the 
Democrats that are responsible for $3-a-gallon gasoline at the gas 
pump. But the best one of all was when they blamed it on former 
President Clinton. Mr. Speaker, give me a break.
  The American people know for the last 5 years and for the first time 
in 50 years, the Republicans control the White House, the House and the 
Senate. It is they who have failed to give us an energy policy that 
will allow us to become less dependent on foreign oil. They know that 
Democrats like myself have tried time and time again to reduce our 
dependence on foreign oil.
  We have a bill in committee, in the Committee on Energy and Commerce, 
of which I am a member. We have a bill in the committee that mandates 
10 percent ethanol in all gasoline and 5 percent biodiesel in all 
diesel fuel, and yet the Republican leadership refuses to give us a 
hearing let alone a vote on this bill that will reduce our dependence 
on foreign oil. It will create new markets for America's farm families. 
It will mean that we pay 60 to 70 cents less per gallon at the pump; 
and yes, it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
  When we talk about alternative and renewable fuels, don't let anyone 
tell you that is too futuristic. I am here to tell you if we can strap 
a four-wheeler on a rocket and shoot it to Mars and control it from 
NASA's headquarters in Houston, it is American people that did that, 
and in America we have people with the know-how to create alternative 
and renewable fuels; not only ethanol and biodiesel, but many other 
forms that will reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
  It was last August, 8 months ago, last August that I went to all 29 
counties in my congressional district and called on the President to 
suspend deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and I did this 
because I know it is a short-term solution, and it works. President 
Bush's daddy did it in 1991, and the price of a barrel of oil dropped 
$11 overnight. President Clinton did it in 2000, and the price of a 
barrel of oil dropped $6. My question is why did it take this President 
8 months to decide to announce today something I called for him to do 
last August, and that is to suspend deliveries to the Strategic 
Petroleum Reserve?
  It is 8 months too late, and that means we have lost a number of farm 
families that will not be back in the business of providing America 
with a safe and reliable source for food and fiber. If we are not 
careful, we are going to become just as dependent on foreign countries 
for our food and fiber as we have for our energy supplies.
  So I am very concerned that tonight all we heard from the Republican 
side of the aisle and this so-called Truth Squad is that it is the 
Democrats and President Clinton that are responsible for the high 
prices of gasoline.
  Let me say that the American people are sick and tired of the 
partisan bickering going on the floor of the House of Representatives. 
Mr. Speaker, it should not matter if it is a Democrat or Republican 
idea; it should only matter if it is a commonsense idea, and does it 
make sense for the people that send us here to be their voice.
  I am going to continue to push for ethanol and biodiesel and other 
renewable and alternative fuels that will reduce our dependence on 
foreign oil and bring down the price we pay at the pump because, Mr. 
Speaker, I represent a very large and rural district where it is not 
uncommon to travel 50 and 100 miles each way each day to a job. Our 
working farm families can no longer afford the prices we are seeing at 
the gas pump.
  Mr. Speaker, I am also proud that the President finally today 
suggested something that I put into a bill last September that the 
Republican leadership refused to give me a hearing or a vote on, and 
that is calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the big 
oil companies to determine if what we have been seeing is in any way 
related to price gouging. I can tell you if it is, the big oil 
companies responsible for that, they should not be put in the jail, 
they ought to be put under the jail. Why did it take this President 8 
months to heed my call for a Federal Trade Commission investigation and 
to heed my call to suspend deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum 
Reserve? I am sure it has something to do with his approval rating now 
reaching an all-time low of 32 percent.
  Now, I wasn't here this evening to discuss energy, but I got a little 
fired up when the other side of the aisle decided they were going to 
say it was the Democrats and President Clinton who are responsible for 
$3-a-gallon gasoline at the pump.
  I am joined this evening by a good friend and colleague within the 
Blue Dog Coalition to talk about the debt and the deficit. He is a real 
active member of the Blue Dog Coalition, the group of 37 fiscally 
conservative Democrats, Mr. David Scott of Georgia.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be on the 
floor to set the record straight. I, too, heard what the Republicans 
were just saying. The American people are a lot of things, but they are 
not fools. They know that the President is a Republican. They know that 
the Senate is in the hands of the Republicans. They know that this 
House of Representatives is in the hands of the Republicans. The 
Republicans are leading the country.
  When Democrats were leading this country, at least one of our 
Presidents, President Truman, said, the buck stops here. Not these. 
They say the buck stops with the Democrats when we are the minority 
party. There is not a bill we can get passed here because we are the 
minority party. It is wrong as wrong can be for the Republicans to 
point fingers and try to blame the Democrats for this huge increase in 
prices. This belongs where it ought to be: On the failed policies of 
the President.
  Now, I like the President. I find the President to be a very fine 
person, and I hold him in great personal esteem, but I totally disagree 
with his policies. And the people of this country disagree with his 
policies.
  Now let us talk about the truth. We have had the Truth Squad just 
speak, and I am sort of reminded of this story of a good friend of 
mine. Her name was Isabella. One day in New York City Isabella had a 
vision, and so she changed her name to Sojourner Truth. She went all 
over this country speaking, and everywhere she went, people would ask 
her about her funny name.
  She would say, Let me tell you about my funny name. The Lord gave me 
``Sojourner'' so I could travel the world showing the people and 
speaking to them. But I told the Lord I needed another name, and he 
gave me ``Truth'' so I could tell the truth to people.
  Mr. Ross, that is what the American people are expecting us to do 
tonight, to be sojourners of truth and to tell the truth. There is no 
more burning issue. Yes, we must talk about the deficit,

[[Page 5965]]

but we have to talk about this gas price. We have to talk about the 
raising of it because it is what is on the hearts and minds and souls 
of the American people. They are fed up to here with these huge, 
gigantic gas spikes and gas prices.

                              {time}  2145

  Many people can't even make it. I was just out in my district in 
Douglas County down on Dorsett Shoals Road this past Sunday. And one of 
my constituents, a little lady, came out and said, Congressman, please 
do something about these gas prices. Where is our country headed? Where 
are we going? Please do something about securing our borders. Where is 
our country going? I am here to tell you, Mr. Ross, the American people 
are very, very concerned about the lack of direction and going in the 
wrong direction that this country is headed in. Nowhere is it more 
startling than in these gas prices.
  Now, let me bring this to your attention, Mr. Ross, because this 
really gets to me. And I want to talk about this for a moment. In this 
article, I think it was from one of the media, the New York Times or 
Washington Post. I don't have it correct. But they began to talk about 
something that brings home the point.
  Now, let me preface this by saying, I am a capitalist. I was trained 
at the best school of business in the world, the citadel of capitalism, 
the Wharton School of Finance where I got my MBA. Served on the board 
of directors there for 6 years. So I am a capitalist. I believe in the 
profit motive. I understand all of that.
  But listen to this that we hear about the CEO at Exxon-Mobil. For his 
efforts, Mr. Lee Raymond, who retired in December, was compensated more 
than $686 million from 1993 to 2005, according to an analysis done for 
the New York Times by Brian Foley, an independent compensation 
consultant. That amounts to $144,573, every day.
  Now, I am for profit. But there is a difference between profit and 
greed, and that is what is upsetting the American people. At a time 
when we have diminishing oil resources, at a time that the fuel prices 
are skyrocketing, these oil companies are making huge profits.
  Now, all I say is this: Don't we owe it to the American people to ask 
these executives from these oil companies to come before Congress and 
explain this to us?
  The American people are asking questions. I know your constituents 
are asking questions: How can it be? And not only that, if we move over 
to Chairman Ray Irani of Occidental Petroleum, He received $63 million 
in total compensation just last year. And over the past 3 years, Irani 
has reaped more than $135 million.
  I am not kicking anybody for making money. This is a free enterprise 
system. It is a capitalistic system. But we are not dealing with 
peanuts. We are not dealing with renewable stuff. We are dealing with a 
life and death, very valuable diminishing resource called oil that we 
are dependent on, not just for us to make our economy go. It also is 
the juice that enables us to fight our wars, protect this country. 
There is a lot at stake with this.
  Meanwhile, we want the truth. Here are the facts: the price of gas, 
while all of these profits are going on, the price of gas has doubled. 
Profits for big oil and gas companies have quadrupled at the time that 
gas prices have zoomed up, while American families' incomes have been 
stagnated.
  Many small independent gas stations are reporting that they are being 
gouged by big oil companies. Now, if they are saying that, shouldn't we 
investigate? Shouldn't we take a look? That is all that I am saying. I 
am saying we need to bring the oil industry individuals in and get them 
under oath to provide us with some answers.
  No, this is not a Democrat or Republican situation. It is all of our 
situation. But I tell you, when they are in charge, it is wrong to 
blame us.
  Mr. ROSS. I appreciate the gentleman from Georgia and his thoughts on 
this energy crisis. And he is right, these oil company executives, I 
would invite them to come to my district and look into the eyes of farm 
families that are no longer in business, working families who are 
having to make difficult decisions about how to spend their money 
because of the high price of gasoline just to get to and from work.
  And yet this administration, this Republican-led Congress continue to 
tell us that life is getting better. It is getting better for whom? 
Gasoline prices are up 80 percent. Health care costs are up 50 percent. 
College costs are up 40 percent, and incomes are down in this country. 
That concerns me. And as one of the 37 members of the fiscally 
conservative Blue Dog Coalition, we understand that all of this is 
directly related to this, the national debt, which is now 
$8,053,429,193,726 and some change, which equates to every man, woman 
and child in America, including the children being born today, their 
share is $28,000. We call that the debt tax, D-E-B-T. And that is one 
tax that cannot go away until our Nation gets its fiscal house in 
order. A lot of people think the deficit doesn't matter, that the debt 
doesn't matter, that we can simply print more money. That doesn't 
happen. It doesn't work that way.
  Unfortunately, here's how it works. We are borrowing money from the 
Social Security trust fund, which I am adamantly against. Now, I 
understand, 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. Now, I understand why the Republican 
leadership refused to give me a hearing or a vote on that bill, because 
the projected deficit for fiscal year 2007 is $348 billion. That is the 
number you will hear a lot. But the reality is that it is $548 billion. 
The difference is they are taking the money from the Social Security 
trust fund with absolutely no provision on how or when that money is 
going to be paid back.
  Now, when I go to the bank to get a loan, my banker asks me how I am 
going to pay it back, where's the money going to come from to pay it 
back, and when am I going to pay it back. Our government should be no 
different. The politicians in Washington should keep their hands off 
the Social Security trust fund. But, instead, this is what we get.
  Forty-five percent of the debt is being borrowed from foreign central 
banks and foreign investors. Forty-five percent of the deficit is 
coming from foreigners. In fact, this administration, in the last 6 
years, has borrowed more money from foreign central banks and foreign 
investors in places like China and Japan and South Korea than the 
previous 42 Presidents combined. And if we are not careful, if we are 
not careful, those foreigners are going to influence and have an impact 
and have control of our Nation's monetary policy. And we already see 
what is happening with interest rates.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. ROSS. I will yield, yes, ma'am.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Let me just congratulate the Blue Dog 
Coalition. I have listened to this very articulate explanation, if you 
will, of the national debt; and I want to congratulate the gentleman 
from Georgia and the gentleman from Arkansas and the distinguished 
gentleman from Tennessee.
  I just want to thank you for acknowledging or at least bringing to 
the attention of the American people the impact of the deficit. Just a 
reminder that when the Clinton administration left office there was a 
surplus. And so this issue of the national debt and deficit is crucial.
  And I would just simply leave with this thought: I also heard you 
talk about the gasoline prices and, obviously, there is an enormous 
range of issues that we need to discuss with that, the ethanol issue 
and, of course, the strategic petroleum reserve.
  But let us remember that the people who are most harmed by where we 
are today, the deficit and gasoline prices, are hardworking, struggling 
American families. These are people who get up every day, turn the 
lights on early and get in their cars to make ends meet. And, frankly, 
even though the President has offered some suggestions today as it 
relates to gasoline pricing, I don't think this House should rest a 
moment until we address this question.

[[Page 5966]]

  Many people will say, I represent the energy company so I am not here 
to suggest that there is a single answer. But I think the energy 
company should come to the table, I think the President needs to have 
the bully pulpit, if you will, and some relief needs to go directly to 
mom and pop senior citizen at the gas pump. And I hope, as you continue 
your discussion this evening, that Americans will understand that 
Democrats are prepared to fix this horrible debt to protect the Social 
Security trust fund which is a very important issue, but also respond 
to the struggling Americans or the needs of fixed-income persons when 
it comes to this crisis in gasoline pricing. It is not tomorrow, next 
week; it is now. This Congress needs to stand up and address this 
question, and they need to do it now. And I thank the gentleman for 
yielding. I thank the distinguished gentleman from Georgia.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. The gentlewoman from Texas brings up a very 
interesting point in terms of our energy crisis and how it dovetails 
with our debt, one of the important points we have got to look at so we 
can see the dangerous track we are on. Mr. Ross, you just went through 
one of the most disturbing facts of our debt and that is the 
indebtedness that we are in to our foreign investors, borrowing more 
money from them than all the 42 Presidents combined. But let us look at 
who they are. Let us look at who they are who are controlling our 
financial security. They are the very same nations that are controlling 
our energy security. China and India, on the one hand, Japan, the OPEC 
countries, the countries in the Middle East, on the other hand. Each of 
these areas are controlling our debt, and they are controlling our oil.
  The United States of America consumes 25 percent of the world's 
energy. But we produce or have access to just the refining and 
production capacity of just 5 percent. Put that together with the fact 
that one thing nobody mentions, not the President, not anybody, but it 
needs to be mentioned, and that is that why should we be taking this 
time to plan the future of this great country on a diminishing 
resource?
  Every point, and I bring this to you again, this is a quote from a 
president, former president of Exxon-Mobil. I talked about the other's 
salary a minute ago to show the discrepancy. Here's what, 3 years ago, 
John Thompson, president of Exxon-Mobil said. He said, we estimate that 
the world's oil production from existing oil fields is declining at an 
average rate of 6 percent a year. To meet projected demand in 2015, the 
industry will have to add about 100 million barrels a day in new 
production. That is equal to 80 percent more than we are producing 
today, and oil is not a replenishing asset.
  That brings me to the issue of where we really need to be planning 
for the future of this country is not on a diminishing resource of oil 
that is not going to be there in the future. We have got to look 
elsewhere. And I tell you this, Mr. Ross: if Brazil can take sugar cane 
and solve their energy crisis and turn it into fuel for their 
automobiles with ethanol, why in the world can't we do that in America 
with our corn or with our other biofuel capacities, with our research? 
We have got the American can-do spirit. The problem is we need to 
unleash it, and we have got to do it, not depending upon oil that is a 
diminishing resource, but have the vision, have the courage to look to 
the future.
  And I tell you, surely, if Brazil can solve their problem with using 
one of their natural replenishable resources of sugar cane to provide 
their major source of fuel, surely we can do as well as that. And we 
must do that.
  Mr. ROSS. The gentleman is absolutely correct, and the fact that our 
Nation is $8.3 trillion in debt has a direct impact on all of America's 
priorities, many of which are going unmet today because of this 
enormous debt. I mean, it is $8.2 trillion, but it is growing by nearly 
$1 billion a day. We are sending $279 million a day to Iraq, $57 
million a day to Afghanistan. This President, in this year's budget, 
proposes cuts to things like education and student loans to the tune of 
$2 billion. And yet the same budget, the same budget includes over $200 
billion in new tax cuts for those that are primarily earning over 
$400,000 a year. It is about priorities, and priorities should begin 
with bringing down the high price of gasoline and diesel fuel; and 
priorities should begin with reducing our dependence not only on 
foreign oil but on foreign central banks and foreign investors to fund 
our government.

                              {time}  2200

  The U.S. is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign lenders. 
Foreign lenders currently hold a total of about $2.174 trillion of our 
public debt. Compare this to only $23 billion in foreign holdings in 
1993.
  The top 10 current lenders, countries that this President and this 
Republican Congress continue to pass tax cuts with money that they are 
borrowing from these countries: Japan, $668.3 billion. China, you can 
see here in 2000, and these are based on numbers from the United States 
Treasury and the United States Census Bureau, the public debt held by 
China quadruples under President Bush by billions of dollars. In 2000, 
when the President took office, our government had borrowed $62 billion 
from China, and in less than 6 years this chart shows that we have now 
borrowed $257 billion from China. This was printed on February 23, 
2006. We cannot get them printed and updated quickly enough because the 
new number is $262.6 billion. United Kingdom, $244.8 billion. Our 
Nation has borrowed $97.9 billion from the Caribbean Banking Center. I 
had never heard of such. Taiwan, $71.6 billion. OPEC nations, $77.6 
billion that we have borrowed from them. With the excessive price we 
pay at the pump, they are getting the profits. They are getting so much 
in profits on our backs that they are then turning around and lending 
our Nation money so that these Republicans in Congress can keep 
borrowing money from OPEC to give their rich buddies a tax cut.
  And I would submit to you if you earn over $400,000 a year, you ought 
to be for this. If you earn less than $400,000 a year, this is not a 
good deal for you, and it is certainly not fair to your children, who 
have got to pay this back someday.
  Korea, $68.3 billion. Germany, $65.2 billion. Canada, $54.9 billion. 
And to round out the top 10 list of countries that our Nation has 
borrowed money from to fund tax cuts, Hong Kong, $48.3 billion.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. The American people are fed up with this, I 
assure you.
  Mr. ROSS. The gentleman is so right. The gentleman is so correct on 
that.
  In a moment we are going to be hearing from the cochair for policy 
for the 37-member-strong fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, and 
it is interesting what the gentleman from Tennessee is about to present 
to us. This is a little known report.
  And before we get into this, let me just let you know, Mr. Speaker, 
that every Tuesday night, as members of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group 
of 37 fiscally conservative Democrats, we come to the floor of the 
United States House of Representatives to talk about the budget, the 
debt, the deficit, and how this directly impacts America's priorities. 
And, Mr. Speaker, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns of 
us, I would encourage you to e-mail us at BlueD[email protected]. 
Again, Mr. Speaker, I would encourage you to e-mail us your thoughts, 
concerns, or questions to BlueD[email protected].
  Very few people in our Nation, in fact, very few people in this 
Congress, know about this little known report. It is called the 
Financial Report of the United States Government, and this is the 2005 
edition. Very few copies of this report are printed. Very few copies 
are circulated.
  Contrast that, Mr. Speaker, to this: This is the budget of the United 
States Government. It is delivered with a lot of fanfare to every 
Member of Congress's office. You always read about it and see it in the 
newspaper, radio, and television. You hear about it and see it, and 
this is the budget for fiscal year 2007. The budget of the United 
States Government, you get an

[[Page 5967]]

idea of how thick it is. It is a big document, and it is delivered each 
year to all 435 Members with a lot of fanfare.
  This document, however, is delivered only to a handful of people, and 
it is only delivered to them because the law requires it, but it is a 
financial report of the United States Government. And here is what is 
interesting about this report: When we tell you that the deficit for 
2005 was $319 billion, that is based on cash-basis accounting. Now, the 
Financial Report of America, and I believe it was Senator John Glenn 
that introduced the legislation, Congress requires the Secretary of the 
Treasury to issue this Financial Report of America using accrual-based 
accounting. It is this Congress through various laws that require every 
business in America with revenues over $5 million to use accrual-based 
accounting. They get in a lot of trouble with the IRS if they do not, 
and yet our government does not use the accrual accounting method, and 
our government certainly is bigger than $5 million in revenue every 
year. Our government uses cash-based accounting. And based on cash-
based accounting, the deficit for 2005 was $319 billion.
  Maybe the reason this is not widely distributed and not very well 
known is because when the Financial Report of America issued by 
President Bush's Secretary of the Treasury, as required by law, uses an 
accrual-based accounting method, this little document reveals that the 
true deficit for 2005 was not $319 billion. It was $760 billion. Lord 
knows we are not trying to make it sound any worse than it already is 
because at $319 billion it is one of the largest deficits ever in our 
Nation's history. It is hard now to believe that we had a balanced 
budget in this country from 1998 to 2000, but we did. And yet under 
this administration and this Republican-led Congress, we have got the 
largest budget deficit ever in our Nation's history for 6 years in a 
row, and that is based on the cash-based accounting method. And when 
you look at the accrual accounting method, it is much worse.
  Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee, 
the cochair for policy for the 37-member-strong, fiscally conservative 
Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, Mr. Jim Cooper, who discovered this 
document. And I yield to him to better explain it to all of us.
  Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Arkansas for 
yielding and my friend from Georgia for his remarks.
  If the gentleman from Arkansas would not mind, I might take that 
podium because of the easel next to it, because I brought a chart with 
me tonight.
  Mr. ROSS. Please do.
  Mr. COOPER. I appreciated the gentleman's remarks because he was 
exactly on track. There are two basic methods of accounting. One is 
simple, it is based on the cash basis. That means when you pay for 
something, you have to acknowledge it on the books.
  We all know that we live in a credit card economy, and it is easy to 
buy things with plastic, and you know that when you sign that little 
piece of paper after you put down your credit card, you have 
effectively bought it even though you have not paid the bill yet. You 
might not pay the bill until the end of the month or the end of the 
year, but it is important to acknowledge the fact that you have bought 
it when you put down the plastic.
  That is essentially what the accounting method that my colleague from 
Arkansas was describing does. It is called accrual accounting, A-C-C-R-
U-A-L. Now, it has nothing to do with the word ``cruel.'' It is not a 
mean form of accounting. In fact, it is probably the kindest form of 
accounting because it remembers our elderly, it remembers our sick, and 
our disabled not just when their bills are due, but when their needs 
arise. And that is when we should pay attention to our seniors, our 
sick, and our disabled.
  I brought with me a chart tonight that asks a very simple question. 
Here we are in the Congress of the United States. This is the greatest 
country in the history of the world. You would think that in a recent 
year we would be able to tell you, Mr. Speaker, and tell the American 
taxpayer how big our deficit was. Well, there are different ways of 
measuring it, and let me list the ways for you tonight.
  One is the way that my colleague mentioned, the U.S. budget that the 
President talks about so much. I am going to have breakfast at the 
White House in the morning with the new OMB Director, Rob Portman, a 
former colleague of ours, and I am going to be discussing this with him 
in the morning. It will be interesting to see what his reaction is. 
Under the OMB approach of cash accounting, the deficit last year was 
$319 billion. That was the third highest figure in U.S. history. It is 
about 2.6 percent of GDP. So it is huge and worrisome. They claim it is 
shrinking, but let me show you these other deficit measures again for 
the same year, 2005. If you do not allow us to borrow money from Social 
Security, the gross borrowing for the U.S. that year was $494 billion. 
So in a sense our true deficit in 2005 was not $319 billion. It was 
$494 billion, because I do not know anybody back home who supports our 
borrowing from Social Security in order to reduce the appearance of the 
size of the deficit.
  But here is the number that my colleague from Arkansas mentioned as 
well: This is using real accounting, accrual accounting, like all 
businesses of any size in America have to use by law. If you apply that 
to the U.S. Government, you get a shocking result. The budget deficit 
jumps $441 billion to $760 billion using modern accounting. And guess 
what. This deficit is not shrinking, as OMB claims. This one seems to 
be growing rapidly. And that number equals almost all domestic 
discretionary spending in America, defense and nondefense. That is a 
huge number. That is a deficit as large as basically all the money that 
Congress has any say over during the year because the rest of it is in 
entitlement programs and the interest on the national debt.
  As bad as that is, look at these other numbers. These are truly scary 
numbers because if you believe, as I do, that Social Security is the 
most solemn obligation in the United States, you cannot ignore Social 
Security. And as good as this document is using modern accounting, it 
basically ignores Social Security because it has got a little paragraph 
in here on page 12 that says in the section ``Other Responsibilities,'' 
oh, by the way, the Social Security unfunded liability situation is 
trillions of dollars. Well, that needs to be accounted for in the 
annual budget deficit, and if you account for it in the annual budget 
deficit, it means that the budget deficit in the year 2005 was 
basically $1.7 trillion, many times larger than the figure the 
administration releases.
  But guess what. Not only is Social Security a sacred obligation of 
our Nation, so are other programs like Medicare. Medicare takes care of 
our elderly and our disabled, and it, too, is a solemn obligation of 
our Nation. But it, too, is ignored in this document, ignored in the 
annual deficit figure. If you factor that in, the true deficit for the 
year 2005 was not $319 billion, was not $494 billion, was not $760 
billion, was not $1.7 trillion. It was $2.747 trillion, or $2,747 
billion. That is a number so large, it is almost impossible to imagine. 
It is literally as large as the entire Federal budget itself.
  So if you want to measure the budget deficit accurately, I think you 
have to acknowledge there is not just one measure. There is the old-
fashioned cash measure, which can be used, but is unrepresentative of 
our true obligations under credit card accounting and under the needs 
that we have with Social Security and Medicare. If you used a more 
modern accounting, suddenly the deficit looks a lot larger. In fact, if 
you include Social Security and Medicare, the deficit is, in fact, 
larger than most citizens can imagine.
  Very few people know this. It will be interesting tomorrow morning at 
breakfast to see whether the new Director of OMB knows this because 
these numbers are so large, they literally represent a crisis for our 
Nation.

[[Page 5968]]

It is a crisis not only for this generation, but for future 
generations, because what a deficit means is it is borrowing money, 
oftentimes, as my colleague from Arkansas said, from foreign nations, 
and these folks expect to be repaid with interest. And that puts a 
terrific debt burden, D-E-B-T, on the backs of our kids and grandkids 
as they struggle to pay the interest costs. Pretty soon interest alone 
will take up almost $400 billion or $500 billion a year of American 
productive capacity. That is a shame because that money could be 
invested in roads and schools and future productive opportunities for 
our young people. Instead it will be paid in interest to foreign 
central bankers. It is the only tax that can never be repealed.

                              {time}  2215

  It is a tax that will not go away until we once again return to the 
days of budget surpluses, when we can pay down that debt. But we are a 
long way from home right now, because the Nation is on the wrong track. 
We are headed in the wrong direction, and we need to acknowledge these 
truthful deficit measures so we can better understand our current 
plight.
  It is important that the American people be informed of all the 
facts, not only the President's budget, but also the financial report 
of the United States Government which was issued by his own Department 
of Treasury, but which they printed so few copies of that they 
literally don't want you to see it.
  So I would like to yield back my time to my colleagues from Georgia 
and from Arkansas. I appreciate your holding these issues up for the 
American people so the entire Nation can be involved in the debate. It 
is very important, Mr. Speaker, that all the American people see what 
is really going on in our great country, because our responsibility in 
this generation is to keep our country great.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, one of the points, just to add to 
what you are saying to show the real gravity of this situation, is 
this: Just the interest, just the interest alone that we are paying 
back on this, is the fastest growing part of our budget. Just the 
interest. Combined, that interest amounts to more than all of what we 
are spending for veterans, for education and for our own homeland 
security. The interest just is overwhelming.
  Now, I want to make a point, because you brought it home, and as you 
were explaining that, the gentleman from Tennessee, I was reminded of a 
little history lesson here. If you would look back through history at 
all of the great civilizations, great nations, from the Roman Empire to 
the British Empire to the Ottoman Empire, they all collapsed from three 
important things: Global overreach, diminishing resources at home and 
an overwhelming, irresponsible debt in the hands of foreigners.
  We are on the verge of handing our country over to foreigners, in our 
fiscal area, in our petroleum area and because of a lack of security on 
our borders.
  I tell you, Mr. Ross, the American people are dialed in on this. They 
are concerned about this and they want some leadership. They want 
vision. They want our borders secure. They want America to be America.
  Why can't we be independent in our resources, if we can make fuel to 
run our automobiles from corn? We know we can. Do you know why? Because 
the very first automobile manufactured by Henry Ford, the Model T, you 
know what it was fueled by? Ethanol made from corn. What more evidence 
do we need?
  Mr. ROSS. I would say to the gentleman from Georgia, I could not 
agree with you more. The point we are making I believe this evening, I 
hope this evening, is as long as we have got this massive debt, which 
is costing us half a billion dollars a day in interest payments alone, 
as long as we continue to borrow $1 billion a day, increasing the $8.3 
trillion debt by $1 billion a day, then America's priorities will 
continue to go unmet.
  We talk about investing in alternative and renewable fuels. The 
Potlatch Corporation with their plant in Cypress Bend, Arkansas, in my 
congressional district, has been recognized for their efforts in 
publications including the Wall Street Journal, I believe.
  They have a plan. They have the ability to take the wood, if you 
will, the timber, if you will, that is left in the woods that is not 
used in a manufacturing process, combine that with what is left on the 
sawmill floor, and they can power at least five towns the size of my 
hometown of Preston, Arkansas. To invest in that kind of equipment and 
technology and to make the thing economically feasible, it is going to 
have to be mass produced on a large scale, so they are in search of 
money to go forward.
  In the energy bill there is money to invest in these types of 
alternative and renewable fuels, but because of the massive debt there 
is only $150 million. Don't get me wrong, $150 million is a lot of 
money to a country boy from Prescott, Arkansas. But my point is this: 
To be able to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and to make our 
Nation more energy self-sufficient, to get this project off the ground 
to where it can be mass produced, they need $100 million. There is $150 
million for similar type projects for all of America. They need $100 
million of it.
  My point is we are not investing nearly enough in alternative and 
renewable fuels. $150 million is a lot of money, but our Nation is 
spending three times that, $500 million every day simply paying 
interest on the national debt, when we could be investing in 
alternative and renewable fuels to bring down the high energy bills 
that are having a negative effect, a horrible impact on America's 
working families, America's seniors and America's farm families.
  Just look at what interest payments on the debt are doing. The red on 
this chart is the net interest that is being paid in billions of 
dollars. The blue is how much we spend on education. Yes, we will spend 
more money paying interest on the national debt in about 100 days than 
we will spend on education in 365. Homeland security is the green bar. 
Veterans. I might remind you, we have got a whole new generation of 
veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, including my brother-
in-law, who is in the United States Air Force, and my first cousin, who 
is in the United States Army.
  So look where our priorities lay in this country. Until we can get 
our Nation's fiscal house in order, this Republican Congress is going 
to continue to spend half a billion dollars a day paying interest on 
the national debt, while education and homeland security, keeping 
America safe and our veterans, will continue to get the short end of 
the stick.
  I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is a double-ended stick too, 
because we must understand what this means in terms of the President 
will say, well, we are borrowing this money, we are making these budget 
cuts for tax cuts, so we can give tax cuts to the top 10 percent of 
this country, when they are not tax cuts. America needs to understand, 
they are not tax cuts. They are deferred tax increases, deferred tax 
increases, because somebody has got to pay for that.
  It is not fair. I have got two lovely little grandchildren. I love 
them to death. I have got two children. That debt is going to be on 
them. That is not fair. It is not fair to do that.
  Now I need to talk about one other thing so that we will know 
clearly, as you spoke on renewable energy programs and as we talk about 
this budget, the budget that again we will hopefully not have the votes 
for again. But let's talk about it, because you have got to look at the 
President's actions and the Republican administration's actions.
  Like I said earlier when we first started out, you can't blame the 
Democrats. We are not in charge. I hope that the American people will 
give us that opportunity this November to be in charge. Then we will be 
responsible.
  But I guarantee you one thing; we won't point the finger at the 
Republicans. We will say, as Harry Truman said, ``The buck stops 
here.'' We will

[[Page 5969]]

say, as John Fitzgerald Kennedy said, ``Ask not what your country can 
do for you; ask what you can do for your country.'' We will do what 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, ``The only thing we have to fear is 
fear itself.''
  That is what the American people are waiting for. They are waiting to 
be challenged. They are waiting to be inspired. We don't need our 
country run by the Middle East, by Iran, Iraq or Saudi Arabia. We don't 
need it run by China or India. That is not what made America great. 
America became great because of our own inventiveness. We can become 
energy independent. All we have to do is unleash the mighty, free 
enterprise spirit within America.
  If we know that oil is a diminishing resource, it is foolish for us 
to plan the future of this great Nation on a ready supply of oil, when 
we know it is running out. We have proven that. We have got to be bold. 
We must have vision. We must understand, and we must not be like those 
other previous civilizations on whose bleached bones are written those 
pathetic words, ``too late.'' Rome moved too late, the Ottoman Empire 
moved too late, the Dutch Netherlands moved too late and even Great 
Britain moved too late.
  Will we move too late, Mr. Ross? I don't think so, because there is 
too much can-do spirit in this country. That is what made America what 
it is, and that is what is going to take us forward. We have the 
leadership, we have the will, we have the vision, and we can be what 
the American people want us to be.
  Mr. ROSS. The gentleman from Georgia is correct in talking about not 
only do we understand what the problem is, record debt, record 
deficits, but we also have a solution to the problem.
  As members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog 
Coalition, all 37 of us, we have a 12-point plan for meaningful budget 
reform. These are not rocket science ideas; they are common sense 
ideas.
  One of them is promoting accountability within our government. I have 
talked about this before, and I am going to continue to talk about it, 
because I continue to have these manufactured homes located in my 
congressional district.
  FEMA has this so-called FEMA staging area at the Hope Airport in 
Hope, Arkansas, and the idea was that manufactured homes, 14 and 16 
foot wide, 60 foot long, and they are fully furnished, they would come 
and go. Hope is 450 miles from the eye of Hurricane Katrina.
  Well, they all came, and none of them ever went. As a result, at one 
time we had 10,477 brand new, fully-furnished manufactured homes 
sitting at the airport in Hope, Arkansas. They were going to use these 
old World War II era runways, taxiways and tarmacs, and you can see 
that is what they did with some of them. Then they started to have to 
use pasture land.
  Here is a better shot. When I say pasture land or hay meadow, you get 
the idea what I am talking about. Here are these mobile homes sitting 
there on the grass.
  So when I started getting on them and raising this issue back in 
December, I thought FEMA would get these homes to the people who lost 
their home and everything they owned in places like Mississippi and 
Louisiana. But instead, FEMA's response to this is they are now 
spending $4.3 million laying gravel on this pasture to keep the 
manufactured homes from sinking, instead of getting the homes to the 
people that need them.
  They claim they won't locate them in Louisiana and Mississippi in 
flood plains. Why didn't FEMA think about that before they went out and 
spent nearly $1 billion on these mobile homes? FEMA says it is okay to 
put tents in flood plains, it is okay to put almost 80 million camper 
trailers in flood plains, but, no, not mobile homes, not even 
temporarily for 18 months. So people continue to live in hotel rooms, 
they continue to live in tents, they continue to live in campers across 
Louisiana and Mississippi.
  You would have thought that FEMA would have figured this thing out 
since last August when Hurricane Katrina hit. Unfortunately, we had a 
horrible tornado come through Arkansas and Tennessee, numerous 
tornadoes, I might add, which literally destroyed the community of 
Marmaduke, Arkansas. It took a number of Congressmen, a number of 
Senators, a Governor and I don't know who all else two weeks to get 
FEMA to move 25 of these 10,477 mobile homes from Hope, Arkansas, to 
Marmaduke, Arkansas.
  We come to find out they have simply moved them to a so-called FEMA 
staging area at Marmaduke, and are telling those homeless it might take 
30 days to process their paperwork to see if they can get one of these 
homes.
  This is a symbol of what is wrong with this administration, this 
Republican Congress and their Federal Emergency Management Agency. I 
will continue to raise this issue and continue to give you an update, 
Mr. Speaker, as long as we have got a single home sitting at the 
airport at Hope, Arkansas, while people remain homeless from these 
horrible natural disasters.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, the current update as I understand it is we now 
as of tonight have 10,112 manufactured homes sitting there at the 
airport in Hope, Arkansas. This is an example of the lack of 
accountability within our government, the kind of accountability that 
we need if we are going to get our Nation's fiscal house in order.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Ross, you cannot help but feel compassion 
for the American people. They deserve much better than this, with 
Katrina, the natural disasters that are happening and the lack of 
response of FEMA. You talk about FEMA. I had a similar problem in my 
own district, where we had literally thousands of trailers sitting 
right there on the campus of Ft. Gillem.

                              {time}  2230

  Weeks, weeks, weeks went by, not going down into the Louisiana area. 
Lack of coordination, lack of proper direction.
  The American people deserve much better than this, and we are going 
to give them much better. We have got to change the direction of this 
country. It is implicit in the debt that we are having. It is implicit 
in the response and the concerns with the rising gas prices. It is 
implicit in what is happening with the depletion of our military and 
our armed services, in the service of Iraq and Afghanistan. It is 
implicit in the situation with the Dubai Ports deal, even to think that 
they would turn over the security of this country to a company owned by 
a country who was only one of three countries to recognize the Taliban 
as the authority, ruler, in Afghanistan, while we have got our young 
men and women dying and fighting the Taliban. A tremendous disconnect.
  And it is obvious it is there. As I said at the outset, we are here 
to be sojourners of truth. And we are sojourners of truth here tonight.
  Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Georgia, the gentleman from 
Tennessee for joining me this evening as we discuss this huge issue, 
this debt, and deficit facing our country, as we do every Tuesday 
night.
  We began the hour with a debt, $8,353,429,193,726 and some change. 
Just in the last hour since we have been discussing the debt and the 
deficit and what it means to America and how America's priorities are 
not getting funded because of it, how our veterans are not being taken 
care of, our school children are not being taken care of, our Nation is 
not nearly as safe as it should be because of America's priorities 
cannot be met as long as we do not have our fiscal house in order.
  But during this hour that we have stood here talking about this, this 
administration, this Republican Congress has increased the national 
debt to the tune of about $41 million. In fact, this is no longer the 
national debt. The debt now is $8,353,470,859,833. Just in the hour we 
have been here, our national debt increased by more than $41 million.
  It now stands at $8,353,470,859,833 and some change. It is time for 
this Nation to get its fiscal house in order. Forty-nine States are 
required to have a balanced budget. As members of the fiscally 
conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, we believe our Nation

[[Page 5970]]

should have a balanced budget. Small businesses are required to have a 
balanced budget. And America's working families and seniors and farm 
families are required to have a balanced budget.
  It is time for America to have a balanced budget. Madam Speaker, as 
members of the 37 Member strong, fiscally conservative Democratic Blue 
Dog Coalition, we will continue this dialogue and this debate on the 
House floor every Tuesday night until we have an administration and a 
Congress that will get our Nation's fiscal house in order.
  With that, Madam Speaker, if you have any questions for us, in the 
time remaining, I would encourage you, Madam Speaker, if you have 
questions or comments or concerns, I would encourage you, Madam 
Speaker, to e-mail us at [email protected]. That is 
[email protected].

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