[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 606-613]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2030
                           BLUE DOG COALITION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Ross) is 
recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening on behalf of the 44 member

[[Page 607]]

strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. We are a 
group of fiscally conservative Democrats that are committed to 
restoring common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's 
government. During the 109th session of Congress, we had 37 members; in 
the 110th session of Congress, we have grown to 44 members, 44 fiscally 
conservative Democrats that share my vision of putting America on a 
path toward fiscal responsibility, putting America on a path toward 
accountability, and putting America on a path that will restore common 
sense to our national government.
  As you walk the Halls of Congress, as you walk the Cannon House 
Office Building, the Longworth House Office Building, as you walk the 
Rayburn House Office Building, you will see this poster, Mr. Speaker; 
and as you see this poster, it will be a symbol that you are walking by 
an office that houses a Blue Dog member. You will find 44 of these 
posters in the Halls of Congress to remind the American people and to 
remind the Members of Congress and to remind all of us as we walk these 
Halls that our Nation is one that is tragically in debt.
  The current national debt of these United States of America is 
$8,690,905,471,722, and actually 43 cents. I just didn't have room to 
put it on the poster. I ran out of room. And for every man, woman, and 
child in America, your share of the national debt is $29,005.60. It is 
what we have coined in the Blue Dog Coalition as the debt tax, D-E-B-T 
tax. It is one tax that cannot be cut, that cannot be repealed until we 
get our Nation's fiscal house in order.
  Mr. Speaker, you might be thinking, Now, didn't President Clinton 
leave us with a balanced budget, the first one in some 40 years? Didn't 
we have a balanced budget from 1998 through 2001? Yes, Mr. Speaker, we 
did. But in the past 6 years, this Republican President and this 
Republican Congress has given us record budget deficit after record 
budget deficit.
  On this chart you will see the four largest deficits ever in our 
Nation's history. The first rank was 2004 when our Nation wrote $413 
billion worth of hot checks. The second largest deficit ever in our 
Nation's history was in 2003 when our Nation wrote $378 billion in hot 
checks. In 2005, it was $318 billion. And in 2006, the President 
actually had a press conference to brag on the fact that he came in 
under projection and only wrote $296 billion worth of hot checks, the 
largest deficit year after year after year under this Republican-
controlled Congress that has given us the largest debt ever in our 
Nation's history.
  As members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog 
Coalition, we believe that the American people have given us the 
majority in this Congress because they want us to do something about 
it; and, Mr. Speaker, we have a plan. We have a 12-point plan to 
restore budget discipline and common sense to our national government.
  Why is this important? It is important because if you think with me, 
Mr. Speaker, the total national debt from 1789 to 2000 was $5.67 
trillion; but by 2010, the total national debt will have increased to 
$10.88 trillion. That is a doubling, a doubling of the 211-year debt in 
just 10 years.
  Interest payments on this debt are one of the fastest growing parts 
of the Federal budget, and the debt tax, D-E-B-T tax, is one that 
cannot be repealed.
  Mr. Speaker, the reason this should matter to every man, woman, and 
child in America is quite simple: deficits do matter. Deficits reduce 
economic growth; they burden our children and grandchildren with 
liabilities; they increase our reliance on foreign lenders who now own 
40 percent of our debt. Let me repeat that: foreign lenders now own 40 
percent of our debt.
  Put another way, this administration and this Republican Congress 
over the past 6 years have borrowed more money from foreign central 
banks and foreign investors than the previous 42 Presidents combined. 
It is time to restore some common sense and fiscal discipline to our 
Nation's government.
  Why? Why does it matter to the working families and seniors to this 
country? It is quite simple. Our Nation is borrowing some $1 billion a 
day. We are spending one-half billion dollars each day paying interest 
on the debt we have already got before we increase it another $1 
billion today. And as you can see, the red graph is the increase we 
spend on your tax money paying interest on the national debt. The blue 
is how much we spend on education. Look at the difference. The red 
graph illustrates the amount of your tax money that is going not to pay 
principle but to pay interest on the national debt. The blue represents 
how much we are investing in our young people, how much we are spending 
on education. The green represents how much we are spending on homeland 
security. Tragically, the dark blue illustrates how much we are 
spending taking care of our veterans.
  It is time this country gets its priorities in order, and I believe 
the American people on November 7 spoke loud and clear in giving us a 
chance to lead in this Chamber, and we are ready to lead, and we are 
ready to lead with the Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget 
reform.
  Mr. Speaker, I mentioned that we have grown to 44 members in the 
fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, and one of those 
members that has joined our ranks is the gentleman from Ohio, and at 
this time I would yield to my friend from Ohio, Charlie Wilson, for as 
much time as he would like to take.
  Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, as Congressman Ross said, I am a new 
Member, Mr. Speaker, and it is a pleasure to be here from Ohio. And one 
of the major concerns is the amount of debt that we have created in 
this country.
  One of the reasons that I have joined the Blue Dogs is I like the 
idea of us having a balanced budget. I truly believe, Mr. Speaker, that 
Congress cannot buy on credit without being responsible for the credit 
card.
  This is not the principle that I have lived by all my life as a 
successful businessman and these are not the principles that our 
government can run by. We need to be accountable. We need to be able to 
step forward and show what our money is being used for, and not to 
spend more than we have.
  Each and every one of us has budgets within our home, we have budgets 
within our life that we use every day. We know that we have to live 
within our budget or we have bad consequences. Ladies and gentlemen, 
Mr. Speaker, there is no difference for us as a government. We have to 
live within our means. And to see the transformation that has happened 
in the last 6 years in going from a large surplus of $400 billion to 
now a nearly $9 trillion balance of debt, D-E-B-T as Congressman Ross 
says, in our government.
  It is time that we start saying to the Congress and to the 
administration we must live within our means. We have to know that the 
Blue Dogs are going to be watching and are going to be concerned, and 
one of the plans that has been set forth by the Blue Dogs is what we 
call PAYGO. That means that you don't buy anything that you are going 
to pay for to go forward until you decide what you are going to 
eliminate. It is just like each and every one of us does in our lives 
every day. We know that we can't just go out and buy anything, that we 
have to budget for it, we have to make an opportunity so that we are 
able to pay for it.
  And so one of the new plans that you are going to be hearing coming 
out of this 110th Congress is going to be the PAYGO, that means that 
our spending must be paid for before we go forward. This is just one of 
the plans that the Blue Dogs are taking responsibility for to help us 
put a lid on the spending that is going on within our country.
  I am so proud to join these other 43 people and now 44 of us in the 
Blue Dogs in bringing about accountability and helping us to put 
spending caps on what is going on in our government. I am delighted to 
be one of the speakers today that is concerned about what is going on 
in our country and look forward to working to bring fiscal 
responsibility to this government.
  Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wilson) for joining us 
on the floor this evening for the Blue

[[Page 608]]

Dog Special Order as we talk about restoring common sense and fiscal 
discipline to our Nation's government. And the gentleman from Ohio, a 
new member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, 
he mentioned that one of the things that we have done already in this 
110th Congress under the Democratic leadership is reinstitute the PAYGO 
rules. That means pay-as-you-go. And on the very first day in the first 
24 hours of the 110th session of Congress, we are very pleased as 
members of the Blue Dog Coalition that the leadership of this House 
under Democratic control chose to include in their rules package 
reinstituting the PAYGO rule, because that rule was in place from 1998 
through 2001 when we saw a balanced budget in this country. It makes 
sense to me.
  You know, 49 States require a balanced budget. Holly Ross requires a 
balanced budget at the Ross family in Prescott, Arkansas. We own a 
small business; we are required to balance the books there. And in our 
opinion, it is not asking our Nation too much to balance its books. And 
one of the ways that you begin the process of doing that is instituting 
the PAYGO rule, which means pay-as-you-go. If you have got a wonderful 
program, then show us what program you are going to cut to pay for it.
  Now, I got a big kick last week during the debate on this very floor 
when Republicans jumped up and down opposed to reinstituting the PAYGO 
rule. When I was a small child growing up, I always heard it was the 
Democrats that tax and spend, and yet it was the Republicans over the 
last 6 years that has given us record deficit after record deficit, the 
largest debt ever in our Nation's history. And last week they said they 
were opposed, many of them said they were opposed to the PAYGO rule 
because it meant to pay for a new program raising taxes. They don't get 
it, Mr. Speaker. It is not about raising taxes; it is about cutting 
spending. It is about reducing the size of our government. It is about 
paying as you go. If you want to create a new program, show us which 
program you are going to cut to pay for it.
  As members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition 
we are sick and tired of the games; we are sick and tired of the 
partisan bickering that goes on at our Nation's Capitol. I don't care 
if it is a Democrat or Republican idea. All I care about is, is it a 
commonsense idea? Does it restore accountability and fiscal 
responsibility and discipline to our Nation's government?

                              {time}  2045

  At this time I yield to Joe Donnelly, a Member of Indiana, a member 
of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition.
  Mr. DONNELLY. Thank you, Congressman Ross, for yielding.
  I want to talk for a minute or 2 about what Congressman Ross had 
mentioned. The foreign debt that we have now has doubled in the last 5 
years to over $2 trillion at this point. And you think of our country, 
and our country has been there to help and to finance so many others 
over the years. You think after World War II we helped put Japan back 
on its feet. We helped in Europe. And the sad fact is that right now 
Japan is helping us, that we are having to sell to Japan to help pay 
for our debt, selling our Treasury notes. And it is a sad fact that 
China has become one of the largest lenders to our country. And it is 
simply because we have not covered those costs that we have been 
running in our government.
  I have two children, and I do not want to pass on to them the debts 
that we have been running up. I am proud to be a member of the Blue 
Dogs to try to change this direction.
  You think of our small businesses in this country, and those small 
businesses are having to pay part of the fare for this debt that we 
continue to run up. The interest rates that we are paying on that are 
funds that could have been used to help small businesses. Back home in 
South Bend, Indiana, or in Rochester, Indiana, where I come from, those 
funds could have been used to help with the education of children in 
Michigan City or down in Logansport, Indiana. But instead those funds 
are used today to help pay the interest on the debts that we have run 
up. But with the Blue Dogs' help and with the Democrats' help, that is 
going to end.
  What the people of this country are beginning to understand and what 
the folks back home in Indiana do understand is that we bring Hoosier 
common sense to this issue, Mr. Ross. Congressman, what we are trying 
to do is make sure that we do the same things here in Washington that 
we do back home in Mishawaka, Indiana, and in our beloved State. We are 
going to stop the increase in the debt. We are going to see it lowered, 
and we are going to see those funds used to take care of our veterans, 
who need more help than ever. More come home every day with various 
issues. Our beloved troops that come home from Iraq, Afghanistan and 
all over the world, our funds need to be used for them, not to continue 
covering a debt that we continue to run up. We will end that debt. We 
will lower those interest payments, and they will be used to educate 
our children, take care of our veterans down in Delphi, Indiana, and 
throughout our country, and to set our country back on the right 
course. That is what Democrat common sense will bring, and that is what 
the Blue Dogs promise to bring with us.
  Congressman Ross, thank you so much for this opportunity.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana, a new 
member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, for 
joining us on the floor this evening as we talk about our plan to 
restore fiscal discipline to our Nation's government.
  Mr. Speaker, on November 7, the American people spoke, and they said 
they wanted a new direction for this country both here at home and 
abroad. And in speaking, they gave us, as Democrats, a chance to lead 
in this 110th Congress. And Mr. Speaker, we are ready, willing and able 
and prepared to do so.
  And part of the way that we believe we can restore fiscal sanity to 
our National Government, it took 6 years to create this mess, and we 
can't fix it overnight, but we have a plan to begin to restore some 
fiscal discipline to our Nation's Government. And it is what we call 
the Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget reform. And I am 
pleased to be joined this evening by the gentlewoman from Illinois, Ms. 
Bean, who is going to join me in talking about some of these 12 points, 
and I now yield to Ms. Bean.
  Ms. BEAN. Thank you for yielding, Mr. Ross from Arkansas. It is such 
a pleasure to be part of the Blue Dog Coalition. And our 12-point plan 
for budget reform is so important to get this country back on the right 
fiscal track. Fiscal responsibility is what our constituents, as 
taxpayers, expect from us and particularly what our children and our 
grandchildren expect from us as well. Their future depends on our 
making better decisions than we have been making.
  I know just to the right of Mr. Ross there is a little chart that he 
has probably already referred to before I joined him here on the floor.
  Have you already put up the actual total of the national debt?
  That is an important chart to look at because it is a staggering 
reality, as we have added trillions of dollars in recent years to our 
national debt. And when I meet with children in my district, when I go 
to elementary schools, middle schools and high schools, and I talk to 
kids a little bit about financial literacy and fiscal responsibility, I 
am embarrassed to admit that we haven't been demonstrating much of it 
here at a congressional level. And I share with these kids that their 
share of the national debt is, as you can see, over $29,000. We are 
approaching $30,000, each individual American's share of the national 
debt. It is just a gross irresponsibility that we have demonstrated, 
and we need to rectify that.
  So I am proud of the leadership that the Blue Dogs has brought to our 
caucus and to this Congress to get back to pay-as-you-go budget rules 
because pay-as-you-go budget rules have worked in the past on a 
bipartisan basis to force fiscal discipline amongst

[[Page 609]]

a body that includes 435 Members with different interests. It forces us 
to make the tough decisions so we can stay within our budget and work 
back towards a balanced budget.
  Our 12-point plan includes, number one, requiring a balanced budget; 
number two, not allowing Congress to buy on credit; number three, 
putting a lid on spending; number four, requiring agencies to put their 
fiscal houses in order. Too many of our agencies, according to the GAO, 
16 of the 23 major Federal agencies, can't even issue a simple audit of 
their books, and that is just unacceptable. You can't run a business 
that way. We can't run our personal household finances that way. How 
can we allow agencies to continue to not demonstrate exactly how they 
are spending our tax dollars?
  Number five, make Congress tell taxpayers how much they are spending. 
Create a greater degree of transparency. Number six, set aside a rainy 
day fund. Number seven, do not hide your votes to raise the debt limit. 
There has been too much of that dishonesty in what we say we are doing 
and what we are really doing as far as how it shakes out in the overall 
national debt. Number eight, justify spending for pet projects. We have 
just moved forward on that in what we introduced recently in our rules 
to require Members to list any projects that they have put into a bill 
for their districts and to justify that on the merits of those 
expenditures.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I think it is very 
important that we point out that not only the PAYGO rule, which means 
pay-as-you-go, no more borrowing money from China to fund some project 
and let our children and grandchildren worry about it, but pay-as-you-
go is one of the rules implemented during the first 24 hours of the 
110th Congress under this new Democratic leadership. It is very 
significant because it is one of the 12 points of the Blue Dogs 
Coalition's plan for budget reform. But also another one of our 12 
points that was included in those first 24 hours in the rules package 
is adding a level of transparency, justifying, if you will, pet 
projects or earmarks. I think it is very significant that, of these 12 
points that you are reading off, two of them we have tried for years to 
get the Republican leadership to work with us in a bipartisan manner on 
this. And two of these 12 were included in the first 24 hours of the 
Democratic-controlled Congress. I think that is very significant, and I 
want to thank the leadership for including those.
  Ms. BEAN. Mr. Speaker, it is very exciting to see us move forward on 
part of the 12-point plan, and I know we are going to continue to work 
hard to get even more.
  And our next one I know we are also including is ensuring that 
Congress has an opportunity to read the bills that they are voting on, 
and we have also changed in our rules where things are getting rammed 
through and people didn't have X amount of hours to look at those bills 
so they knew what they were voting on. That is number nine.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, that reminds me that back 
when we were voting on the Medicare Part D prescription drug bill, now 
estimated to cost billions and billions and billions of dollars over 
the next 10 years, it went to a vote barely a day after the final 
version of the 500-plus-page bill was made to Members of Congress. We 
are putting an end to that. We are giving Members of Congress an 
opportunity to know what they are voting on.
  Ms. BEAN. Absolutely. Number 10 is requiring an honest cost estimate 
for every bill that Congress votes on as well. The Congressional Budget 
Office can and should be providing that prior to voting on any 
expenditure so we know exactly what the long-term ramifications of that 
expenditure are going to be at least from an estimate perspective.
  Number 11 is making sure that the new bills do fit within the budget. 
And number 12 is making Congress do a better job of keeping tabs on 
government programs and creating a higher degree of accountability and 
reports back to Congress on whether we are actually accomplishing what 
we say we are supposed to be accomplishing with those programs.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Illinois for 
sharing with us the Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget 
reform. And if time permits, Mr. Speaker, we will go into more detail 
on each of these 12 points. And the ones we do not get to tonight, you 
can expect us back next Tuesday night for this Blue Dog Special Order 
where we will continue to talk about these 12 points for budget reform 
because if we are going to clean up the mess in Washington, if we are 
going to put an end to the deficit spending, if we are going to begin 
to pay down the debt, we have got to have this 12-point plan in place. 
You give us this 12-point plan, Mr. Speaker, and we can give you a 
balanced budget once again in this country.
  And, Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns 
for us, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. Again, Mr. 
Speaker, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns for us, you 
can e-mail us at [email protected].
  At this time, it gives me great pleasure to yield to the gentleman 
from Georgia (Mr. Scott).
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Thank you very much, Mr. Ross, for yielding. 
And to my fellow colleagues, it is such a pleasure to join you once 
again.
  When we were here last, we were in the minority, and we said some 
things. We said what we wanted to do. We said some of the first things 
we would do when we got here, and one of those was to address this 
serious problem of financial and fiscal responsibility.
  I had some time to reflect on our history, and as we looked at the 
very first move that we made when we came back last week, one of our 
first measures was to establish pay-as-you-go, PAYGO. It is very 
interesting that this is not a new phenomenon. Not only did we have it 
in store when we had the Clinton administration and prior to that, but 
from the very foundation of our country, it was Thomas Jefferson. 
First, Thomas Jefferson was so against government debt and its inherent 
dangers that, back in 1789, in a letter that he wrote to James Madison 
and Alexander Hamilton, Framers of our Constitution, in that letter, 
Thomas Jefferson wondered in the letter as he wrote to Madison and 
Hamilton, he wondered this, whether, quote, ``one generation of men has 
a right to bind another.'' And he came to his answer with an 
exclamation point in the letter: ``No.'' He said that ``the Earth 
belongs in usufruct to the living.''

                              {time}  2100

  Jefferson concluded in this letter with these words. He said no 
generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the 
course of its own existence. In other words, financial responsibility. 
Fiscal responsibility was at the cornerstone of this great Republic, of 
this great Nation, the cornerstone of a lasting and free Nation.
  One generation of consumers borrowing and spending then hands that 
bill to the next generation, that get the benefits of spending the 
money in the present while passing on the debt to future generations, 
that is not what the Founding Fathers had in mind. And each generation 
as we move through our history paid down its debt before it moved on, 
oftentimes marked by war. In 1812, the debt was paid down. The Civil 
War, borrowed money, the debt was paid down. And into World War I and 
World War II when the debt really amassed up to $62 billion, and yet 
over time and those generations those debts were paid down. All of the 
way up through the Cold War, even into the Reagan years, and up to 
Clinton, up to the year 2001.
  But then after 2001 when this Republican administration took hold, in 
the 5 years that ensued, this President and the preceding Congress, 
controlled by Republicans, borrowed more money from foreign governments 
and foreign nations than the entire preceding 218 years of this 
country. From 1789, the year Thomas Jefferson wrote these words to 
caution us and set the pattern to pay as we go, here we are now with 
that big situation hanging over us of the borrowing from our debt.

[[Page 610]]

  And I mention that because we are now faced with that situation where 
we are borrowing this money, over $1.5 trillion over the last 5 years, 
from countries in the most unstable regions of the world: $310 billion 
from Communist China; nearly $700 billion from Japan; and nearly $300 
billion from the unstable OPEC countries in the Middle East which we 
are dealing with now. This is the background which we are having to 
deal with today.
  Mr. ROSS. The gentleman makes an excellent point. You want to talk 
about something that is critical to our national security, it is this 
business that over the past 6 years we continue to cut taxes on folks 
earning over $400,000 a year with money that we borrowed from foreign 
central banks and foreign investors, and left our children and 
grandchildren with the bill to pay.
  The gentleman was ticking some of these off, but if I may, it is kind 
of like David Letterman and his top 10 list, the top 10 current 
lenders: Japan, $640.1 billion; China, $321.4 billion; the United 
Kingdom, $179.5 billion. This is the amount of money the United States 
of America has borrowed from foreign countries to fund tax cuts in this 
country for folks earning over $400,000 a year.
  The voters on November 7 said it is time for a new direction and new 
priorities in this country, and we are going to give them to the 
American people. But to continue the list: OPEC, $98 billion, and we 
wonder why gasoline was approaching $3 a gallon in August; Korea, $72.4 
billion; Taiwan, $68.9 billion; the Caribbean banking centers, $61.7 
billion; Hong Kong, $46.6 billion; and Germany, $46.5 billion; and to 
round out the top 10 current lenders to the United States of America, 
and you are not going to believe this, Mexico, $40.1 billion.
  This administration over the past 6 years has borrowed more money 
from foreign central banks and foreign investors than the previous 42 
Presidents combined, and that is why we rise tonight as members of the 
fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition to talk about 
leading America in a new direction, a direction that will restore 
fiscal discipline to our government; and the way we achieve that is 
through our Blue Dog Coalition 12-point plan for budget reform.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is important that we remind 
people that not only are we talking about the billions of dollars that 
we just articulated we are borrowing from these foreign governments, 
more than we borrowed over the last 218 years, but the interest, the 
money that these folks are making off of us now constitutes the fastest 
growing part of our budget. We are spending more just paying for the 
money on the interest that is being charged than we are spending on 
education, the environment, and veterans at a time when our veterans 
are making such fantastic contributions and at a time when there needs 
to be a greater emphasis placed on those who have been on the 
battlefield and are coming home, and we are spending more on the 
interest there.
  Let me just finalize this for a moment, and I just want to mention 
because we are here and we talked about what we wanted to do. Pay-as-
you-go was one of the deals we made. We passed earlier today the 9/11 
Commission recommendations. We have worked on so many other things, but 
I do want to just mention the earmark reform legislation that we 
passed, and just to share with the American people what we have already 
passed in our earmark reform.
  It will require committees to disclose the sponsors of any earmarks 
included in appropriations authorizing measures such as the highway 
bill and the tax or trade legislation that benefits 10 or fewer. We 
will have new rules that will prohibit trading earmarks for votes and 
require Members to disclose their earmark request and certify that they 
and their spouses have no personal financial interest in the requests. 
These provisions comprehensively require committees of jurisdiction and 
conference committees to publish lists of the earmarks, limit tax 
benefits, and limit tariff benefits, along with their sponsors 
contained in the reported bills and the managers' amendments and 
conference reports brought to the House floor for consideration.
  A Member may make a point of order against consideration of any rule 
that waives this requirement. The rule defines an earmark as any 
Member-requested project that is targeted to a specific place and falls 
outside of a formally driven competitive process. Transparency, 
clearness: this is what the American people want. And I am proud to see 
us in our first week of action be able to pass these important measures 
that bring about good strong stewardship of the taxpayer money.
  Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Georgia, a real leader within 
the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition for joining us 
this evening on the House floor as we talk about this new direction for 
America.
  The American people have spoken, and they have told us that it is 
time for a change. They have given us Democrats an opportunity to lead 
them in a new direction. I am proud of what we have accomplished in the 
first few hours of the 110th Congress. We have instituted the PAYGO 
rules, the rules that say if you are going to spend money, you have to 
show us how you are going to pay for it, the rules we had in place when 
we had a balanced budget in this country from 1998 until 2001.
  You are seeing us put in place earmark reform, a greater level of 
transparency and knowing clearly who is asking for the money and where 
it is going and who is benefiting from it.
  Second in our Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget reform, 
in the first 24 hours of this new Congress, we are making progress. We 
have heard the American people. They have given us an opportunity to 
lead, and we are demonstrating we can do that. In the first 100 
legislative hours, we are passing the 9/11 Commission recommendations 
that were not implemented in the 109th Congress under the Republican 
leadership. We are raising the minimum wage, which is something I am 
very excited about.
  Mr. Speaker, if we are serious about moving people from welfare to 
work, we have to pay them more than $10,712 a year. That is what the 
Federal minimum wage in this country represents if you work 40 hours a 
week, 52 weeks a year, never get sick and don't take a single day off 
for vacation. We can do better than that by America's working families, 
and we will. We will this week, the first full week of the 110th 
session of Congress.
  We will pass legislation on the floor this week that tells our 
government that, yes, it can negotiate on behalf of 40 million seniors 
with the big drug manufacturers to bring down the high cost of 
medicine. The American people on November 7 gave us an opportunity to 
lead. And in these early hours of the 110th Congress, and as members of 
the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, we are 
demonstrating that we are ready to lead and that we are leading America 
in a new direction.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, the national debt, $8,690,905,471,722. Let's 
think about this. $8,690,905,471,722.43. The 43 cents wouldn't fit on 
the poster. For every man, woman and child in America, to get us out of 
this mess, everybody in America would have to write a check for 
$29,005.60. That is why we must restore common sense and fiscal 
discipline to our Nation's government.
  Mr. Speaker, as you walk the Halls of Congress, you will know when 
you are walking past the door of a Blue Dog Coalition member because 
you will see this poster; and, unfortunately, you will see this number 
change each day. We are going to do our part to hopefully see this 
number go down as we push for a balanced budget in this country, as we 
push for the day when we can see a balanced budget in this country, as 
we push to restore fiscal discipline and common sense to our national 
government and its budgeting process.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce another new member of the 44 
member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, the 
Congressman from Florida, Mr. Mahoney.
  Mr. MAHONEY of Florida. I thank my good friend from Arkansas.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of Florida's 16th Congressional 
District

[[Page 611]]

and am a proud voice in support of restoring fiscal discipline to 
Congress. I am very proud to be a Blue Dog.
  When I was thinking about what I wanted to talk to the American 
people about tonight, I decided that the best way to share my feelings, 
my views in terms of fiscal discipline and why I am a Blue Dog, gets 
back to something that is near and dear to me.
  Just a week and a half ago, I was a businessman. I had never held an 
elected office. And the reason I decided to leave private life and come 
to Congress is because I was worried about government's out-of-control 
spending that was hurting our economy. More importantly, that was 
hurting our innovative economy, and to make it very simple for all, was 
hurting the future of my daughter and all of the children of this 
country if we don't get our fiscal house in order.
  When I take a look at the Blue Dog plan, the 12-point plan for budget 
reform, I look at the points and I think back to my experience as a 
businessman. There are several things that I would like to highlight 
tonight that I can relate to, and every American involved in a business 
can relate to.
  The first point is point number one on the plan which requires a 
balanced budget. In business it is requiring a profit. A balanced 
budget is something that makes sense for government, it makes sense for 
business, and the Blue Dogs are proposing that we make a balanced 
budget a constitutional amendment requiring that this House, that this 
Congress, balance the books.
  The second thing I would like to talk about is point number four 
which requires agencies to put their fiscal house in order. That is 
really getting into financial control. As my colleague from Illinois, 
Congressperson Bean, pointed out, 16 of 23 major Federal agencies can't 
issue a simple audit of the books. That is unacceptable in business, 
and that should be unacceptable here in Congress.
  What the Blue Dogs propose is that we would propose legislation that 
would freeze any Federal agency that can't properly balance their 
books. We would not allow it in business, and we shouldn't allow it 
here in Congress.
  Point five, we want to make Congress tell taxpayers how much they are 
spending. This gets to a concept in business called management 
accountability. What the Blue Dogs are proposing is that any bill that 
calls for more than $50 million in new spending must be put to a roll 
call vote. By putting it to a roll call vote, what that does is it 
forces every Member of Congress to stand up and go on record for their 
constituents to see how fiscally responsible they are.
  The next point I would like to highlight is point number ten which 
requires honest cost estimates for every bill that Congress votes on.
  In business, we call this a business plan. Prior to undertaking any 
new endeavor, what a competent manager would ask for is a plan that 
sets out the goals and objectives of the proposed venture, in this case 
a proposed piece of legislation.
  And then as part of that plan, he would ask to have a cost estimate 
of what the investment would be. That is a very important issue.
  What the Blue Dogs propose is that every conference report and bill 
that comes to the floor of the House be accompanied by a cost estimate 
prepared by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

                              {time}  2115

  These are just a few of the points, a few of the agenda points that 
the Blue Dog coalition is working on.
  Let me reiterate what many of my colleagues have said. Fiscal 
responsibility is a critical issue. It is an issue of competitiveness. 
It is an issue of making sure that our children are not being taxed 
with runaway budget deficits. People that say it doesn't matter or it 
is not as important as a percentage of GDP are wrong, and I am proud to 
be part of a group, the Blue Dog Coalition, that is committed, Mr. 
Speaker, to addressing these issues in the 110th Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back to my good friend from Arkansas.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Florida, Mr. 
Mahoney, for his leadership on these issues and his experience as a 
business person that he brings to this Congress. I appreciate his 
perspective and I appreciate his membership in the fiscally 
conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition.
  Mr. Speaker, in the time we have remaining, I want to spend some time 
talking more about the 12 point plan for budget reform, about our 
vision to restore fiscal discipline to our Nation's government.
  Again, Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments, questions or concerns 
for us, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. That is 
[email protected].
  I am delighted to be joined tonight by a number of our 44 member 
strong, fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition Members. At this time 
I believe we are going to open it up for a colloquy, and I yield to the 
gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Donnelly.
  Mr. DONNELLY. Thank you, Congressman Ross.
  Mr. Speaker, the question that came to mind while I was sitting here 
with my colleagues is this: What do you think our moms and dads would 
think if they were here today and we said to them, we owe money to 
Mexico, we owe money to China, we owe money to Japan, we owe money to 
all these countries. Your grandchildren will owe $29,005 each to help 
cover the national debt.
  My wife's folks, her dad fought in World War II, Bougainville and 
Guadalcanal, to help preserve freedom in this world. Her mom was in the 
WAVES. My dad was in the Navy. When they came home, they thought 
America's role was to help build others. They wouldn't believe what 
they see today here in our country.
  I was wondering what some of my colleagues think, and you, 
Congressman Ross, your comments on that.
  Mr. ROSS. I want to thank the gentleman from Indiana for his 
commitment to putting an end to these record deficits in our Federal 
Government.
  The gentleman is absolutely right. I grew up in a small Methodist 
Church outside of Prescott and Hope, Arkansas, Midway United Methodist 
Church, and I can remember Sunday after Sunday after Sunday growing up 
where the preacher would talk about being a good steward, that was 
always before he passed the plate, and the preacher would talk about 
being a good steward.
  Well, the American people have sent us here and had us raise our 
right hand and put our left hand on the Bible and take the oath of 
office and pledge, swear to uphold the Constitution, and, yes, be good 
stewards of the American people's tax money. That is really what this 
is all about.
  I think it is very important, the work that we are doing as members 
of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, and trying 
to be good stewards of the tax money of the people back home and to 
make sure it is spent wisely and to make sure it is accounted for.
  I yield to the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Wilson.
  Mr. WILSON of Ohio. Thank you, Congressman Ross.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to just speak for a moment, if I could, in 
regard to putting the lid on the spending. One of the things that we 
all know we came here to do is to stop the runaway inflation and debt 
that is just climbing up in our country on a regular basis.
  The thought that spending from the year 2001 to 2003, total 
government spending, Mr. Speaker, increased by 16 percent, these types 
of raises and just continual going into debt is what has put our 
country where every man, woman and child now is at the level of 
$29,005.
  We need to have the right kind of controls, and I believe in Ohio, 
Indiana, Florida, certainly please speak out as to what you feel the 
issues are in your State and what we can do about it.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. If the gentleman will yield for a moment, I 
would like to respond to your point, because we owe it to those 
generations. That is one of the reasons why I spoke out and set the 
stage for my remarks, to go back to the beginning of this

[[Page 612]]

country, when the foundation of this country was laid out. That is what 
has made us great. We honor our debts. That is what Hamilton and that 
is what Jefferson and that is what Madison were all about.
  You talk about your parents and your grandparents. What would they 
say? What would my grandparents say? They would say, by George, we love 
this country. This is our country. We are hoping and we are praying 
that the Congress will stand and get it right.
  As I looked at the polls in Georgia, we had a rainy day in the 
election down in Georgia, but when I looked over the precincts, I could 
see that it wasn't 25 or 30 percent turnout, in that rain there was 50 
and 60 and 70 percent turnout. The people in this country love this 
country, and they know that we need a new direction, and the first 
order of this new direction is to get our finances in order.
  Your parents brought you up, my parents brought me up saying watch 
your money, son. Work hard. Save it. Invest it. Make sure you honor 
your debt. That is what they would want us to do.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Mahoney).
  Mr. MAHONEY of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I also would like to address the 
question, but from a slightly different perspective, and that has to do 
with again one of the reasons I think the Democrats are now in control 
of the House and the Blue Dogs have such a great opportunity, and it 
gets back to a fundamental issue of ethics, it gets back to a 
fundamental issue of values.
  It is very clear that this House for the last 6 years has been 
operating under a different set of standards and ethics than the 
American people. It is very clear that this House does not take 
responsibility for its work in terms of the bills and the cost of the 
bills and the budget. These are not our values.
  What I would say to my parents tonight is this, and that is this 
Congress is committed to fiscal responsibility and this coalition is 
committed to fiscal responsibility. It is very important that the 
American people understand that their elected officials have to operate 
under the same rules that they have to operate under when they balance 
their checkbook every month around the kitchen table. That is 
important, that we achieve that kind of fiscal discipline. It is 
important that the American people understand that this Congress is 
committed to it.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Florida for 
that perspective as we discuss something that is very important to our 
Nation, and that is how we get our fiscal house back in order after 6 
years of reckless spending. We believe we have a plan to do it. That 
plan is now being implemented.
  In the first 24 hours of the 110th Session of Congress we saw the 
PAYGO rule implemented, which can give us a balanced budget again. It 
worked before. It can work again. And we saw transparency, a new level 
of transparency added to earmark reform.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Bean).
  Ms. BEAN. Thank you so much, Mr. Ross. It is a pleasure to be here 
with my colleagues. Colloquy is always a fun way to communicate on 
things that we have common concerns about.
  I thought Mr. Scott led this conversation so well when he talked 
about Jefferson's quote about our responsibility to future generations. 
He knew that as a founder of this great Nation, and we still have that 
responsibility to future generations.
  We teach our children that if they make a mess, they ought to clean 
it up. Yet we have made a mess of this Nation's finances, and we need 
to start now, and we have started in this first 100 hours in the 
Democratic majority to address that mess and clean it up. The 
expression is ``pass the buck,'' but what we have instead been doing is 
passing the debt. We should not be passing trillions of dollars to 
future generations with ``borrow and spend.'' Instead, we should pay as 
we go.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Illinois for that 
perspective.
  It is wonderful to be joined this evening during the Blue Dog special 
order by a number of new members of the fiscally conservative 
Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. I believe we have had three, and this 
will be make four new members join us for this discussion and this 
debate here on the House floor this evening.
  I am pleased at this time to yield to the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania, Patrick Murphy.
  Mr. PATRICK MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Thank you, sir. I appreciate the 
opportunity to speak here tonight amongst my colleagues here in the 
Blue Dogs.
  When you come down to Washington, you align yourself with people that 
are just like you, people that represent not just you personally, but 
your district back at home and your interests in your district back at 
home.
  When Congresswoman Bean talked about Thomas Jefferson and the future 
generations, I couldn't help but think that I kissed this morning when 
I came to work my baby daughter goodbye for the day, Maggie Murphy. I 
mentioned earlier she was born 6 weeks ago.
  When you look at that bottom number there that the Blue Dogs fight 
for, that $29,000, every newborn in America is born into that debt, 
that $29,000 apiece, they are born into that debt, and this Congress 
previously just let it keep rolling and rolling and growing and 
growing.
  Finally the Blue Dogs have arrived now, and the Blue Dogs are saying, 
listen, we are not going to take it anymore. We are putting our foot 
down. We are going to be disciplined.
  That discipline is something I learned personally in the military, 
that families in my district in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, know about, 
because in my district we have Washington's Crossing, where those 
soldiers that started the Revolution, that really earned our 
independence, showed the discipline when they didn't have the best 
uniforms. They didn't have the best equipment, but they had a belief, 
and they stood by their beliefs.
  That is exactly what the Blue Dogs do, and they keep it simple. They 
say we stand for two things: Fiscal discipline, fiscal responsibility; 
and, number two, a strong national defense.
  That is why it is an honor that the families in the Eighth 
Congressional District, they know that their congressman, in myself, in 
Patrick Murphy, and our colleagues of the Blue Dogs, that we stand for 
something, and that we will fight every single day to bring down that 
number, so that when people like Maggie Murphy and other newborns in 
Lower Bucks Hospital and all over America, when they are born into our 
great country, and it is a great country, they are not born $29,000 in 
debt.
  Mr. DONNELLY. Mr. Speaker, if I could say one other thing to the 
American people, and that is the gentleman you just heard from from 
Pennsylvania is also an Iraqi war veteran, a member of the 82nd 
Airborne, and the folks of Pennsylvania and this country can be very, 
very proud that Patrick Murphy is here in Congress with us today.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana, and I 
yield to the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Scott.
  Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Thank you very much, Mr. Ross. It is indeed a 
pleasure to be here with everyone, as I said earlier.
  I think in conclusion tonight it is very important that we let the 
American people know that we very soberly understand this charge that 
has been handed to us as Democrats to lead in this Congress, and we 
also understand why and we handle that responsibility with great care.
  One of the things that it is important for us to point out, when they 
ask what can we do and what is expected of us, is to stand up for the 
American people finally at last and lift up our way of life.
  We have two duties to do under the Constitution as Members of 
Congress and they are expecting us to use these tools and do them well, 
and these tools are, one, oversight. Through our ability to oversee 
this government we can make these changes happen. The other is 
appropriations, to handle their money as good stewards. These are the

[[Page 613]]

things that we are committed to do, and this is how we will get to the 
new direction that the American people expect us to get to.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the many members of the 
fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition for coming to the 
floor of the House of Representatives this evening and joining me for a 
discussion on how we can restore fiscal discipline and common sense to 
our national government, how we can bring this number down, Mr. 
Speaker. As we conclude, I will remind you in that this number actually 
went up by some $40 million during the hour that we have been here on 
the floor this evening.

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