[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 86-87]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                RESTORING FISCAL DISCIPLINE ACT OF 2007

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, on this very first day of the first 
session of the 110th Congress, I am proud to introduce, with Majority 
Leader Reid, the Restoring Fiscal Discipline Act of 2007. By including 
this act in our top 10 legislative priorities, Democrats are sending a 
message. We are saying to the Nation that it is time to restore fiscal 
discipline in Washington.
  Unfortunately, we are inheriting a fiscal mess. It is a fiscal mess 
of historic proportion. The head of the Government Accountability 
Office, General Walker, has told us:

       The U.S. Government is on an imprudent and unsustainable 
     fiscal path.

  General Walker is right. General Walker is the head of the Government 
Accountability Office. He is the person responsible for reporting to 
Congress on our fiscal condition, and he is warning us of the serious 
course correction that is required. As General Walker has said, and as 
I agree, the fact is that our budget outlook is far worse than what has 
been claimed. The increase in debt in 2006 is far greater than the 
reported deficit.
  It is very interesting how the media reports these things to the 
American people. They say to the American people that the deficit last 
year was $248 billion. That is true. What they do not tell the American 
people, what is not said, is the debt last year increased by $546 
billion--almost $300 billion more than the stated deficit. This is an 
utterly unsustainable course. To add almost $550 billion of debt in 1 
year after having done about that amount each of the last 5 years has 
put us on a course that is utterly unsustainable. It fundamentally 
threatens America's economic security.
  Read the reports. Yesterday and today in the national newspapers you 
saw stories about the declining value of the dollar. The dollar has 
been in a deep slide for 3 months. There are reports of countries, one 
after another, announcing that they intend to diversify their 
investments out of dollar-denominated securities. There is a message 
here to all of us--a warning, a warning of America's preeminent 
position in the financial world being threatened. It is being 
threatened by a mountain of debt.
  I have tried to put into visual terms how dramatically the change in 
debt has been in just the last few years. When this President came to 
office, after his last full year, the debt stood at $5.8 trillion. We 
do not hold him responsible for his first year because obviously he was 
operating under the budget of the previous administration. But look 
what has happened since. The debt has skyrocketed to $8.5 trillion. If 
the President's course is pursued, over the next 5 years the debt will 
rise inexorably to $11.6 trillion, and all of this at the worst 
possible time, before the baby boom generation retires. This is a time 
we should be paying down debt, not exploding debt. There is no sober or 
objective observer who does not recognize the fundamental threat to our 
economic security caused by these budget policies. We must change 
course.
  The result of this rising debt is that increasingly we are borrowing 
the funds to float this boat from abroad. In 2005, our country borrowed 
65 percent of all the money that was borrowed in the world by 
countries. Let me repeat that. In 2005, our Nation borrowed 65 percent 
of all the money that was borrowed by countries in the world. The 
second biggest borrower was Spain. They borrowed one-tenth as much.
  As we look back, this is a historic time with great challenges. The 
question before this body and the Congress of the United States and 
this President will be whether we are honest with the American people 
about the extent of our financial problems. This is a moment of 
testing. Will we be honest? Will we be truthful? Will we make the tough 
choices that are required?
  In the last 5 years, foreign holdings of our debt have doubled. In 
other words, it took 42 Presidents 224 years to run up $1 trillion of 
U.S. debt held abroad. That amount has more than doubled in just the 
last 5 years. This is a course that cannot be sustained. It must be 
changed.
  I come to the floor today to offer an important measure, a measure to 
restore fiscal discipline, by reimposing the pay-go rule that was so 
effective in the 1990s at helping us get back on track after the record 
deficits of the 1980s.
  We know that pay-go works. It was instrumental in our turning 
deficits into surpluses in the 1990s. The pay-go rule says simply this: 
If you want more tax cuts you have to pay for them. If you want new 
mandatory spending you have to pay for it. If you do not pay for it, 
you have to muster a supermajority vote on the floor of the Senate for 
more tax cuts or new mandatory spending to go forward.
  That is a good rule, but it will not solve the problem. No one should 
overpromise. No one should overstate. It is going to take serious, 
consistent discipline on spending, on revenue, and on entitlement 
reform for us to truly make progress.
  In the joint caucus this morning, the leadership called on all of us 
to set aside partisanship to make genuine progress. This is going to be 
an area in which we have that opportunity. We have a window of 
opportunity, before we get into the next election cycle, to face up to 
these fiscal challenges. One

[[Page 87]]

part of a successful strategy is to reimpose the pay-go discipline. It 
is not the only thing, but it is a beginning.
  In addition to reestablishing the pay-go rule, the legislation I am 
offering today prohibits the use of the fast-track reconciliation 
process for any legislation that would add to the deficit. 
Reconciliation is a big word; it is a fancy word. It confuses people, 
but it is a special process in the Senate to go around the standard 
rules of this body to pass legislation. It circumscribes Senators' 
rights. It restricts their ability to offer amendments. It sets a 
strict time limit on debate. The only reason those procedures were ever 
adopted in this body--the only reason--was to reduce budget deficits. 
Unfortunately, over the last 6 years those special procedures have been 
used to increase deficits, not to reduce deficits. That stood the whole 
rationale for reconciliation on its head.
  It is time for us to go back to the reconciliation process that was 
intended and only use those extraordinary procedures for reducing 
deficits, not for increasing them.
  (Mrs. MURRAY assumed the Chair.)
  Mr. CONRAD. I note the very distinguished Member of the Senate, the 
Senator from the State of Washington and a member of the Senate Budget 
Committee, who understands full well the subject we are discussing 
today and the critical need for our Nation to return to a more sound 
fiscal course.
  I offer this measure today to restore fiscal discipline. I ask my 
colleagues to bring their ideas to the Senate floor. You have my 
commitment as the incoming chairman of the Senate Budget Committee to 
do my level best to bring our country back. Our country needs us now. 
Our country needs us to be truthful and honest and to work together.
  I felt, in the Senate Chamber this morning, a new spirit, a new sense 
of possibility--perhaps the chance that we can come together in a way 
that would make us all proud.
  I very much hope we seize that opportunity. I look forward to working 
with my colleagues to achieve that result.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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