[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 26240-26246]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           BLUE DOG COALITION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Ross) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, what we have just witnessed on the House floor 
is an example of why the American people are sick and tired of all of 
the partisan bickering that goes on up in Washington.
  Mr. Speaker, there are 47 of us who are fiscally conservative 
Democrats who want to put an end to the partisan bickering. We are a 
group of conservative Democrats who quite frankly don't care if it is a 
Democratic idea or a Republican idea. We want to know if it is a 
commonsense idea and does it make sense for the people that send us 
here to be their voice.
  Mr. Speaker, there are 47 Members of the fiscally conservative 
Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. As you walk the Halls of Congress, it is 
easy to identify which Members are members of the fiscally conservative 
Blue Dog Coalition because you will see this poster as you walk the 
hallways of the Cannon House Office Building, the Longworth House 
Office Building and the Rayburn House Office Building.
  This poster not only serves as a doormat to Blue Dog Coalition 
Members of Congress, but also as a daily reminder to Members of 
Congress on both sides of the aisle and to the American people that our 
Nation is in debt.
  Today, the U.S. national debt is $9,010,742,245,690. If you divide 
that enormous number and put it in perspective by every man, woman and 
child in America, every one of us, our share of the national debt is 
$29,735. It is what we have coined the phrase ``debt tax,'' and that is 
one tax that cannot be cut and that is one amount that is not going to 
fund America's priorities but rather is going to simply pay interest on 
the national debt and to pay down the national debt.
  I had a constituent from back home in Arkansas in my office today. 
She said she was in my office a couple of years ago, and everybody's 
share of the national debt was some $27,000. Again, today it is 
$29,735. Under this Republican administration, we have seen the largest 
debt ever in our Nation's history. We have seen the largest deficit 
ever in our Nation's history.
  Contrast that with the past administration, the Clinton 
administration. President Clinton was the first Democrat or Republican 
in 40 years to give us a balanced budget; and yet here we are 7 years 
later with the largest debt ever in our Nation's history, and as 
members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we want to restore fiscal discipline 
and commonsense to our Nation's government.
  That is why there was a lot of talk about the first 100 hours on the 
House floor in this new Democratic majority, and we accomplished more 
in the first 100 hours I would dare say than the previous Congress did 
all together. In fact, I believe we have done more on the floor of the 
U.S. House of Representatives in the past 9 months than the previous 
Republican Congresses have done in 9 years.
  Unfortunately, these bills are then sent to the Senate where too many 
of them remain. But I am proud of the work that we are doing in the 
House under this new majority. And, Mr. Speaker, we are doing it with 
fiscal discipline. We are passing these bills, a new vision for 
America, putting America's priorities where they ought to be, and that 
is putting our families and children first again. But we are doing it 
in a sensible and responsible way, a way in which we pay for it.
  One of the first things to happen on the floor in this new Congress 
was to reinstitute the PAYGO rules. PAYGO is an acronym for ``pay as 
you go.'' It is what we do at the Ross home in Prescott, Arkansas. It 
is what most American families do.
  Mr. Speaker, for the past 6 years, a Republican-led Congress and a 
Republican President gave us the largest debt ever in our Nation's 
history, the largest deficit year after year. To put it in perspective, 
to put it in perspective, this President has borrowed more money from 
foreigners in the past 6 years than the previous 42 Presidents 
combined.
  We are going to put an end to that, and we did so when we 
reinstituted the PAYGO rules on the floor of the House of 
Representatives. Every bill that comes to the floor of the House in 
this new Democratic Congress must be paid for. Now, some of the 
Republicans say, oh, that's a disguise to raise taxes. The Republicans 
now believe that the only way to create new revenue, the only way to 
pay for a program is to raise taxes. Not so. As conservative Democrats, 
we know the way you pay for programs is to cut wasteful spending. There 
are a lot of examples of wasteful spending.
  I have got 8,000 brand-new, fully furnished mobile homes sitting in a 
cow pasture in Hope, Arkansas, mobile homes purchased by FEMA destined 
for Hurricane Katrina victims that never quite found their way to the 
gulf coast. Now FEMA, our government, is spending a quarter of a 
million dollars a month to warehouse these mobile homes which have 
created another bureaucracy in and of itself back home in Hope, 
Arkansas. And they are not doing anyone any good.
  You want to talk about accountability, I had a tornado a few months 
ago hit Dumas, Arkansas. They needed 30, that's right, 30 of these 
mobile homes, while 8,000 of them sat in a cow pasture 2\1/2\ hours 
away in Hope, Arkansas. I called the director of FEMA. He came up with 
every excuse in the book why he couldn't help these 30 homeless people. 
He said it wasn't worthy of a declaration for a Federal disaster.
  This tornado devastated this small delta town of 5,000 people. There 
were 150 homes destroyed or heavily damaged. Over 25 businesses were 
destroyed. The electrical grid system for the town was destroyed. They 
went 5 days without electricity. Lots of people were injured. Thank God 
no one died. And we needed 30 of those mobile homes sent 2\1/2\ hours 
down the road to help these folks. And, instead, the response I got was 
they weren't worthy of a Federal disaster declaration.
  It took me going on CNN, and, finally, 30 minutes after I was on 
``NBC Evening News'' talking about this tragedy, FEMA had a change of 
heart and decided to let the people of Dumas have these 30 mobile homes 
to house the homeless who were victims of this tornado.
  This is an example of wasteful spending and this is a symbol of why 
people are fed up with our government, and it is an example of why we 
need to restore accountability, accountability to our Nation's 
government.
  So when I say we are going to pay for our programs in the future, it 
doesn't mean raise taxes. It means cut wasteful spending, eliminate the 
programs that do not work so we can fund the programs that do.

                              {time}  1930

  From 1789 to 2000, our national debt rose to $5.67 trillion, but by 
2010, the total national debt will have increased to $10.88 trillion. 
This is a doubling of the 211-year debt in just a decade, in just 10 
years.
  Interest payments on this debt are one of the fastest growing parts 
of the Federal budget, and again, the debt tax, D-E-B-T, is one that 
cannot be repealed, and every man, woman and child in America, your 
share, our share, my share, your share, Mr. Speaker, of the national 
debt is $29,735.
  Current national debt, again $9,010,742,245,690 and some change. Some 
say why do deficits matter; can't y'all just print more money? It 
doesn't work that way, and besides deficits reduce economic growth.

[[Page 26241]]

  Think of the economic good times we had in the 1990s when President 
Clinton gave us the first balanced budget in 40 years, and look at the 
economy today. We propped up the economy through much of the last few 
years through low interest rates and allowing folks to purchase homes 
that maybe couldn't quite afford it, and now that's coming back to 
haunt this administration.
  Deficits reduce economic growth. It's time to restore fiscal 
discipline to our national government. It is time to reduce our debt 
and deficit so that we can create new jobs and economic opportunities 
for working families.
  Why do deficits matter? I would argue they burden our children and 
grandchildren with these last liabilities. For the last 6 years, this 
Republican Congress and Republican administration has spent money like 
you wouldn't believe. They have spent money and haven't paid for their 
spending. They have left it for our children and for our grandchildren. 
That is simply wrong.
  Growing up at Midway United Methodist Church outside of Prescott, 
Arkansas, I heard a lot of sermons about being a good steward, and the 
American people have elected us as Members of Congress to make the 
weekly trip to our Nation's Capital and be good stewards of their tax 
money. And that's why I'm proud to help lead and cochair the Blue Dog 
Coalition, because we're doing our best to demand accountability, to 
demand fiscal responsibility and to give this Congress a good dose of 
common sense.
  Why do deficits matter? Because they increase our reliance on foreign 
lenders. Foreign lenders now own 40 percent of this debt. Much of the 
rest of it's been borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund, with 
absolutely no provision made on how or when it's going to be paid back. 
That's why, Mr. Speaker, 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.
  The U.S. is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign lenders. 
Foreign lenders currently hold a total of about $2.199 trillion of our 
public debt, and I believe this is every bit as much critical to our 
national security as anything else. Compare this to only $623.3 billion 
in foreign holdings back in 1993. So who are these countries? Who are 
these foreign investors that are funding our government, that for the 
past 6 years funded tax cuts for folks in this country earning over 
$400,000 a year, while the rest of us were pretty much left to fend for 
ourselves?
  Topping off the list, Japan. The United States of America has 
borrowed $637.4 billion from Japan.
  Number two, China. The United States of America has borrowed $346.5 
billion from Communist China.
  The United Kingdom. The United States of America has borrowed $223.5 
billion from the UK.
  OPEC, and we wonder why gasoline is so high. The United States of 
America has borrowed $97.1 billion from OPEC.
  Korea. $67.7 billion is the amount of debt that the United States of 
America has accumulated with Korea.
  Taiwan, $63.2 billion. The United States of America has borrowed 
$63.2 billion from Taiwan.
  One of the founders of the Blue Dogs, John Tanner from Tennessee, put 
it best when he said, if China decides to invade Taiwan, we'll have to 
borrow more money from China to defend Taiwan. That's crazy.
  It is crazy that we borrowed and continue to borrow all this money 
from foreigners. And as members of the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition 
and this new Democratic Congress, we're saying enough is enough, and 
we're trying to restore fiscal discipline, common sense through the 
passage of the PAYGO rules, pay-as-you-go.
  If a Member of Congress has an idea and it's worthy of being funded, 
that's fine and dandy, but don't borrow the money from Taiwan or China 
or OPEC. Show us how you're going to pay for it. That's the new rules 
of the House of Representatives, and those are the rules that were in 
place back in the late 1990s when we saw the first balanced budget in 
this Nation in 40 years, a balanced budget that continued from 1998 
through 2000.
  The Caribbean Banking Centers. The United States of America has 
borrowed $63.6 billion from the Caribbean Banking Centers.
  Hong Kong. The United States of America has borrowed $51 billion from 
Hong Kong.
  Germany, $52.1 billion. The United States of America has borrowed 
$52.1 billion from Germany.
  And rounding out the top 10 list of foreigners that the United States 
of America under this Republican administration has borrowed money from 
to fund our government and tax cuts for those earning over $400,000 a 
year, and this one will surprise a lot of people, Mexico. Yes, the 
United States of America has borrowed $38.2 billion from Mexico to help 
fund this debt which, as of today, is $9,010,742,245,690 and some 
change.
  That's what the Blue Dog Coalition is all about. We're about trying 
to restore fiscal discipline and common sense to our national 
government, and I'm proud of our Blue Dog members. We're 47 members 
strong. There's 47 of us that are not afraid to come to Washington and 
take a stand for common sense, for fiscal discipline and to restore 
accountability to our government.
  Well, we talk about the debt and the deficit. Another thing that's 
important to point out, Mr. Speaker, is our Nation's been borrowing 
about a billion dollars a day, but before we borrow a billion dollars 
today, we're going to spend a half a billion, with a B, a half a 
billion dollars of your tax money paying interest on the debt we've 
already got, and until we get our fiscal house in order, we will not be 
able to meet America's priorities.
  What do I mean by that? Interest payments on debt dwarf other 
priority. 2008 budget authority in billions. The red indicates the 
amount of money we're spending of your tax money paying interest on the 
national debt. And until we get our fiscal house in order, we can't 
stop those interest payments, which means many of America's priorities 
are going unmet because so much of our tax money, Mr. Speaker, is going 
to pay interest on the national debt.
  The red indicates the amount of money in the fiscal year 2008 budget 
as presented by the President that's going to pay interest on the 
national debt. Now, we say we love our children. We say that we want 
them to have a world-class education. We say that we want our children 
to be competitive in this 21st century global economy. We say one 
thing; we do another. Look at the light blue. That's how much we spend 
educating our children compared to the red, which is the amount of 
money we spend paying interest on the national debt.
  Veterans, and we're creating a new generation of veterans in Iraq and 
Afghanistan tonight, and it's time that our country did right by our 
veterans. It's time that our Nation, the United States of America, 
honored our veterans and kept our promises to them, and yet in the 
President's budget for 2008, the green, that's how much we're investing 
in veterans health care and veterans programs. And again, contrast that 
to the red. Look at the amount of money we're spending paying interest 
on the national debt. Contrast that to the green box, the amount of 
money we're spending taking care of our veterans.
  And homeland security, ``homeland security,'' a new word, a new 
buzzword since 9/11. Oh, we feel safe. We go through the airports and 
we take off our shoes and we do all that stuff to then board a plane 
where half the belly of the plane is filled oftentimes with freight 
that remains totally unchecked. All the containers entering our ports, 
very few are checked. ``Homeland security'' is a nice buzzword, but 
look at the amount of money we're investing in homeland security and 
protecting the citizens of this country and keeping America safe. Look 
at the amount of money in the President's budget for homeland security 
contrasted with the red box. Purple box, homeland security; red box, 
the amount of money the President proposed that we spend simply paying 
interest on the national debt.

[[Page 26242]]

  This does not reflect my priorities, Mr. Speaker, and I can assure 
you that the President's budget does not reflect the priorities of this 
new Democratic Congress. It is time that we put families and children 
first again. We do that by investing in our children, ensuring they 
receive a world-class education. We do that by honoring our veterans, 
including a new generation of veterans coming home from Iraq and 
Afghanistan, and we do that by protecting our homeland. We do that by 
protecting our homeland.
  Mr. Speaker, there's a lot of talk about Iraq and what we should or 
should not do. I voted to go to Iraq. Most Members of this Chamber, 
both Democrat and Republican, did, and we went there, we were told, 
because of weapons of mass destruction. They no longer have weapons of 
mass destruction. We'll save that debate for another evening, Mr. 
Speaker, about whether they ever did or not, but we were told that they 
had weapons of mass destruction and they were never found, which, at 
best, our intelligence in this country failed us.
  And I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, there's not a more difficult 
decision that Members of Congress are forced to make than whether or 
not to send our men and women in uniform into harm's way, and when 
we're asked to make these decisions, we've got to know our intelligence 
is right. Our intelligence failed us in the decisions we had to make 
leading up to this war in Iraq.
  I've got a brother-in-law. He's been in the Iraq region several 
times. He's in his, I don't know, 19th year in the United States Air 
Force. My first cousin is an officer in Iraq. He was in Iraq when his 
wife gave birth to their first child. He's back in Iraq. He's there for 
a year and a half, and he will be there when his wife gives birth to 
their third child. He's not complaining. He's proud to serve his 
country. He does whatever's asked of him. That's what our men and women 
in uniform do.
  But this war has not only affected my family. It's affected 
everybody's family. Just in the last month, I've had to make three 
telephone calls to wives and mothers in my district who have lost a 
loved one in Iraq, including one just an hour or so ago before coming 
to the House floor. We can never do enough for those families. We can 
never do enough to honor and remember those who have served our Nation 
in Iraq and Afghanistan and all over this world.
  But at some point we've got to ask ourselves, I mean, we went there 
because of weapons of mass destruction. We said that we would stay 
until Saddam was overthrown; we did. Then we were told we would stay 
until he was captured; he was. Then we were told that we would stay 
until he was tried and executed; we did. And then we were told we 
needed to stay until the new Iraqi Government was in place and they had 
open and free elections; and they did.
  Mr. Speaker, we continue to move the goal post on our troops. We 
continue to redefine what our ultimate victory is. And I'm here to tell 
you, Mr. Speaker, if our ultimate victory is convincing the folks of 
Iraq to live like we do, we will be there for the rest of my life.
  It's time for a new direction in Iraq, and I bring this up because 
we're spending some $16 million an hour of your tax money, Mr. Speaker, 
$16 million an hour in Iraq.

                              {time}  1945

  I think we should demand accountability for how that money is being 
spent, and I think we should demand a new direction. I think we owe 
that to our men and women in uniform.
  Well, I am very delighted to be joined this evening by some of my 
Blue Dog colleagues as we discuss the Blue Dogs. I have kind of set the 
stage, by explaining the debt, why it matters, how we have gotten into 
the mess we are in and what we are trying to do as conservative 
Democrats to fix it. We are not just talking about it; we have 
legislation to accomplish it. In the Iraq war, we have H.R. 97, the 
demand accountability on how your tax money is being spent in Iraq. We 
talked about that on the floor of the House many times.
  Tonight, some of the things I want to talk about is the Blue Dog 
fiscal accountability package, taking the next steps to restore fiscal 
accountability to our Nation's government. We have the Fiscal Honesty 
and Accountability Act, we have the balanced budget amendment, and we 
have a resolution strengthening the budget process; and we will talk 
about these in more detail as the evening goes on.
  But at this moment, I would like to yield to my friend from 
Tennessee, fellow Blue Dog member, Lincoln Davis.
  Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee. To the gentleman from Arkansas, 
thanks very much for your leadership on many of the issues that our 
Blue Dog Coalition championed here in the House. We championed them for 
many years, about 1994, 1995, when the Blue Dogs were established.
  Basically, this group of individuals initially offered both sides, 
both caucuses, the opportunity to participate in the Blue Dogs, 
Republican and Democrats alike.
  I have always continued to feel very confident that in America today 
we need American Democrats and American Republicans more than ever. 
What I mean by that is that we need Americans first and political 
parties next. Certainly those 2 political parties have done a 
tremendous job in driving many of the debates on many of the important 
issues important in America.
  It has also given America a history as being the country in the world 
that championed civil rights, individual rights, and civil liberties; 
and we continue to do that. In many cases, as we have engaged in 
battlefields throughout history, it has been to bring about democracy 
and freedom.
  But as we talk about this, I want to digress just a moment and talk 
about a particular situation that is being considered today, which will 
be what's called combat training for our airmen. In many cases we put 
our soldiers who are in the Air Force in the battlefield, the battle 
zones, in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, in my opinion, without 
proper training for EMS, in the event there is something that happens 
that they are in the battlefield, they may be injured. I don't think 
they are properly trained, and, in many cases, we need to do that. So 
we are actually talking now about locating CBAT, which will be combat 
training for airmen in different areas.
  I want to read a comment that I have prepared for the potential 
location of this particular facility.
  From the Manhattan Project to TVA to the Apollo project to the 
Spallation Neutron Source and so much more, the Tennessee Valley 
Corridor and its key institutions, communities, businesses, and 
congressional leaders have always exemplified the phrase, ``National 
Leadership through Regional Cooperation.''
  Key leaders in our region continue to support our Nation by working 
to enhance and advance the corridor's key science technology and 
national security assets.
  With that, one of the big challenges in warfare is adequate training 
for our combat troops. Afghanistan and Iraq have placed a new demand on 
the airmen of our Air Force for needed combat air support. These 
increased demands include prison guard duty, combat convoy support, and 
significant expanded security force duty.
  With these additional responsibilities, the Air Force has 
acknowledged its airmen are lacking the ground combat skills necessary 
to meet today's demands. To address these needs, the Air Force has 
proposed, as former Air Force Secretary Roche has described it, a new 
program to ``bring together our battlefield airmen under a common 
training and organization structure to strengthen the combat power they 
bring to the fight.''
  Weapons training, tactical field cooperation operations and land 
navigation training, basic combat skills, physical fitness training and 
basic medical training will be a part of the core curriculum provided 
by new Common Battlefield Airman Training (CBAT) program.
  The proposed location for this new Common Battlefield Airman Training 
program has now been narrowed down

[[Page 26243]]

to three potential sites, one of which is in my district, Arnold 
Engineering Development Center in Arnold Air Force Base near Tullahoma, 
Tennessee.
  Key leaders in the Tennessee Valley Corridor and I are convinced that 
establishing CBAT at Arnold Air Force Base would be the best course of 
action, an exceptional investment for the Air Force and the Nation. 
Arnold Air Force Base and the Arnold Engineering Development Center are 
already home to the world's premier flight simulations testing facility 
and continue to be vital national resources in the development of many 
of the Nation's top priority aerospace and national defense programs.
  Arnold, with its history of extensive combat training during World 
War II, had abundant land available for CBAT training, with a dedicated 
200-acre campus, small arms firing range and 9,000 acres for additional 
required training. In short, middle Tennessee and the Tennessee Valley 
Corridor have a world-class facility ready and willing to house this 
important new training operation.
  The Coffee County community, the middle Tennessee/north Alabama 
region and, indeed, the entire Tennessee Valley Corridor strongly 
support our Nation's Armed Forces and their training needs as they 
continue to serve and defend our Nation. A better trained corps of 
airmen will not only give them the ability to operate more effectively 
in a combat zone and a better chance of survival, but will also help 
them better defend the United States in our post-9/11 world.
  I strongly support and encourage all others to support Arnold Air 
Force Base's pursuit of this new CBAT program.
  As we continue to train our soldiers who are on the battlefields 
throughout the world, certainly in the two hot spots today, perhaps we 
should say three, which would also include the area around the Balkans, 
we need to adequately train them. It's not right; it's not American to 
send someone into the battlefield without being properly trained.
  I know we have others who want to speak here tonight; but I would 
like, if I could, before I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas, I 
would like to read an editorial that I sent to one of our local papers, 
and it deals with PAYGO, as we will address our deficits here in 
Congress:
  ``At a time when the White House is attempting to position the 
Republican Party as fiscally responsible, former Federal Reserve 
Chairman Alan Greenspan bluntly said in his new book `The Age of 
Turbulence: Adventures in a New World' that his party over the past 
several years put politics over fiscal discipline and lower government 
spending.'' At least one honest Republican.
  ``During the past several years while we were witnessing the largest 
growth of government since the 1960s and a ballooning deficit, Mr. 
Greenspan was correct in advocating for a return to pay-as-you-go 
rules. These rules, re-enacted earlier this year after they helped 
restore fiscal discipline in Washington during the 1990s, require 
Congress to offset the cost of new spending or tax cuts with savings 
elsewhere.
  ``The Blue Dog Coalition, a growing band of deficit hawk Democrats 
with a deep commitment to the financial stability and national security 
of the United States, has been pushing to reimplement PAYGO for several 
years. Their bark was finally heard earlier this year when they pushed 
the new congressional leadership to enforce the policy.
  ``When PAYGO was in place in the 1990s, spending as a percentage of 
gross domestic product (GDP) declined from 22.1 percent to 18.5 percent 
by 2001. As a result, huge budget deficits became a budget surplus. 
Shortly after President Bush took office, the Congress unwisely let 
PAYGO expire, causing an explosion in government spending and yearly 
budget deficits. Our national debt grew by $3 trillion over this 
period, and by 2005, spending had clawed its way back to 20.1 percent 
of GDP.''
  Let's think about that a moment: $3 trillion increase since this 
President has been in office. What does that mean?
  We roughly spend $450 billion a year today on interest alone. That's 
$1.2 billion a day. But let's just take the last 5 years since 2001, or 
6 years since 2001, and look at how that $3 trillion is impacting our 
budget.
  For instance, today, if we had continued down the path and just had a 
balanced budget, not necessarily a surplus but just a balanced budget, 
we wouldn't be spending $150 billion-plus extra in interest. Think of 
what that would do. We are spending today over 125, $130 billion in 
Iraq, supposedly, in Iraq, probably more than that. But, in essence, 
what we have done in the last 6\1/2\ years, or last 6 years and 9 
months of this administration, under control of the Republican White 
House and under the control of the Republican leadership on the other 
side of the aisle, we have increased just our portion of the interest, 
not retiring the debt, by over $150 billion a year. That in itself, 
that figure itself, alone, is over six times what the entire budget of 
the State of Tennessee is in one year.
  So I think it's time that we again reclaim for this Nation fiscal 
responsibility and continue to be the strong defense hawks that our 
caucus, our Blue Dogs, has been.
  Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for his commitment to 
our men and women in uniform. I especially appreciate it as the 
Arkansas 39th Brigade, our Arkansas National Guard, they have only been 
home for about 33 months from a year on the ground in Iraq. They have 
been called up and are now training at National Guard armories all 
across Arkansas. They will be doing that through the end of the year. 
They will be going to Mississippi in January and February and then 
sometime in March headed back to Iraq for another year of duty.
  We owe it to them and their families to ensure that they are properly 
trained and to ensure that we are investing in them the very best 
equipment and technology to give them a fighting chance, coming back, 
returning to their families safely.
  If you have got any comments or concerns, you can e-mail us at 
BlueD[email protected]. If you have any comments, questions or 
concerns, you can e-mail us at BlueD[email protected].
  Again, the Blue Dog Coalition is a group of 47 fiscally conservative 
Democrats that, quite frankly, feel like we have been choked blue by 
the extremes of both parties, and we are just simply trying to restore 
common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. We are 
in the middle, and that's what we believe America is.
  I want to thank the gentleman from Tennessee for his commitment to 
our troops, for his commitment to fiscal discipline and for sharing 
with us the piece that he recently submitted to a newspaper in his 
district. Thank you, Lincoln Davis.
  I mentioned the Blue Dogs have three bills that we believe can go a 
long way toward fixing this mess, cleaning up the mess here in 
Washington. One of the bills to do that is the Fiscal Honesty and 
Accountability Act. It strengthens our commitment to fiscal 
responsibility and accountability, and reinstitutes statutory PAYGO 
rules.
  It implements multiyear discretionary spending caps. It closes a 
loophole in the law that has been used to add billions of dollars in 
routine spending, and it requires the Congressional Budget Office, 
commonly referred to as the CBO, to estimate interest costs produced by 
spending in any bill. We will go over this and explain what all this 
means.
  I am pleased to introduce and to yield to a fellow Blue Dog from the 
State of Indiana, who is the author of this commonsense piece of 
legislation that has been embraced by my fellow colleagues, 
conservative Democrats in the Blue Dog Coalition, and that's Baron 
Hill.
  Mr. HILL. I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for yielding his time. 
I also thank him for his great leadership with the Blue Dog Coalition 
and making sure that our message of fiscal discipline does get out.
  I would like at this time to take a little history lesson about how 
we have gotten to the point where we are right

[[Page 26244]]

now with a $9 trillion deficit. That figure is hard to believe, $9 
trillion, our Nation's government is in debt.
  Back during the 1980s, there was a Republican President who came up 
with an idea called supply-side economics. During the campaign of the 
1980s, that candidate was criticized for this economic policy. It was 
claimed to be very risky.
  As a matter of fact, one of the candidates that was running on the 
Republican side called it voodoo economics. Basically, what it was in 
the 1980s was a policy that would dramatically cut taxes with the idea 
that if we cut taxes dramatically, there would be more money that would 
come to the coffers of the United States Government and deficits would 
no longer be around.
  The trouble with that is that it did not work in the 1980s. I have to 
say that the Democrats who were in the majority in the House and the 
Senate that time endorsed this concept and passed this piece of 
legislation into law.
  So taxes were dramatically decreased, military spending went 
dramatically up, and deficits went dramatically up during the 1980s.

                              {time}  2000

  During the 1990s, this policy was rejected under a Democratic 
President who was elected. He was of the opinion that we needed to get 
our fiscal house in order. And so during the 1990s, the supply side 
economics theory was rejected and PAYGO rules were put into effect in 
the 1990s.
  What happened? Those PAYGO rules worked, and around 2000 and 2001 our 
government, for the first time in a very long period of time, actually 
produced surpluses. And it was projected that these surpluses would 
amount to trillions of dollars, projected out in the 21st century.
  Then we had another election, and the old policies of the 1980s were 
reinstated again, those policies in the 1980s called supply side 
economics that caused huge deficits. PAYGO rules were thrown out the 
window again, not reinstated.
  And here we are again, as Mr. Davis from Tennessee has already 
indicated, during that time period where PAYGOs were thrown out the 
window and supply side economics were reinstated, we've increased our 
deficit by $3 trillion, and now we're facing a $9 trillion deficit. The 
second largest expenditure in our Nation's budget is the interest that 
we pay on that deficit. This has got to stop. The gentleman from 
Arkansas earlier said, this is crazy, and it is crazy. When the Chinese 
Government is buying our debt, buying our paper, loaning us their 
money, affecting our foreign policy, we have to get our fiscal house in 
order.
  And I'm so proud that I'm a member of Blue Dog Democrats. I joined 
the Blue Dog Democrats back in 1998 when I first got elected. I served 
three terms, and then the good people from southern Indiana decided I 
needed a little bit of a rest, and I took that rest for 2 years, got 
reelected 2 years later, and immediately joined the fiscally 
responsible group called the Blue Dog Democrats, and I'm glad that I 
am.
  Now, Blue Dogs just don't bark. They also put into place policy. And 
one of the things that we have done is introduce the Fiscal Honesty and 
Accountability Act. What does the Fiscal Accountability Act do? It 
reinstates statutorily the PAYGO rules that have led us out of this 
debt in the past and into surpluses. They were instrumental in 
producing the surpluses that we enjoyed in the late 1990s and the early 
2000s.
  This bill also closes a loophole in current law that allows almost 
any spending to be designated as emergency spending.
  Now, for those who are listening on C-SPAN, what does that mean? You 
know, we can pay PAYGO rules in the House, and all PAYGO rules means is 
if we're going to spend extra money or we're going to reduce taxes, 
you've got to figure out a way to pay for it. It's pretty pure and 
simple, but it requires discipline.
  One of the ways that Congress gets around the PAYGO rules is by 
enacting spending measures. For example, we may have an emergency 
spending measure on the war in Iraq.
  Well, Members of Congress from both parties use that spending measure 
to insert other nonrelated emergency spending measures into the 
emergency spending in order to get around the PAYGO rules. The Fiscal 
Honesty and Accountability Act will stop that practice; and it's the 
Blue Dogs who are leading the charge and making sure that we stop 
playing games with our Nation's budget, because we really do have to 
get serious here now about doing something about our Nation's budget. 
It's swirling out of control. I think most people are shocked when they 
learn that the Chinese Government is buying a lot of our debt in this 
country, affecting our foreign policy. This kind of practice needs to 
stop. And the Blue Dogs are leading the charge in making sure that it 
does get stopped by passing the Fiscal Accountability and Honesty Act.
  Now, other things that we are doing, we're offering a balanced budget 
amendment and we're trying to pass a resolution strengthening the 
budget process. When I talk about the Blue Dogs are not just about bark 
but about policy as well, I mean it. We're putting our actions where 
our words are, and we're here tonight to talk about that and to ask the 
Congress to pass the Fiscal Honesty and Accountability Act, which 
implements PAYGO rules and stops the clowning around with emergency 
spending measures.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to have this opportunity to join my 
fellow Blue Dogs to talk about fiscal responsibility. I applaud the 
leadership of the Blue Dogs on this particular issue. We're going to 
keep on barking. We're going to keep on implementing policy. I thank 
the gentleman from Arkansas for yielding me this time, and I yield back 
my time to him.
  Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Indiana's Ninth Congressional 
District, Mr. Hill, for his sponsorship and for authoring this very 
important legislation, the Fiscal Honesty and Accountability Act of 
2007, 1 of 3 key pieces of legislation that we believe can go a long 
way toward restoring common sense, fiscal discipline and accountability 
to our national government.
  Another one of those is a resolution strengthening the budget 
process. We're going to talk more about that. I yield to the gentleman 
at this time, though, from Tennessee, Lincoln Davis.
  Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee. My friend from Arkansas, in the 
presentation earlier I had intended to discuss the 12 individuals that 
lived in counties that I represent before they lost their lives in 
Iraq. Four of those actually were not in my district, but there are 12 
individuals that either live in the county I represent or in the 
district I represent.
  I made a commitment some time ago that each day that when I said my 
prayers for those in special prayer need, that these families would 
always be a part of my prayer list. And I keep a list of those in my 
wallet, of those individuals. I hope I don't have to add a new name. 
Occasionally I'll have to take this out and redo it and add a name to 
it. I hope I don't have to add another name until we're able to settle 
and resolve and bring our soldiers home from Iraq and from Afghanistan.
  These individuals have honored us and our Nation, and I think that 
we, as Americans, need to be sure that we honor their name and their 
families, and that we keep them in our hearts and constantly in our 
minds so that we don't ever forget the commitment that they gave, and 
they gave all for this Nation.
  Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for those thoughts, 
and he is absolutely correct. We must keep all the soldiers who have 
died in service to our country, those who have been injured in service 
to our country in our hearts and in our prayers. And on this evening I 
hope we'll especially remember Sergeant James Doster from Jefferson 
County, Arkansas, the latest casualty from Arkansas' Fourth 
Congressional District.
  The gentleman from Tennessee mentioned those who've died in service 
to our country, and we've talked a little bit about the Iraq war. And I 
want to

[[Page 26245]]

deviate for a moment and let you know, Mr. Speaker, that Mr. Davis and 
I are part of a group outside of the Blue Dog Coalition, but a group of 
Democrats and Republicans that have come together, 14 Democrats, 14 
Republicans that have created this bipartisan compact on Iraq debate 
because the fact is, Mr. Speaker, I voted three times to bring our 
troops home in a responsible and in a manner that would be responsible. 
But the reality is this: That the reason I voted three times is because 
we don't have a veto-proof majority in the House of Representatives. 
And we can continue to have those votes, but the reality is the 
President will veto those actions and so we really, at the end of the 
day, haven't been successful in a new direction in Iraq.
  Finally, you know, if there's one issue that shouldn't be a Democrat 
or Republican issue but should put us all in the context of being 
Americans first, it should be how we move forward on this Iraq debate. 
And there are 28 of us, 14 Democrats, 14 Republicans that have come 
together to create this bipartisan compact on Iraq debate. And I 
welcome, as I go through these points, I would welcome the gentleman 
from Tennessee (Mr. Davis), any comments or thoughts he might want to 
interject. But basically, here's the compact.
  We agree, 14 Democrats, 14 Republicans, we agree that the U.S. 
Congress must end the political infighting over the conflict in Iraq 
and commit immediately to a truly bipartisan dialogue on the issues we 
are facing.
  I would yield to the gentleman from Tennessee.
  Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee. How can anyone in this Chamber or any 
American let politics, partisan politics, have a play in the 
decisionmaking as we talk about our young men and women who are willing 
to give their life and those who've given their lives on the 
battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan?
  I think that it's time. I travel my district and I tell folks that 
bipartisanship seems to have escaped us here in Washington. I talked to 
some of the folks who were here years ago and people who visited 
Washington saying that Democrats and Republicans would get together 
after a debate, whether they disagreed on certain issues, but that they 
would get together after that debate and spend time in the evening as 
friends or families would spend time together. That needs, we need to 
recapture that here in the U.S. House.
  I read a book recently, or a quote in a book recently that was made 
by that great fellow from Britain, Mr. Churchill. He'd been speaking at 
Fulton, Missouri in 1951, where he gave his Iron Curtain Speech. And he 
and two or three other individuals were still on the train and still 
awake. Mr. Truman, the President, and a bunch of his cabinet and staff 
had retired for the evening. And they were talking about how the 
circumstances of our life and circumstances of our birth influenced our 
success or failures in the world that we lived in. And what Churchill 
said is that: If I were to be born again, I'd want to be born in 
America. We need to change America to where people like Churchill and 
others will be saying again: I'd like to be an American if I was born 
someplace today.
  I don't think that's happening today in the world. We've got to 
change that, and I think the partisan rancor that we have here on the 
floor is prohibiting us from projecting to the rest of the world and to 
the American citizens the best of America. And I hope that this compact 
will help lead us all into being less partisan and more bipartisan on 
this floor and in America.
  Mr. ROSS. There are eight points that we make in this bipartisan 
compact on Iraq debate on how we move forward. The second one, we agree 
that efforts to eliminate funding for U.S. forces engaged in combat and 
in harm's way in Iraq would put at risk the safety and security of our 
servicemembers. In other words, as long as we've got troops in harm's 
way, we're going to support them.
  We agree that there must be a clearly defined and measurable mission 
for our continued military involvement in Iraq. Again, stop redefining 
victory. Stop moving the goal post. This mission must be further and 
continually defined so that the military and the country are aware of 
the end goal of our mission in Iraq and what progress toward that goal 
is being achieved.
  We agree that the Government of Iraq must now be responsible for 
Iraq's future course. The government must continue to make progress on 
the legislative benchmarks outlined in section 1314 of the recent 
Supplemental Appropriations Act, public law 110-28. Demand 
accountability from the Iraqis.
  Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee. If the gentleman would yield, what 
that means is we're asking the Iraqis to occupy their own nation 
instead of our American soldiers. That, in fact, is what we're asking. 
We're asking the Iraqis to be their own policemen instead of the 
policemen on the beat being the American soldier. I think that should 
be expected by everyone, regardless of politics.
  Mr. ROSS. We agree that it is critical for members of the U.S. Armed 
Forces, including members of the reserve components, to have adequate 
rest and recuperation periods between deployments.
  We agree that a safe and responsible redeployment of U.S. Armed 
Forces from Iraq, based on recommendations from our military and 
foreign policy leaders, is necessary to transition the combat mission 
over to the Iraqi forces.
  We agree that the continued military mission of U.S. combat forces 
must lead to a timely transition to conducting counterterrorism 
operations, protecting the U.S. Armed Forces, supporting and equipping 
Iraqi forces to take full responsibility for their own security, 
assisting refugees, and preventing genocide.

                              {time}  2015

  We agree that U.S. diplomatic efforts should continue to be improved 
and that the U.S. State Department must engage in robust diplomacy with 
Iraq's neighbors in the Middle East to address the Iraq conflict.
  We had a military surge, and we now know that didn't work. That is 
what President Bush wanted, and that's what he got. What we are saying 
here, among these eight components, and don't get me wrong, it is only 
one of the eight components, one of the eight components is it's time 
for a diplomatic surge in the Middle East. Fourteen Democrats and 
fourteen Republicans have signed on to this, and I believe it is time 
for a new direction in Iraq. It is time for a bipartisan direction. It 
is time for us to all come together as Americans first.
  I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee.
  Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee. In essence what that component says 
is that in a bipartisan way we want to be sure that the Iraqis have a 
surge in leadership for their own country, take over the control of 
their own country; that the Iraqis develop the military that they need 
to occupy their own country themselves. And, secondly, that they become 
the policemen in the field, on the roads, riding the Humvees, and not 
our soldiers. I thank my friend from Arkansas for each week that you 
bring to the American public the views, the ideas of the fiscal 
conservative Blue Dog Democrats, deficit hawks and defense hawks here 
on the House floor.
  Mr. ROSS. Again, these views on Iraq are not necessarily those of the 
Blue Dog Coalition. We require a two-thirds vote for an endorsed 
position. These are our views, those of us that believe we need a new 
direction and how we think we can get there in a bipartisan way.
  Another one of the bills being put forth by the Blue Dogs, and this 
one was written by Heath Shuler from North Carolina, Charlie Melancon 
from Louisiana, and Charlie Wilson from Ohio, and it's called a 
Resolution Strengthening the Budget Process. It strengthens and 
increases transparency of the budget process. It ensures that Members 
have a sufficient amount of time to properly examine legislation and 
determine its actual cost. No more of being forced to vote on these 
300- and 400-page bills after seeing them for 15 minutes and knowing 
the cost of what we are voting on. PAYGO rules now require that.
  It requires that a full Congressional Budget Office, CBO, cost 
estimate accompany any bill or conference report

[[Page 26246]]

that comes to the House floor and ensures that lawmakers have at least 
3 days to review the final text of any bill before casting their votes.
  We can't make Members of Congress read the bills they are voting on; 
but if you give them 3 days from the final text to the day of the vote, 
it gives them the opportunity to read them. Right now, and many times 
under the Republican-led Congress in the past 6 years, there wasn't an 
opportunity to read the bills because they would let us see the bills 
15 minutes or an hour before we were voting on them, sometimes 300- and 
400-page bills.
  Commonsense ideas that we are putting into legislation.
  Another integral part of the Blue Dog fiscal accountability package 
is this, and I have done my best to go through it and explain to you 
what it is that we are trying to do there. It's a resolution aimed at 
strengthening and increasing the transparency of the budget process. 
All too often Members of Congress are forced to vote on legislation 
without knowing its true cost implications. This measure will ensure 
that Members have a sufficient amount of time to properly examine 
legislation and determine its actual cost.
  And then, finally, the balanced budget amendment. And I want to thank 
the Blue Dog leader Kirsten Gillibrand from New York for authoring the 
balanced budget amendment, which would provide for a constitutional 
amendment requiring Congress to balance the Federal budget every year. 
Forty-nine States do it. Most American families do it. And it is time 
that the United States Congress did it. It allows for flexibility 
during times of war, natural disaster, or an economic downturn, and it 
prohibits cuts in Social Security benefits from ever being used in 
order to balance the budget.
  Mr. Speaker, these are just three pieces of legislation that have 
been endorsed by the Blue Dog Coalition, authored by the members of the 
Blue Dog Coalition, that we believe can put us on a path toward 
restoring common sense, fiscal discipline, and accountability to our 
Nation's government.

                          ____________________