[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6398-6405]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       REPUBLICAN STUDY COMMITTEE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Perlmutter). Under the Speaker's 
announced policy of January 18, 2007, the gentlewoman from Tennessee 
(Mrs. Blackburn) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the 
minority leader.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to come to 
the floor this evening and to talk about something that is of 
tremendous importance to the American people, and today, we have 
introduced an American Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
  This is something that we have had talk. We have had a lot of 
conversation. We have heard from constituents around the country who 
have said, you know what, we do not like the size of government. We do 
not like how it has grown. We do not like how government seems to be 
out of control. We do not like how the Democrats always seem to support 
the government elitists. We know that we need to have somebody there 
fighting for the American taxpayer, fighting for the American family, 
so that when they sit down to work out their budget, when they sit down 
to look at the family finances, they can be assured that somebody is 
thinking about them when they take the votes that are going to affect 
us, to affect the Federal Tax Code and to affect how the American 
family lives and works and hopes and dreams and plans, how they make 
their plans for college education, how they make their plans for small 
businesses, how they make their plans for building a nest egg and a 
retirement.
  So we have the American Taxpayer Bill of Rights that was introduced 
today by the fiscally responsible Republican Study Committee, and this 
is

[[Page 6399]]

something that we have brought on. Some of our colleagues are going to 
join us tonight and talk about this issue, talk about the legislation 
that we have brought forward, and that we will bring forward through 
the next several months and talk about the proposals and the principles 
that we have laid forth today.
  Now, if my colleagues want to find out more about the American 
Taxpayer Bill of Rights, I would encourage them to go to the Web site 
which is house.gov/hensarling/rsc, and you can e-mail the Republican 
Study Committee at [email protected]. That is the way to stay in touch 
with us, and as we talk about the principles that are embodied in the 
taxpayer bill of rights, we want to hear not only from our colleagues 
that are here in the House but from our constituents all across 
America, from people who want to weigh in on making certain that this 
Nation stays focused on preserving freedom, on preserving free 
enterprise, that we stay focused on making certain that America is a 
prosperous Nation.
  Now, our components, we have four simple principles that we have 
introduced into the American Taxpayer Bill of Rights, and I am certain, 
Mr. Speaker, that people that are listening to this say I think I have 
heard about a bill of rights in my State; I think I have heard this 
before. Many of our States have because many of our States know they 
need to be responsible with the taxpayers' money, and that is one of 
the first lessons.
  The money that we have here in Congress is not government's money. It 
is not the money of the House of Representatives. It is the money of 
the taxpayers of this great Nation. They are the ones that have earned 
that money. They are the ones that have paid their taxes.
  Most of my constituents in Tennessee will tell me regularly, Congress 
does not have a revenue problem; they have got lots of money and they 
are right. For the past 2 years, this government has brought in more 
tax revenue than ever in history. We have had more revenue come in. The 
problem is government has a spending problem. Government has such an 
appetite, it never gets enough of your money.
  Now, my colleagues across the aisle like to talk about how there is 
all this waste and how there is all this fraud and how there is all 
this abuse, and you know what, they are right on that, because over the 
past 60 years there has been this huge, enormous bureaucracy that they 
have built. The bureaucracy of the Federal Government that exists in 
this town is pretty much a monument to the Democrats. They like it. 
They like bureaucracy.
  They did not have control of this House for 2 days before they 
increased spending, and within 2 weeks they had increased taxes on the 
American middle class and American working families. Two days to 
increase the spending, so that they could feed this bureaucracy, so 
that they could grow this bureaucracy; and 2 weeks to increase taxes on 
the American middle class and the American family, men and women that 
are working and seeing their taxes go up. Last week, I think it was 
$17.9 billion that they increased spending.
  So their habits have not changed. They are going to continue to feed 
the bureaucracy, to see that bureaucracy waste money, to see that 
bureaucracy grow because that is the way they like it.
  What we are going to do in the fiscally responsible Republican Study 
Committee is put the focus on the American family and on the American 
taxpayer and be certain that they know we are defending their rights.
  One of those is to limit Federal spending to the growth of the 
American family budget. Now, this is a great idea that we have taken 
from many of our States.
  In Tennessee when I was in the State Senate, when you look at our 
State Constitution, you cannot grow spending in that State more than 
the growth of the budget. You have got to be certain that you balance 
that out. So what we are saying is, if we have per capita income growth 
of 3 percent or 4 percent, then you cap your Federal growth spending at 
3 percent or 4 percent. You cannot be growing it 8 or 9. You cannot 
keep up with that. There is no way to make those numbers work unless 
you go into deficit spending.
  Our friends across the aisle love to rail about deficit spending. 
Well, how did we get there? They grew a government so big, with 
entitlements so wide, that every year they come here and it is always a 
little more and a little more. Let us spend a little bit more, and a 
little bit adds up to a lot, and a lot adds up to a deficit, and a 
deficit adds up to a debt.
  So limit what the Federal Government is going to spend, get in behind 
some of these programs that have outlived their usefulness.
  Every year we bring forward programs that have outlived their 
usefulness. Every year we talk about programs that need to be reduced. 
Every single year we talk about ways to find waste, fraud and abuse. It 
is time for this body to have the will and the energy to begin to 
reduce spending.
  Mr. Speaker, for all the rhetoric that comes out from some of the 
liberal elites who want to pad and grow the bureaucracy and some of 
those organizations that benefit from the bureaucracy, you do not hear 
them talking much about the Deficit Reduction Act that this House 
passed and was the budget for 2006. The Deficit Reduction Act included 
a 1 percent across-the-board reduction in discretionary spending.

                              {time}  1945

  Lo and behold, that yielded a $40 billion savings. Well, now, those 
on the left wanted to cry, oh, $40 billion is not enough. It is a mere 
drop in the bucket. It is not even a good start. Their solution was to 
go out and propose several hundred billion dollars' worth of spending 
amendments that would increase spending.
  That is how they wanted to reduce it. Not reduce what we were 
spending, just maybe reposition some money and spend a little more.
  So we want to be certain, the Republican Study Committee, with our 
fiscally responsible premises, let's limit it. Let's not let this 
Federal budget grow more than the family budget.
  Another of our premises is to ensure that our Social Security remains 
secure. I think it is absolutely appalling that every year the Federal 
Government spends the surplus from Social Security, every single year. 
Every single year it goes into the general fund.
  We have a plan we are going to bring forward, and we are going to see 
several different plans on this. Move it off budget, don't spend it, 
make certain that it is there for our seniors when they are ready to 
retire.
  Commonsense tax reforms: We have a plan for sunsetting the Tax Code, 
and as we sunset that Tax Code on January 1 of 2011, let's begin now 
and have a debate. Do we want a flat tax? Do we want a fair tax? How do 
we want to reduce what the taxpayer spends? How do we want to reduce 
the tax burden?
  You know, one of my colleagues was down here a little bit earlier and 
was talking about how difficult things are for working families, how 
difficult things are for moms and dads who are working and trying to 
make ends meet, and where they could go for help. You know the best 
place they could go for help? The best place to go for help is right at 
your kitchen table when you can look there at the papers in front of 
you and say, we have seen our taxes reduced by 15 percent, by 20 
percent, by 25 percent.
  There is no need for nearly 50 percent of everybody's income to end 
up going to taxes at the local, State and Federal level. It is time to 
roll that back. Give people first right of refusal on the money that 
they earn in their paycheck.
  Our fourth premise is to make certain that we have a balanced budget 
amendment, another great idea that has come from our States. Many of 
our States have balanced budget amendments, many of our cities and 
county governments have balanced budget amendments. You cannot go into 
deficit spending. The Federal Government needs to adopt that practice.
  At this time, I would like to yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Hensarling), who is chairman of the Republican Study Committee, for his

[[Page 6400]]

comments on the American Taxpayer Bill of Rights that was introduced 
today.
  I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. HENSARLING. I certainly thank the gentlelady for yielding, and I 
especially thank her for her leadership. She was one of the prime 
architects of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights that was unveiled today in 
the United States Capitol. It is a very bold concept that we have, and 
that is that taxpayers, taxpayers ought to have rights that will be as 
respected and as revered as those that are enshrined in our United 
States Constitution.
  Now, why is this so important? Just within the last 2 to 3 weeks, we 
have heard reports now from the Congressional Budget Office, the Office 
of Management and Budget, the Government Accountability Office, the 
Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the Secretary of the Treasury, every 
single person, or every single department that is in charge of either 
the monetary or fiscal policy of our government have all come to the 
same conclusion; and that is the number one challenge that we face, the 
number one fiscal challenge that we face in America is the out-of-
control spending represented by what we call entitlement spending.
  Now, our friends on the other side of the aisle, they don't want to 
do anything to help reform entitlement spending. They don't seem to 
want to work with us to find better, smarter, more accountable ways to 
deliver health care and to deliver retirement security at a more 
reasonable and affordable cost. So what that means is, there will be a 
tax increase, yet another tax increase on the American people.
  Now, immediately, they have their sights on the tax relief that was 
passed in the last few years, the tax relief that has now created over 
7.5 million new jobs in America; 7.5 million more people are working 
now because of the economic growth due to that tax relief. They want to 
do away with that.
  We have the highest home ownership we have ever had in the history of 
America, home ownership, part and parcel of the American dream, and 
thanks to this tax relief, we have that. Household net worth is up. The 
unemployment rate is lower than it was in the average of the 1990s, the 
1980s, the 1970s, and even the 1960s. All of this is due to tax relief.
  But our friends on the other side of the aisle, they want to take it 
away. They would take the working poor and increase their taxes 50 
percent. They would take away the 10 percent bracket, bring back the 15 
percent bracket. They bring back the marriage penalty, the marriage 
penalty. Tomorrow, if you fall in love, you get married, you pay higher 
taxes. The list goes on and on. Now, that is bad enough, but that is 
just what would happen immediately if we don't have a Taxpayer Bill of 
Rights.
  More importantly, as time goes by, just to pay for the government we 
have today, the government programs which are on automatic pilot to 
grow exponentially, if I remember my 8th grade geometry, it's not 
growing like that, it's not growing like that, it's growing like that. 
These programs are growing exponentially. What is going to happen is, 
as time goes by, the children and grandchildren of our families, they 
will be facing a tax increase of almost double their present taxes.
  Again, let me restate that, double taxes. The average American family 
today pays about $20,000 a year combined in their Federal income taxes 
and their payroll taxes. People who are viewing this debate now, their 
children, their grandchildren, are going to be facing a crushing tax 
burden of almost $40,000.
  Again, don't take my word for it. Go to the Web site of the Office of 
Management and Budget. Go to the Web site of the Government 
Accountability Office.
  The Comptroller General, I guess you would call him the ``chief green 
eyeshade guy'' for the Federal Government, our key actuary, has said 
something along the lines, and this is a paraphrase, that we stand on 
the verge of being the first generation, the first generation in 
American history to leave the next generation with a lower standard of 
living.
  Mr. Speaker, my wife and I have a 5-year-old daughter and a 3-year-
old son, I am not just going to sit idly by and allow that to happen, 
allow that to happen. We have to have a Taxpayer Bill of Rights today 
to save the taxpayers of the future from this crushing burden. Shame on 
us if we do nothing, if all we do is look to the next election and not 
the next generation.
  That is why it was so important, particularly having the help of the 
gentlelady from Tennessee in helping craft this Taxpayer Bill of 
Rights, four very fundamental principles that are so important to the 
future of this country.
  Number one, and probably the most important principle, every taxpayer 
ought to have the right to have their Federal Government not grow 
faster than their ability to pay for it. What a radical concept to 
think that if your family budget grows 3 or 4 percent, why should the 
Federal budget grow 7, 8 or 9 percent?
  Ultimately, we cannot sustain that growth rate, because every time, 
every time we balloon the Federal budget, we are putting the family 
budget in a vice. That means there are families all over the Fifth 
District of Texas, that I have the honor of representing in the 
hallowed halls of Congress, some family in the Fifth District of Texas, 
now they are not going to be able to send a kid to college because 
there is a plan, they don't have any rights as taxpayers, and their 
taxes are going to get increased 50 to 100 percent.
  Some family in the Fifth District of Texas will not be able to enjoy 
their version of the American dream, express their entrepreneurial 
spirit and start their first small business. Some family in the Fifth 
District of Texas, they are not going to be able to get the proper, 
long-term care for an aged parent, all because Uncle Sam will take more 
taxes, more and more taxes, just to pay for the programs we have today.
  So we believe that every taxpayer ought to have the right to have 
their Federal Government not grow beyond their ability to pay for it. 
The Federal budget should not be growing faster than the family budget.
  Second of all, we know how important Social Security is to our 
seniors. Not only am I a father, I am very happy that I have parents 
who have Social Security. It is part of their income. It is a very 
important program.
  But every taxpayer who pays into Social Security ought to have the 
right to know that their Social Security taxes will be used only for 
Social Security. We know if we don't reform that program, if we don't 
take it away from big spending liberals in Congress, they are just 
going to blow it on something else. That is not right.
  Every taxpayer should have the right, should have the fundamental 
right, who pays into Social Security, to have that money go to Social 
Security.
  Third, the Tax Code is wrong. It is unfair, it is complex, it is 
unconscionable. It ought to be pulled out by its roots and thrown away. 
Every taxpayer should have the right to a fair and simple Tax Code, one 
that they can understand, one that they don't have to employ an army of 
lawyers and accountants to explain to them, a Tax Code where, if you 
call the IRS, you shouldn't get five different answers just because you 
talk to five different people about a problem.
  They ought to have a right to a Tax Code that, due to its complexity, 
doesn't send jobs overseas.
  It is time to sunset the Tax Code. We want to sunset the Tax Code in 
3 years and force this body to replace it with something that will be 
fair, something that will be simple.
  Winston Churchill once said that Americans will usually do the right 
thing once they have exhausted every other possibility. It is time to 
exhaust the other possibilities and help force this Congress to do the 
right thing and scrap the Code.
  Fourth, the fourth right of the conservative movement in the House, 
the Republican Study Committee, we believe that every taxpayer ought to 
have the right to have their Federal Government balance the budget. 
Families all across America have to balance

[[Page 6401]]

their budget. Why doesn't the Federal Government balance theirs and 
balance it without raising their taxes?
  Of course, we can balance the budget if we double their taxes, if we 
take away their hopes to send a kid to college, if we take away their 
hopes to start a small business, if we take away their hopes of 
providing long-term care for an aged parent. Sure, that is one way of 
balancing the budget, but there is another way. It is for Members of 
Congress to actually do the hard labor of prioritizing all the Federal 
expenditures and getting there and reforming ancient programs that are 
no longer fulfilling their mission, or maybe they already have. Maybe 
they have already achieved success.
  It wasn't too long ago that I figured out that we were still paying 
for Radio Free Europe. I don't know how many people who are listening 
to the proceedings this evening remember Radio Free Europe; it served a 
very vital role in helping win the Cold War. But if I remember my 
history properly, the Berlin Wall came down in 1989. We should have 
given everybody at Radio Free Europe a great party, given them a great 
bonus check and used that money to help shore up Social Security.
  President Ronald Reagan once said the closest thing to eternal life 
on Earth is a Federal program. So we have to decide, what is the 
priority around here? We need to balance the budget.
  The easiest thing Members of Congress do is, they say ``yes'' to some 
constituency today, and then they just go ahead and send the bills to a 
future generation. Just by leaving government on automatic pilot they 
are sending bills to future generations, because we know again, if the 
Democrats on the other side of the aisle will not work with us to 
reform out-of-control, runaway entitlement spending, again, our 
children and grandchildren are going to face a doubling of their taxes. 
That is unconscionable, absolutely unconscionable.
  So we, the conservatives within the House of Representatives, 
represented by the Republican Study Committee, believe that taxpayers 
deserve four fundamental rights: a right to have a government grow no 
faster than their ability to pay for it; they should have the right 
that every single penny of their Social Security tax dollars goes to 
Social Security; they ought to have the right to a fair and simple Tax 
Code; and they should have the right to have the Federal Government 
balance the budget so that they don't end up paying half of their tax 
burden for previous generations.
  So I am very happy that 100-plus members of the Republican Study 
Committee have come together to embrace this Taxpayer Bill of Rights. 
It is a very exciting concept, and one, Mr. Speaker, that legislation 
will be introduced in the weeks and months to come, that we will be 
talking about from coast to coast, north to south, east to west, that 
we believe will capture the imagination of the American people so that 
finally some amount of fairness and some amount of rationality can come 
in, because if we say ``yes'' to everybody who walks in our office 
today with their hand out, we end up saying ``no'' to our children's 
future.

                              {time}  2000

  And, again, I don't want to be a part of the first generation in 
America to leave the next generation a lower standard of living. That 
is not the American way. That is not the American dream. There is a 
better way, and it is called the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
  And with that I would be happy to yield back to the gentlelady.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman from Texas for his leadership 
on the issue. The American people have just so clearly said we are 
tired of this wasteful spending. We are tired of taxes that continue to 
go up. We are tired of watching wastefulness in bureaucracies that 
don't respond to you when you need them, when you have a problem.
  And we have heard from so many people today who have said, we are so 
excited somebody has grabbed this problem and is looking for solutions, 
because that is what the American people want is for this body to come 
together to grab hold of problems and to work for solutions, work those 
problems through to solution, so that we make certain that our children 
and our grandchildren are going to have a better future, so that we 
know that we are going to leave things in better shape than we found 
them. That is good stewardship.
  And continuing to feed this bureaucracy that started with the New 
Deal, that started with the great society, programs that have piled on 
and piled on and piled on; people that are afraid to say no to every 
special interest group that comes in this town.
  It is time for things to change. The Republican Study Committee has 
unveiled their Taxpayer Bill of Rights; house.gov/hensarling/rsc. Or e-
mail the Republican Study Committee, [email protected], and give us 
your comments and your feedback and participate with us as we look at 
ways to make certain that we take less from the American worker, we 
take less from the American family, we reduce those taxes, and we leave 
that money there with you, without ever taking it away, leaving it for 
you so that your pay check is bigger, so that you have got money left 
over at the end of the month, instead of having too much month left 
over at the end of the money. That is the way we need to be doing it, 
leaving the money with the taxpayer.
  At this time I would like to yield to the gentleman from Georgia, Dr. 
Gingrey, who has been such a leader on fiscal issues and on the tax 
reform issues, and seek his comments on the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I really thank the gentlelady for yielding. 
And I am sitting here chuckling a little bit here at that comment, too 
much month left over at the end of the money. If that doesn't cut to 
the chase, I don't know what does. And certainly I want to compliment 
my colleagues from the 108th Congress.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. If the gentleman would yield.
  Mr. GINGREY. Of course I will yield.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. I have a constituent who uses that phrase all the 
time, you know, about having too much month at the end of the money, 
and would like to have a little bit of money at the end of the month.
  And today, during our press conference, as we announced this, one of 
our colleagues was quoting one of his constituents named Hoss. Another 
of our colleagues got up and quoted the philosopher, Voltaire.
  And where I come from in Tennessee, we generally quote country music. 
And when we talk about this Tax Code, I generally think of the great 
James Dean Hicks song sung by Randy Travis, ``When You're In a Hole, 
Stop Digging.''
  And that is what the American people and what a lot of our 
constituents are saying. We have dug such a hole with this 17,000 pages 
of Tax Code, and it is taking too much away, and there is not enough to 
cover the expenses every single month. So we are kind of looking at the 
IRS and saying, maybe we will bury these tax books.
  And I yield back to the gentleman.
  Mr. GINGREY. And I thank the gentlewoman; and absolutely right on 
target. I also share her love of country music as well.
  But when we did that press conference today, Mr. Speaker, with our 
Communications Chair of the Republican Study Committee, our chairman, 
the distinguished gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling) and John 
Campbell, the gentleman from California, who chairs our Subcommittee on 
the Budget and Spending Task Force and many other of the members of the 
Republican Study Committee and talked about this four point Taxpayer 
Bill of Rights. Everything has got an acronym. You could call that 
TABOR, I guess, TABOR. But the gentleman from Texas who just preceded 
me outlined those 4 points. I don't need to go back into that.
  But clearly, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights is just as important, as one 
of the Hosses from the State of Georgia, our dear esteemed colleague, 
Charlie Norwood introduced a bill a number of years ago, the Patient 
Bill of Rights. I

[[Page 6402]]

love that. The Patient Bill of Rights. I wasn't a Member at the time. 
It inspired me to become a Member, because he was concerned about the 
physical well-being when the excesses of the managed care industry, if 
you will, were really causing people a hard row to hoe to get to their 
doctor of choice. And Charlie Norwood, Dr. Charlie, had that Patient 
Bill of Rights because he was concerned about the physical well-being 
of America. And what we are talking about now is the fiscal well-being 
in this Taxpayer Bill of Rights, equally as important.
  And again, I am proud to be supportive of my colleagues in the 
Republican Study Committee. I hope that we can have the Blue Dog 
Democrats embrace this TABOR, Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
  I will tell you this, Mr. Speaker. This is the season of Lent. It is 
the season when Christians reflect on their spiritual life, and they 
think about repentance and doing things better and being better toward 
their fellow man and making sacrifices.
  And I will tell you, I have thought about that during this Lenten 
season; we are midway at this point, of my political life and what 
changes I, as a Member, can make, representing those 650,000 
constituents in the 11th District, Northwest Georgia, what can I do 
better for them?
  Have I lost my way a little bit?
  I want to say this, Mr. Speaker. And these are my two good friends 
that are on the floor with me. They have not lost their way. And they 
have been an inspiration to me from day one, back in 2003, when we were 
sworn in, in regard to their total commitment to fiscal responsibility 
and taking that leadership role.
  I have been maybe, from time to time a little bit squishy. Some of 
those people that come in, you know, it is easy, everybody needs a 
little bit more. Just what is going to make you happy? Well, just a 
little bit more spending from the Federal Government.
  But I am recommitting myself during this Lenten season, both 
spiritually and politically, because what has really happened, Mr. 
Speaker, and I think my acting Legislative Director said this to me as 
we were chatting earlier this evening. He said, you know, Congressman, 
what has happened here is the Federal Government has become this giant 
riding lawnmower, this giant riding lawnmower, when the Founding 
Fathers really intended it to be a weedeater, and that is exactly what 
has happened. We need to go back and with this Taxpayer Bill of Rights, 
go back to the days when the Federal Government was a weedeater, and we 
can do it. And I commend my colleagues, and I appreciate the 
opportunity to share those thoughts with my colleagues tonight.
  And I yield back.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman from Georgia. I was interested 
in some comments the gentleman from Georgia made earlier today as we 
look at sunsetting the Tax Code. And I appreciated his perspective on 
the conversation we should have with the American people about 
sunsetting the Tax Code, and then, what kind of tax we go to, and what 
a great and vigorous debate that that can be. We have got some 
wonderful options to choose from. And there are those that want to 
reduce the limits. There are those that want to get rid of some of 
these 17,000 pages of deductions and credits and special preferences 
and incentives, and they want it to be simple and easily understood. 
And I appreciated that.
  There are those, and the gentleman from Georgia mentioned that, 
another of our colleagues, who supports the fair tax, and having just 
the national sales tax, and how important that would be to allow a 
debate on that. How wonderful for the American people if both sides 
would come together, if they would join the fiscally responsible 
Republican Study Committee and say, we are going to have this debate. 
We are going to get rid of this Tax Code. We are going to set about on 
the path so that our children and our grandchildren will say, they 
thought about me. They put in place a tax code that I can do my taxes 
myself. I can focus on building a business. I will have more money in 
my checking account, in my savings account, in my business, building 
that nest egg. They will leave that money with the person that earns 
it, rather than sending it to a bureaucracy to waste on frivolous 
desires. And I appreciate the comments the gentleman from Georgia made 
on that issue.
  At this time, I would like to recognize the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. 
King), who has worked diligently on the issue of tax reform since he 
came to this body.
  And Mr. Speaker, it is a point of personal pride for me that our 
freshman class that was sworn in in 2003, everyone that is here in the 
108th Congress, all the Members speaking tonight were a part of that 
class.
  And I yield to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King).
  Mr. KING of Iowa. I thank the gentlelady from Tennessee and 
especially all the work that you do and the way that you helped direct 
this communications together so that it is a consistent message. And it 
is a privilege to serve with you. And there is a certain bond that 
comes in. When you come into this Congress together, you go through 
these wars together, and you fight the battles together and stand up 
for Americans and for the Constitution together. And those are bonds 
that make us stronger and make us better and more unified. And when we 
see things happen that are breaking down the opportunity for a better 
American destiny, that is when we rally and come together for the 
things that are right.
  And so with the discussion that has been going on here, that has to 
do with the responsibility of funding and being able to put together a 
real fundamental tax reform and the reference to the fair tax, I need 
to stand and say that that is something that I came to a conclusion 
that I was supportive of that concept some time in about 1980. In fact, 
I know it was 1980 because it was the IRS that audited me one too many 
times in a row and the audit was for 1979. And as I sat there and my 
business was immobilized for 4 days while I pulled pieces out of the 
filing cabinet, finally we got that resolved. And then I went back out 
and climbed in the seat of a bulldozer and I began to think, why are 
those people in my kitchen? Why are they looking through everything, 
all my records that I have had for the last several years? Who do they 
think they are making Monday morning quarterback decisions on decisions 
I had to make on the fly while I was trying to make a living? And 
wouldn't it be wonderful if we could live without the Internal Revenue 
Service.
  And so I started with that principle, quickly got to the principle 
of, as Ronald Reagan said, what we tax we get less of. What you 
subsidize, you get more of. What we tax we get less of.
  And so the Federal Government, in its ``infinite wisdom,'' and I do 
put that in quotes, has the first lien and taxation on all productivity 
in America. Well, I want to take that first lien off of all 
productivity. I want to untax all productivity. I want to untax the 
poor. I want to put the tax on consumption, not production. And if we 
do that, we will see this Nation's economy blossom and grow 
dramatically. People will get back their freedom. Little Johnny, that 
puts up his baseball cards, or Sally, that buys her Barbie doll 
clothes, will have to dig a couple of dimes out for Uncle Sam. And when 
they see that, transaction after transaction, that generation of 
Americans will understand how expensive the Federal Government really 
is, and some of those little Johnnys and Sallys will come to this 
Congress and stand here on this floor like we are tonight, and they are 
going to say, boy, you know, I kind of like my freedom, and I am really 
not that happy with more government security, and we will have a Nation 
of responsible people that will be singing their voices here on the 
floor of Congress and shrinking the responsibilities that Congress has 
taken on, and expanding personal responsibility.
  Mr. Speaker, I would also like to address this issue of this bill 
that we expect is coming to the floor next week, and the bill that 
would have in it the supplemental appropriations for our armed 
services, and all the bells and

[[Page 6403]]

whistles and the Christmas tree that the people on the inside of the 
door could possibly hang on there to the tune of, we are at least 
hearing $20 billion in other wants that some people want to have that 
they want to bring to this floor when we need to make sure that we fund 
our military in a responsible fashion.

                              {time}  2015

  And we haven't seen a lot of those details. They aren't going to come 
to us in time to actually debate them and analyze them very well, but 
they have been leaked to the press.
  So I would like to make a point here, a point, Mr. Speaker, for the 
American people to understand. We all come down here on this floor 
every new Congress, this 110th Congress. And I bring my Bible to the 
floor and I swear on my Bible, not the Koran, but the Bible, and I 
swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
  Well, I happen to have one here, I carry it in my jacket pocket every 
day. And the people who are behind the scenes that are drafting the 
supplemental bill that needs to take care of our military and adding 
the billions of dollars onto that need to go back and check this 
Constitution in a couple of places. They swore the same oath. And here 
are our constitutional responsibilities as a Congress. This comes from 
article I, section 8.
  We have the responsibility and the constitutional authority to 
declare war; to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a 
navy, by implication, and an air force; and to make rules for the 
government and regulation of the land and naval forces.
  And we also have to recognize that in the Constitution the President 
shall be commander in chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, 
and of the militia of the several States when called into actual 
service of the United States. That is our constitutional obligation, 
Mr. Speaker. And we have all taken the same oath.
  And we will have another profound constitutional debate here on the 
floor of this Congress. And I will submit that there has not been a 
court test or a court challenge to the standards that I am going to ask 
this Congress to be held to, and that is, this constitutional standard, 
this standard of we declare war, we fund the military and we hand the 
authority of commanding this military over to the commander in chief 
because it is a constitutional right that he has and a constitutional 
obligation that we have to support and trust him as he makes those 
decisions, those life and death decisions; and I mean life-and-death 
decisions for armed services personnel, also life-and-death decisions 
for American civilians, for civilians around the world.
  The life-and-death decisions for the life of this Nation hang in the 
balance. And we think that we have 435 generals here in the House of 
Representatives, and 100 generals over there in the Senate, and somehow 
that committee of 535 can come to a consensus and we can figure out how 
to fight a war which requires intelligence, secrecy, knowledge, 
decisionmaking, the element of surprise, the list could go on and on 
and on, all the things we could give up if we think we can micromanage 
a debate from here.
  It is a political debate on this floor, Mr. Speaker; it is not an 
analytical debate. It needs to become a constitutional debate. I am 
going to stand with the Constitution. I am going to stand with my Oval 
Office. I am going to stand with the commander in chief, whether he is 
a Democrat or Republican, and maintain my constitutional responsibility 
here and keep my oath, which I swore on my family Bible here on the 
floor of the United States Congress.
  I would be happy to yield back to the lady from Tennessee, and I 
thank you.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman from Iowa so much.
  And I am so pleased that he mentioned the supplemental budget that 
will come before us. I noticed today in an article I was reading that 
it would include $16 million for new House office space. That is not an 
emergency priority, it is not a war priority, that is something that 
should be disclosed in the regular budget. And I find it so curious 
that we are having this type spending find its way into our budget. And 
Mr. Speaker, that is unfortunate that the American people are having 
the wool pulled over their eyes, if you will, are being afflicted with 
this type of budgeting process where there is going to be all sorts of 
additional domestic spending that goes into something that is to fund 
our troops and to meet the needs of the men and women in the field.
  As I close this tonight, I want to go back to talking a little bit 
about how we limit the Federal spending, how we limit the growth in the 
Federal Government. And as we have worked on preparing this American 
Taxpayer Bill of Rights and as we have looked at the items that go into 
this, as we look at how to grab hold of this situation and this problem 
and solve it and move the solution to the floor of this House, as a way 
to be certain that we keep the emphasis on freedom and prosperity for 
the American people, we had a comment that was made. And it was that 
the Federal budget should not tell the story of the government, the 
Federal budget should tell the story of the American people.
  And, Mr. Speaker, I think that that is a very appropriate way for us 
to consider this budget document and what the budget should look like 
and what the Federal spending should look like. Because truly if we are 
listening to our constituents, if we are making certain that we meet 
our priorities of leaving money with those who earn it, balancing the 
budget, making certain that the money we earn that has been set aside 
for our retirement and Social Security is there for Social Security and 
is not spent on frivolous needs, frivolous wants of the government, 
then we can say, yes, indeed, the budget document, Federal spending, 
should tell the story of the American people and their priorities.
  And, Mr. Speaker, I think if you were to ask any of our constituents, 
what are those priorities, what should government do? They will tell 
you, defend our Nation; keep us free; make certain that we are secure; 
keep the emphasis on our families; keep the emphasis on our 
communities; make certain that we are safe, that we are free, that we 
have the opportunity to seek the American Dream. And as many of us 
would say, keep that focus on faith, family, freedom, hope and 
opportunity. That is what we should do as we keep our focus on the 
American Taxpayer Bill of Rights
  We have been joined by the gentleman from California (Mr. Campbell), 
who chairs our Budget Committee. And I am going to ask him to provide 
our closing remarks as we finish our debate this evening on the 
Taxpayer Bill of Rights, and at this time I yield to the gentleman from 
California.
  Mr. CAMPBELL. I thank the lady from Tennessee, Mrs. Blackburn, for 
yielding and all of your great, great hard work on this and all kinds 
of other issues on behalf of the taxpayers, because that is what this 
is about, Mr. Speaker, this is about the taxpayers, American Taxpayers 
Bill of Rights. It is about American taxpayers having in law rights 
that they should have by right.
  You know, Congressman Ryan from Wisconsin today said, and I am going 
to paraphrase some of what he said, that Congress should have 
constraints so that the people can have more freedom.
  If you look at what has happened here, in 34 out of the last 38 
years, this Congress has spent more money than it took in. It ran a 
deficit 34 out of the last 38 years. This year will be another one. 
That will be 35 out of 39 years. Clearly something is structurally 
wrong.
  What the American Taxpayers' Bill of Rights will do is put some 
structure and make this structurally right. Let's just run through one 
more time what those four rights are that are going to restore fiscal 
responsibility here in Washington, the fiscal responsibility that the 
people watching at home already have.
  First of all, you have the right to know that your government will 
not spend money faster than your ability to pay for it. What does that 
mean?

[[Page 6404]]

Well, Mr. Speaker, that means that if taxpayers' incomes go up by 3 
percent in a given year and the government's spending goes up by 7, you 
won't be able to pay for it. If you get a 3 percent raise and the 
government spends 7 percent more money, the only thing they can do is 
increase taxes so much that they take 100 percent of that raise and 
then some. So the government gets to spend more while you hardworking 
taxpayers at home actually have less money to spend.
  That is unsustainable. That can't continue. And so we propose that 
there be a limit on the spending of government, that from year to year 
it can't increase spending faster than your income increases.
  Second, you have the right to know when you pay taxes for Social 
Security that they are used for Social Security. That doesn't seem like 
that strange a concept. Your Social Security taxes are supposed to go 
to Social Security. When you pay for a driver's license at the DMV, 
that is supposed to go to provide your driver's license. When you pay a 
fee on a boat or something, that is supposed to go for boating. It 
makes sense that when you pay a tax for something it goes for that. But 
that isn't what has been happening with Social Security. Those taxes 
have been lumped in with everything else and used for whatever, and 
that is just wrong. So it should be used only for Social Security.
  Third, you have the right to a Tax Code that you can understand and 
that is fair and that is simple. Now, I am actually a CPA, Mr. Speaker, 
and I have a Master's in taxation. I used to prepare tax returns for a 
living, that is because it is not an easy thing to do, but it should 
be. So what we have proposed is that the Tax Code, the current 
labyrinth, this Byzantine Tax Code that we have, these sunset; that 
means it ends, it quits, we repeal it as of January 3, 2011. That would 
give us 4 years, Mr. Speaker, if you include this year, in which to 
come up with an alternative, an alternative that is fair and simple and 
understandable.
  You know, taxes are supposed to raise the necessary revenue to fund 
the government's necessary operations with the least interference with 
commerce. I think you could argue that the Tax Code that we have today 
raises more revenue than what the government needs to do, what the 
government should do--not what it is doing, but what it should do--but 
it does it with a tremendous interference with commerce. So we would 
propose to sunset the Tax Code.
  And the fourth right in the American Taxpayers' Bill of Rights is the 
right to have a government that balances its budget the way that people 
at home balance their budgets every year.
  Now, as I started out in this comment, 34 of the last 38 years, this 
government has been unable to balance its books. Can you imagine if 
people at home, average American taxpayers, went 34 out of 38 years 
spending more money that you had, spending more money than your income? 
You wouldn't have lasted very long, and the government shouldn't have 
lasted very long either. So we propose a constitutional amendment to 
balance the budget and to provide that you can't raise taxes without a 
two-thirds vote of this body and of the Senate.
  Now, a lot of people out here talk balanced budgets. I bet if you 
asked the 435 Members of Congress if they were in favor of a balanced 
budget, that 435 people would say, ``yes,'' they are. Well, that is 
great because we have had statutory balanced budgets, we have this 
scheme today that the majority party has put, called PAYGO, which is a 
complete sham, but it is supposed to be an argument that it is somehow 
a balanced budget. Well, you know what? If we really want a balanced 
budget, a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget will 
absolutely do it.
  So now let's ask those 435 Members of this body, okay, you say you 
want a balanced budget. Well, then you ought to support a 
constitutional amendment to do it because that is the way it will 
really get done.
  Four rights, four simple rights in the American Taxpayers' Bill of 
Rights that, put together and enacted into law and the Constitution, 
will put the constraints around Congress to keep spending under control 
so that the freedom of the taxpayers is enhanced.
  I yield back to the lady from Tennessee.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman from California and for his 
work in chairing our Budget Committee in the Republican Study 
Committee. And again, house.gov/Hensarling/rsc. E-mail us at 
[email protected].
  And it looks like the final word we can slip in here is the gentleman 
from New Jersey (Mr. Garrett), who is a member of the Budget Committee 
and continues to work on fiscal issues for the betterment of this great 
Nation and of our American families.
  I yield to the gentleman.

                              {time}  2030

  Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that, and I will 
leave the final word to the gentlewoman.
  I just wanted to come to the floor to commend your work here today 
and the press conference that we had earlier today and the work of the 
RSC on this matter.
  As was indicated earlier, the soothsayer said to Julius Caesar 
``Beware the Ides of March.'' And that is exactly where we are right 
now, the center of March. A time of doom, a bad omen in many ways. And 
it is a bad omen for many Americans because many Americans across this 
country right now are sitting at their kitchen tables or their dining 
room tables getting all their paperwork together to do their taxes. 
Actually, I don't know how many Americans still do their own taxes. 
Many people actually pay now to send it out to some of these 
accountants out there, that you were referencing before, to do them, 
because it has gotten just so complicated. It has gotten just so 
incomprehensible.
  Earlier today we saw the little stacks of books of the regulations 
and the Code that is made up of the incomprehensible regulations. And 
that is why Americans can't understand the entire Code. And for that 
matter, and I raised this question earlier, I think it would be 
interesting if someone did a survey of all the Members of the Congress 
and the Senate, 535 Members of the House and Senate. These are the 
people who actually made that Tax Code. How many of them actually do 
their own taxes anymore? I don't do it anymore because, quite honestly, 
I find it incomprehensible, as well, and I send it off to an expert.
  The initiative that we are all pushing here tonight is to say that it 
has gone far too long to have an incomprehensible Tax Code. We can't be 
sure that we are paying a fair amount if we don't know what we are 
filling out. So what we are doing here is not only citing the problem, 
but setting the road to recovery of that problem as well by coming up 
with a comprehensible system of paying our taxes.
  While that is incomprehensible, how you fill out your taxes, what is 
not incomprehensible is the fact that we have been paying and spending 
far too much in the Federal Government for far too long. The American 
family realizes that they have to live within their means, that they 
have only so much of a paycheck each week and they have to make sure 
that that goes as far as their expenses, and they can't spend any more 
than that.
  The Federal Government, as we know, does that every day, spends far 
more than they take in. That is what the American public doesn't 
understand. If the American public has to live within their means, why 
doesn't the Federal Government have to do so? The initiative that we 
are talking about here would say, balance our budget, be just like 
American families at home, and live within our means.
  The final point is this: We have talked in the past, also on this 
floor, with regard to ethics, and I may be wrong but I think it was in 
an article in The Washington Post that said, why are we exceeding our 
spending and why do we have these ethical problems on K Street and the 
like? And one of the reasons they said, and this references the point 
that the gentleman from Iowa said before, is because we exceed our

[[Page 6405]]

constitutional authority, as Mr. King was pointing out; that we spend 
in areas that the Constitution never permitted us to do in the first 
place.
  The Washington Post article made the same reference. If we live 
within our means, live within the constitutional boundaries, we would 
meet the objectives of the American family.
  I see by the clock on the wall we are coming to the end of the time. 
And I appreciate the gentlewoman's work in this area.
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey 
and I thank all of my colleagues for joining me.
  The American Taxpayer Bill of Rights, this is something we are 
pushing forward to the forefront. Over the past 60 years an enormous 
bureaucracy has been built. Our Democrat friends continue to want to 
feed that bureaucracy. We say, it is time for the spending, it is time 
for the increased taxing, to stop. They had power for 2 days when they 
raised your spending. They had power for 2 weeks when they raised your 
taxes. The American taxpayer deserves a break.
  House.gov/hensarling/rsc, the fiscally responsible Republican Study 
Committee has proposed the American Taxpayer Bill of Rights

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