[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8245-8252]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 ECONOMIC SITUATION FACING OUR COUNTRY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 6, 2009, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to address the 
House for an hour. We're going to be talking about the economic 
situation facing our country and specifically the budget situation.
  Just about a month ago, the President right here on this floor laid 
out some of the proposals for what his budget would represent, and then 
the next day he laid out the blueprint for that budget. And I think it 
caught a lot of people around the country by surprise, really caused 
some great concern by people, especially as it relates to this record 
level of funding, taxing, and borrowing
  And over the last few weeks, you've heard a lot of people laying out 
those details, just what that spending means, just what those taxes 
mean in terms of the average cost to American families. The middle 
class families, not just rich people as was purported, but middle class 
families will be paying over $3,000 on an energy bill.
  And then what I think really frightened the American people was the 
record level of borrowing that this budget represents, and with over 
$1.7 trillion in the first year in next year's budget that the 
President has submitted, over a tripling of the deficit that was, 
quote, unquote, inherited.
  And so, as these record levels of spending and taxes and record 
levels of borrowing have been laid out, you've heard a chorus of 
echoes, not just by those of us here in this Chamber who are strongly 
opposed to that irresponsible spending, to that unprecedented level of 
taxing that will literally stifle the growth of small businesses and 
middle class families, but also the borrowing that affects our next 
generation. This isn't money that we have. This is money that would be 
borrowed from our children and our grandchildren, saddling them with, 
on estimates, of over $3,000 of debt just in the President's spending 
bill, that $800 billion piece of legislation called stimulus, that just 
in its first few weeks added more than $3,000 of national debt on to 
the backs of every man, woman and child in this country.
  And so with that, I wanted to lay out some of the details of just 
what the spending means, just what these record deficits mean to the 
American people, to a budget process, and historically, to lay out 
where these deficits that the President's budget really stand in 
relation to history in time because these are things that have not 
passed yet.
  And the American people all across the country, they've had these tea 
parties that have been sprouting up in States all throughout the Nation 
and literally hundreds, in some cases thousands, of people are showing 
up and saying enough is enough, Mr. President and Members of Congress, 
stop this reckless spending, stop and back away from these tax increase 
proposals that will stifle middle-class families and our small 
businesses and don't go and borrow trillions--not hundreds of 
billions--but trillions of dollars from our families, from our children 
and our grandchildren who we want to leave a better life to. We don't 
want to saddle them with trillions of dollars in new debt.
  And some of these charts that we're going to show and talk about 
really illustrate what this means, what these budgets mean because 
these budget documents that are being debated up here in Congress, they 
talk about big numbers and they talk about programs. And some of these 
are government programs that are good, successful programs. Some of 
these are government programs that should have never been in place in 
the first place. Some of them are programs that are failing, yet will 
be getting more money from the Federal Government.
  And where is this money coming from? And as people look and ask these 
tough questions, what they realize is this is money we don't have. This 
is money that would be borrowed in record numbers, and this chart right 
here shows real well, leading into this administration taking office 
just 2 months ago, the fact that the deficit at the end of the current 
fiscal year will be more than tripled by the President's proposed 
budget.
  This budget in 2010 is the President's proposed budget, over $1.7 
trillion, and in fact, on Friday, the Congressional Budget Office came 
out with revised numbers. And unfortunately, those revised numbers were 
not good for the President. They surely were not good for the taxpayers 
of this country. They were not good for our children and grandchildren.
  My daughter, Madison, who's 2 years old, will be inheriting more of 
this debt, thousands of dollars in national debt. Now this deficit that 
was projected to be $1.7 trillion has risen to $1.9 trillion just in 
the last few days.

                              {time}  2100

  There's no end in sight. What we're saying is: Mr. President, don't 
go down this road. There is a better way. We need to rein in the 
spending that is going on here in Washington. We need to look out 
across the country and see what other people that are dealing with 
these tough economic times are doing.
  Families are cutting back, Mr. Speaker. Families are cutting back to 
deal with these tough economic times. They're making adjustments in 
their household budget. They're stretching their dollars. Some people 
are saving and paying down debt. And at time that we're seeing families 
making responsible decisions and States dealing with their deficits--
and yes, States are hurting too--but States are making cuts to be 
responsible.
  It seems like here in Washington is the only place where spending is 
out of control and people just think there's no end. But there is an 
end. As people ponder these record deficits that are shown on these 
charts, one of the things we're going to try to do here in this House, 
at least, is to let the people's voices be heard and say: Enough is 
enough.
  We've got to stop this out-of-control spending. It hasn't happened 
yet. These bills have not even been filed yet. Just the outlines. This 
$1.7 trillion number for next year's deficit hasn't even gone through a 
committee process yet.
  So there's still time to stop this. There's still time to stop this 
out of control spending. That's what we're going to be talking about 
tonight.
  We're going to show some more charts and we're going to talk some 
more about the historical and future numbers. First, I'd like to yield 
to the gentleman from Ohio, a friend of mine who has been talking about 
this same issue for weeks and months as well, my friend, Mr. Jordan.
  Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. I thank my friend and colleague from Louisiana. I 
appreciate his good work on this issue and many others. My friend 
mentioned the tea parties that are taking place across this country. 
The reason you see families and taxpayers and Americans gathering at 
these events is because they get it. I learned a long time ago that the 
people always get it before the politicians do. And they understand

[[Page 8246]]

that this kind of spending and what it means for their kids and their 
grandkids and what it means for future generations of Americans is just 
plain wrong.
  My colleague has pointed out some of the numbers. But just put it in 
perspective of just what has happened in the last 6 weeks. First, we 
had the $700 billion so-called stimulus and all the program spending 
that was in that bill. The bill was designed to help jump-start our 
economy, but we all know it was mostly just spending on Federal 
Government programs.
  Then we had the $410 billion omnibus with its over 800 earmarks. Now, 
this week, with the budget vote going to happen in the Budget 
Committee, which I have the privilege of being a member of, we will now 
have, as my colleague pointed out, a budget that has the 10 largest 
annual deficits in American history. A budget that will go from--and 
this is important--from 29 percent of GDP spending to over 28 percent 
of the gross domestic product. A budget that will increase spending 
over $1 trillion this year; a budget that will double the national debt 
in the next 8 years.
  Frankly, and I think this is interesting, a budget that adds more to 
the debt in 6 years--now, think about this--this administration is 
going to add more to the national debt with their budget numbers in the 
next 6 years than it took all 43 previous Presidents to accumulate. So 
more than 6 years that it took over 200 years to get to. That's how 
much spending we are talking about.
  You don't take my word for it. Take the statement that Senator Gregg 
made today, where he said this budget is going to, in his words, 
``bankrupt the country.'' This is the same guy that the Obama 
administration wanted as a part of their administration. Initially 
offered him the job of Commerce Secretary.
  Take some senior Democrat Members of the Senate. Senator Conrad said, 
``More discipline on the spending side is also going to be required of 
this budget.'' Some Democrats are getting the idea this budget is way 
out of line. They understand what my colleague talked about, and that 
is this budget is harmful to future generations of Americans, harmful 
to our economy, and is the wrong direction to go.
  We need a budget that spends less, taxes less, and borrows less. That 
is what we want to talk about this evening.
  I'm happy to yield back to my colleague, and look forward to 
participating more in this hour. But I appreciate his leadership on 
this issue and reserving this time this evening.
  With that, I yield back.
  Mr. SCALISE. Again, I want to thank my friend from Ohio for pointing 
that out. One of the things you talked about is where all of this 
spending has gone just in the last few months. We've heard a lot of 
talk over the past few months--the last 2 months, really, that 
President Obama has been in office--about all of the problems that have 
been inherited; that were laid on his doorstep when he became 
President.
  We've got to be very careful at paying attention to the facts and 
looking at in fact how we did get here today, now that we are in March. 
This isn't something that started before January 20 when the President 
took the oath of office.
  We've got a chart right here that actually shows some of the spending 
that my friend from Ohio was talking about. When we go into this 
stimulus bill, as it was called, a stimulus bill that spent $787 
billion in today's dollars, the Congressional Budget Office expects 
that with interest and debt service it will end up costing over $1.2 
trillion in deficit spending--money we did not have.
  This bill was a bill that President Obama himself filed--not a bill, 
in our opinion, that will help get the economy back on track. It was a 
bill that did some spending on some infrastructure issues. Less than 10 
percent of that bill in fact was spending on infrastructure.
  The vast majority of that bill was spending on government--growing 
the size of government, both Federal Government and State governments, 
and actually adding employees not to the private sector, which is what 
many of us want to see. When we talk about stimulus, we think about how 
we help those small businesses get that loan to go out and use their 
entrepreneurial spirit to create jobs in the private sector, to put 
people to work, to give people the opportunity for a lifelong career, 
not creating more jobs in government, growing the size of a government 
that's already too big.
  In fact, that's what that stimulus bill did. It added over $1 
trillion. And you see a spike in spending there. And then immediately 
right after that, less than a week, a bill that got little notice 
because it happened right after the President's spending bill, which he 
dubbed the stimulus bill, was this omnibus spending bill--over $400 
billion, a bill that grew the size of government by 8 percent in 1 
week. In 1 week.
  Over $400 billion coming on the heels in February of that stimulus 
bill. And you see the spike that it created in spending. None of this 
was spending that the President inherited. This was all spending that 
he created on his own. In fact, we just found out--we're going to 
continue for months, unfortunately, finding out some of the things that 
were in that bill because that so-called stimulus bill was over 1,000 
pages long. Again, over $1 trillion in actual spending.
  That bill was filed on a Thursday night. That final bill that was 
voted on in the House on a Friday, it was filed at 11 p.m. on a 
Thursday night. Nobody on the Democratic side, even those who were 
actually on the conference committee, had the opportunity to read it.
  And now we are starting to find out some of the things that were in 
that bill--not things that help stimulate our economy to get our 
economy back on track. In fact, just last week we found out as the 
country was outraged, rightfully so, finding out that executives from 
AIG were receiving bonuses--over $160 million in bonuses--from Federal 
money that they got from that financial bailout, which many of us here 
opposed.
  But we found out that they got that money under the authority of 
language that was put in the President's stimulus bill. That's right. 
The stimulus bill that this President signed in February actually 
contained language that was inserted by dark of night. No one wants to 
take credit for it. But we know now Senator Chris Dodd, the Democrat 
chairman of the Banking Committee, was instructed by White House 
officials to put language in the President's stimulus bill protecting 
the ability of AIG to give out bonuses. That was in that stimulus bill.
  Who knows what else is in there because we continue to find out more 
of the damaging repercussions from that bill. Yet, that bill gave us 
over $800 billion of immediate increased national debt. Over $3,000 for 
every man, woman, and child came from that stimulus bill in new deficit 
spending.
  Again, another chart that displays just how high these record 
deficits are, because when you start talking about numbers and billions 
of dollars become hundreds of billions and then it becomes trillions of 
dollars, as we're talking now, sometimes it's hard for people to grasp 
numbers when you get into that range because it's just numbers that 
this country has never seen before. These are unprecedented amounts of 
spending.
  Yet, when you talk about a $400 billion deficit, which occurred in 
2004 and, as can you see, there was a trend downward. Those deficits 
were actually decreasing under President Bush. Still, spending that 
many here are not comfortable with and would not have liked to see 
continue.
  I am a cosponsor of a bill to balance the Federal budget. We should 
have a balanced budget in Washington. Unfortunately, we don't. But at 
least there was a trend downward to reduce the size of those deficits. 
Then, here comes the President's budget. Files it. Over $1.7 trillion 
in deficit spending. You see this massive spike. Largest deficit in the 
history of our country. That comes off the back of the President making 
the quote, ``We cannot simply spend as we please and defer the 
consequences.''
  President Obama said that right here on this House floor on February 
23. ``We cannot simply spend as we please

[[Page 8247]]

and defer the consequences.'' Then, the next day he filed a bill, his 
budget outline, that actually adds a $1.7 trillion addition to our 
national debt in 1 year.
  So, ultimately what people are more concerned about is the actual 
deeds. Not as much the words, but the actions. The actions are scaring 
a lot of people in terms of these record levels of spending.
  With that, we've got a friend of ours from Louisiana, a new Member, 
somebody who has been passionate in this cause of controlling deficit 
spending, getting a hold of runaway spending in Washington, Dr. 
Fleming.
  Mr. FLEMING. Well, I thank the gentleman, my fellow Louisianan, Mr. 
Scalise, for yielding for a moment. I also thank my friend from Ohio 
(Mr. Jordan) for his comments as well.
  You know, we are talking a lot about budget deficits. And we hear 
this word to the point where we're almost numb. We have to ask 
ourselves: Well, what difference does it make? If we go another year in 
deficit spending or perhaps over $1 trillion in deficit spending, is it 
going to change our lives?
  So I think the average person out there who's maybe watching us on C-
SPAN this evening has got to contemplate: What difference does that 
make?
  Well, let me point out a couple of things in history that maybe we 
should think about. You may recall that during World War I, the allies 
defeated Germany and, after doing so, we required war reparations. The 
only way that Germany could deal with that, could actually make those 
war reparation payments, was just to print more money. They had to 
deficit spend big time.
  It became such a problem that it literally took a wheel barrow to 
carry enough currency to go buy a loaf of bread. Of course, that sounds 
silly. It sounds like a caricature. But these people were in desperate 
need.
  We, of course, suffered during the Great Depression. But the Germans, 
because of this, were in a tremendous need. It caused a complete 
collapse of their culture and their society. And what did we get in 
return? We got Nazism. We got Adolph Hitler. He took control of Germany 
only because that country became so desperate that it could not keep 
what was otherwise a democracy, could not keep that going.
  We fast forward to the 1960s when we went through this second wave, 
if you will, of social programs in America; the first being, of course, 
the New Deal under FDR and so forth.
  We have Lyndon Johnson who, of course, instituted many entitlement 
programs, many of which we have today. We saw that that deficit 
spending began at that point, and it began to accelerate. It was 
worsened by a prolonged war in Vietnam. But we really didn't see 
evidence of it, just like today.
  Well, are we really seeing evidence of budget deficits? Are we really 
impacted in our daily lives?
  Well, slowly but surely as the seventies rolled around and we began 
to also have problems with energy, we began to see inflation going up 
to the tune of 10, 12, 13 percent. We also went into a period of 
stagflation, where the economy became stagnant, prices remained high. 
The people who were hurt the most in all that were people on fixed 
incomes, because every year their dollars bought less.

                              {time}  2115

  And so then this country got into something we call cost of living 
increases, and everybody looked forward to that. They had to have the 
cost of living increases. But some got more than others and some didn't 
get any at all, and so we saw the deterioration in our economy and our 
standard of living as a result of inflation. To solve this, we put the 
hammer down by cutting off the supply of money, which made interest 
rates go up. I can remember trying to buy a house and getting a 
mortgage for an 18 percent interest rate, and that is because we were 
trying to bring the growth of money under control.
  Mr. Speaker, the impact of deficit spending and budgets that are out 
of control do affect us in everyday life. I am old enough to have seen 
this happen, have studied it in school, have family members who were 
injured during World War II indirectly as a result of some of these 
financial consequences that occurred.
  I feel like one of the main problems we have with our government 
today is we don't learn from history. History just seems to repeat 
itself over and over and over again. If there is anything we have 
learned in the past, that is that we have got to have fiscal discipline 
in our government. At home, I have to balance my budget, as difficult 
that is sometimes. My city, my State, they all have to balance the 
budget. Why is it that my Federal Government, the most important 
government, the most powerful government in this world, why is it that 
it can't keep its fiscal house in order?
  I am a newbie Congressman, I have only been here 2 or 3 months. 
Before I came here, I really have had this nagging question: What is it 
about Washington that Washington can't get it right? And I was hoping 
that in coming here I would get at least some insight as to why we do 
crazy things with our spending and so forth. Unfortunately, now that I 
am here, it is worse than I ever thought. I am still seeking those 
answers.
  Mr. SCALISE. If I can reclaim my time. I sure don't want to 
discourage you. There is a Chinese proverb: May you live in interesting 
times. And we are definitely living in interesting times.
  I think the good news is, this is the best time for people with the 
focus that you have got, as a new member, somebody coming here to try 
to rein in out-of-control spending, this is the exact time to be here 
because this is the time where speaking up can stop this train, this 
train of runaway spending, as this bill that has been proposed has not 
passed into law yet.
  The public is starting to have the same level of discomfort that 
those of us here tonight have, and I think the opportunity for us to 
galvanize that energy that is going on all around the country as we 
talk about these tea parties that people are having spontaneously to 
protest about this record level of spending and borrowing and taxing. 
We have got the ability to stop this from happening, because some of 
this has happened, as we have pointed out, but the worst has not yet 
happened. But if nothing changes, then it will happen. And that is 
where we have an opportunity. And I know my friend from Ohio has 
something to add, and then we have other people to join us.
  Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. I appreciate the gentleman.
  Not only is it record levels of spending; it is being done at a 
record pace. Let me just give you a couple facts. Think about this. 
This is why Americans, as we have talked about already, are showing up, 
Mr. Speaker, at these tea parties, because they are sick of this type 
of activity from their government that their tax dollars support.
  Think about this: $24 billion is being spent each day. Over the first 
50 days of the new administration, Democrats have spent approximately 
$24 billion a day, most of it with borrowed money. Over the first 50 
days of this new administration, Democrats have spent approximately $1 
billion an hour, most of it with borrowed money.
  So it is not just the amount; it is the pace at which this spending 
is going on. And you wonder why thousands of people are showing up in 
cities across this country, families, taxpayers, small business owners 
are showing up and saying, enough is enough. We are tired of this 
bailout fever, this spending fever that has got a hold of Washington. 
We want some sanity back in our government. We want some sanity back in 
our Congress.
  And it's not just about the numbers. We are going to give tons of 
numbers here in this hour, and the gentleman from Louisiana and the 
doctor from Louisiana have given some numbers and some history as well. 
But in the end, it is about people and the impact this has. Think about 
this budget that is going to be in the Budget Committee for a vote this 
Wednesday, 2 days from now, this budget with record levels of spending, 
record deficit, tenth largest annual deficit in American history over 
the next 10 years, think about this budget. And I don't think it is 
being an

[[Page 8248]]

alarmist to say this: This is an attack on freedom, because think about 
what this budget does. It is the largest tax increase in history. When 
you take money out of the pockets of families, and I have said before, 
I am convinced some politicians won't be happy until they have an IV 
hooked up to the taxpayers' wallet and they can hit the drip button any 
time they want. They want the money. They think they are smarter than 
the American family out there.
  So record level of taxes, unprecedented continuation of the spending 
that we have been talking about, a further nationalization of health 
care. Now, think about all three of those for a second. When they take 
your money, you have less freedom. When they spend and spend and spend 
and mortgage our kids' and grandkids' future, that simply means the 
next generations of Americans are going to have less freedom because 
they are going to have to pay that money back, which means less money 
in their pockets to go after their goals and dreams. When you have a 
further nationalization of health care and you have some centralized 
board here in Washington deciding what kind of health care you and your 
family are going to get, that is a loss of liberty. And the worse one, 
which we haven't even got to, and I know my colleague from Louisiana 
understands this issue probably better than anybody on the floor 
tonight, that is this cap-and-trade, cap-and-tax concept, which will be 
the largest tax increase in history. Every single family, every single 
business owner is going to pay more in energy and utility costs. All 
those in this budget.
  So I think when we talk about an attack on liberty and an attack on 
freedom, it is not using too strong of language, I think it is just 
being honest. Because the word and principle we most associate with the 
United States of America is freedom, and that is what this budget is 
attacking. And that is why we are here tonight under the leadership of 
our friend from Louisiana talking about how bad this is and the 
direction that it takes our country, and why we think our policies of 
keeping taxes low, getting spending under control, not imposing this 
crazy cap-and-trade concept on American families and business owners is 
the right approach to take.
  With that, I yield back to my colleague from Louisiana.
  Mr. SCALISE. Again, I thank the gentleman from Ohio. And what you 
talked about, we definitely are going to cover in detail later on 
throughout this hour tonight on both the historical side, as my friend 
from North Louisiana talked about even going back to World War II and 
some of the flaws of the spending that was encountered during the New 
Deal leading up to World War II, but also on today's proposal, that 
proposal that you will be looking at in the Budget Committee.
  Mr. Speaker, one of the things we want to point out on this tax 
proposal, because when the President talked throughout the campaign, 
when he talked here on the House floor just a few weeks ago, one of the 
things he said was 95 percent of the American people will not see their 
taxes raised by a dime. And while he may have been technically accurate 
in that statement, what many people are finding out now by the cap-and-
trade, what many of us call an energy tax or a cap-and-tax proposal, 
those American families that are making in the bottom 95 percent, so to 
speak, in this country, they won't be seeing a dime increase, they will 
be seeing over $3,000 a year in tax increases in the form of higher 
energy bills, and that is this proposal that is in the President's 
budget, $1.4 trillion in new taxes.
  Some of this falls on the people making over $250,000. Here, we are 
playing class warfare, something that I don't agree with because it is 
not good policy. But this right here, the small business and investor's 
tax, generates $630 billion. This is what the President talks about 
when he says for those people who are in the top 5 percent of income 
earners, people making over $250,000, will see a tax increase. What he 
is talking about is a $636 billion tax increase, half of which will 
fall on the backs of small business owners in this country. The people 
that actually employ more than 70 percent of the American workforce 
will be seeing a tax increase.
  Now, anybody that can explain how that is good fiscal policy, 
especially during tough economic times, the floor is open for them to 
discuss it, because no one has yet to come and explain that. This is a 
horrible proposal. But on top of that, what they have also proposed is 
this cap-and-trade tax, and it is $640 billion. That hasn't been talked 
about much by the President in terms of its impact, but what this tax 
means, in fact the budget director for the President just 1 year ago 
when he was working for the Congressional Budget Office said that this 
would mean over $1,600 a year in new taxes that people would pay on 
their electricity bills.
  So I guess what he means when you are not going to pay another dime, 
$1,300 to $1,600 a year in new energy taxes is not a dime, but it 
something that would break many families in this country. But it would 
fall on the backs of every family in this country. No family under the 
current proposal is exempted. So a married couple making $30,000 a year 
with two kids will be paying about $1,300 a year more in energy costs 
from the President's own budget.
  This is bad policy. This is policy that we are going to fight. We are 
going to fight it in committee. It hopefully will not get to this House 
floor, but we will fight it on this floor. And one of the people that 
will be fighting that battle with us is our good friend from Georgia 
(Mr. Broun).
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank my good friend from Louisiana for 
yielding.
  This is a steamroller of socialism that is being shoved down the 
throats of the American public, that is going to strangle the American 
economy and is going to choke the American people economically. Nancy 
Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Barack Obama are driving this steamroller of 
socialism. Socialism never has worked, it never will work. It is not 
going to work today, and it hasn't worked in the past, as our doctor 
colleague from Louisiana was just talking about the history, and I 
agree with that.
  The thing that this is going to hurt most, though, are people on 
limited income. We hear from our friends on the Democratic side that 
they are for the poor people and for the disadvantaged, but this cap-
and-tax policy, or cap-and-trade as it is called, is going to hurt the 
most the people on limited income, the retirees. It is going to hurt 
people who are at the bottom end of the social ladder; because, as you 
said, Mr. Scalise, it is going to be $3,000 per family that they are 
going to have to pay, not only for energy costs, but when gas and 
diesel prices go up, that means it costs more to get food to the 
grocery store. That means that grocery prices are going to go up. It 
means that it costs more money to get medicines in to the drug stores, 
so medication is going to go up. Every single good and service in this 
Nation will go up because of this cap-and-tax policy that is being 
proposed by this administration and by the liberals on the Democratic 
side. It is going to strangle our economy, as I just mentioned, and it 
is going to hurt the people who can least afford to pay the $3,000.
  I am a physician, as the gentleman knows. Many of my patients can't 
afford to pay an extra $3,000 out of their pocket to pay for this crazy 
idea of taxing energy at this kind of rate. It is just untenable, it is 
totally unacceptable, and we have got to stop it. And that is what 
Republicans are doing here tonight, is talking about this, and we are 
going to continue to fight to stop this.
  In fact, the reason I came down here tonight to join you in this 
discussion, if you would just take the top chart down and we will look 
at the top chart as well as the one just below it that you just covered 
up.
  We keep hearing from our Democratic colleagues that all this 
financial problem is something that they inherited and they are trying 
to fix it. Well, they didn't inherit it; they have created it 
themselves. And the chart that you have up top just shows that the 
budget deficit is going to climb markedly under the proposals that have 
already been passed by this House. We

[[Page 8249]]

have just seen bill after bill after bill that has increased the 
deficit.
  We are borrowing too much money from our grandchildren. I don't know 
a grandparent in this country that will say anything but, I will try to 
sacrifice for my children and for my grandchildren. That's what parents 
and grandparents do, we sacrifice for our children and our 
grandchildren. But the Democrats don't want to do that. They want to 
take from our children, they want to take from our grandchildren.
  Republicans have presented many, many alternatives to the housing 
bill that this Congress passed that is going to increase the cost of 
housing loans to everybody, and it is going to actually deny people, 
particularly just getting in the market that don't have good credit 
ratings, it is going to deny the poor people from being able to get 
mortgages in the future.
  We saw this awful TARP bill that President Bush and Hank Paulson 
pushed forward, we have seen how that has been mismanaged. That is 
borrowing from our grandchildren. We have seen bill after bill, and now 
this budget on top of that, we are borrowing too much, we are spending 
too much, we are taxing too much, and it has got to stop.

                              {time}  2130

  Republicans have offered many alternatives. But the Democratic 
leadership are being obstructionist. They won't even hear of our plan, 
because they are driving this steamroller of socialism down the throats 
of the American people. I'm beginning to think that there is a very 
concerted effort to try to change the philosophy of government in 
America, one, as Mr. Jordan was just talking about, where we are going 
to lose our freedom. We have seen that happen historically. We have got 
to put a stop to it. It is up to the American people. It is up to the 
American people to put a stop to it by demanding that we not pass this 
budget that the Democrats in this administration are bringing forward.
  We have got to stop bailing out AIG and all these other entities that 
are just taking us down the road to financial serfdom of the American 
people. We have got to stop it. It is up to the American people, and it 
is up to Republicans to stop it. We have got to get the American people 
to demand that our voice as Republicans is heard so that we can present 
our alternatives that Nancy Pelosi won't even bring to the floor. She 
won't allow our proposals to be heard in committee. We can't get a 
vote.
  It is wrong. It is hurting the American people, and it is hurting the 
people who the Democrats say that they want to represent, and that is 
the poor people and the disadvantaged people, the people on limited 
incomes. So we have proposals, Republicans have proposals that will 
stop the spending, that will stop the taxation, that will look to the 
free enterprise system, that will get our economy back on the right 
road so that we can solve this financial crisis that we have and even 
get the housing market back on the right road. But our proposals need 
to be heard on this floor.
  So the American people need to demand that our proposals are heard, 
voted upon and let's have a debate. We would want to join with our 
Democratic colleagues to find some commonsense, market-based solutions 
that will maintain freedom and stop this steamroller of socialism that 
is going to take away from not only this current generation, but it is 
going to put our children and our grandchildren in a position that 
their standard of living is going to be much lower than ours is today.
  It is up to us. And we are going to continue to fight. That is what 
we are doing here tonight. I congratulate you, Mr. Scalise, for being 
down here tonight with these charts to try to show the American people 
the direction we are headed by this administration, by the leadership 
in this House and this U.S. Senate. We have got to stop it. We have got 
to put the brakes on this steamroller of socialism so that the American 
people can be free and can throw off the shackles of the Federal 
Government, can run their family, run their businesses and run their 
lives without all the government intrusion. And that is what we are 
here fighting for tonight.
  I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I yield back.
  Mr. SCALISE. Thank you. Reclaiming my time, I appreciate what the 
gentleman from Georgia talked about, because that is, in fact, the 
reason that we are here tonight. It is not that we are willing to throw 
in the towel, take this and just accept this train to run down the 
track. What we are trying to do is talk about this problem and not just 
lay out the proposals that are here before us, but the implications of 
those proposals, to families all across this country. In fact, these 
proposals fly in the face of the decisions that families across this 
country are making themselves. As they deal with tough economic times, 
people are actually acting in a responsible way. They are cutting back 
their spending. They are setting money aside and paying down debt. But 
they are sure not going deeper into debt. If you have got a high credit 
card balance, the last thing you do is go order two more credit cards 
and then run up the balance on those.
  That is what the President's proposal in his budget does. It, in 
fact, triples the current year level of deficit spending. I want to 
make this point again as we talk about the history revisionism that is 
going on as people talk about what they inherited. There was a deficit 
that President Obama inherited. The problem is that he is tripling that 
deficit in his first budget out the box. He is tripling that level of 
spending in a way that is irresponsible. He even acknowledges, as he is 
doing it, that deficit spending is irresponsible. And anybody is free 
to go back in time and criticize people in the past who helped create 
this national debt that we have. I have surely done it. Many others 
have done it. But when you criticize something, you don't replace the 
thing that you're criticizing by doing it two or three times even 
worse.
  So, if he is going to stand with us and criticize the deficit 
spending, then he needs to actually stand with us and start cutting 
this Federal budget, not tripling, tripling the size of this debt, the 
national deficit that we are going to be facing next year. And so that 
is what we are talking about tonight is what we are going to be 
fighting in the coming months.
  One of the people at the forefront of that fight is my friend on the 
Budget Committee, Mr. Jordan from Ohio.
  Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. I just want to make a quick point and just 
reiterate what my friend from Louisiana just had mentioned. Think of 
the contrast of what American families are having to do with their 
budget in this tough economic situation they find themselves in versus 
what the Federal Government is going to do. I just want to go back and 
talk about one fact I had talked about earlier, because when you talk 
about spending at this rate, the new administration, the Democrats in 
Congress, are spending approximately $24 billion every day in the first 
50 days of this administration. This is unprecedented spending. When 
you spend that fast, when you spend that much, it is no wonder you make 
mistakes like this AIG fiasco we had last week.
  So again, the contrast could not be more clear with what American 
families are doing in the tough economic times they face and they have 
to deal with versus how the Federal Government is reacting. Families 
are tightening their belt. They are doing what American families have 
had to do many other times in history when things got tough. But their 
government is spending at unprecedented levels and at an unprecedented 
pace, making mistakes as they do it. And we saw that last week.
  So again I yield back to my friend and colleague and thank him for 
his work on this important issue.
  Mr. SCALISE. I think when people look to Washington, they are looking 
for leadership. They are not looking for just more checks thrown around 
or cash thrown around to States or to people. What they want to see is 
policies, good sound policies to respond to the things that are 
happening across the country. I think people are very

[[Page 8250]]

 concerned. We are finally starting to see people speak up and not just 
complain at home or sit on their couch. They are literally standing up 
and going to these tea parties that they are having all across the 
country now. In fact on April 15, the day that many of us dread, the 
day that we pay our taxes, that is the day that many of these tea 
parties are going to be held throughout the country where people are in 
essence revolting against this record level of spending, this record 
level of borrowing, deficit spending and taking money that we don't 
have from our kids and grandkids to run up these massive deficits each 
year under the President's budget.
  They are doing it because they know that this hasn't happened yet. 
They are proposals by this President. But this is a President like any, 
and this is a Congress like any, that needs to respond to what people 
are saying across this country. And so while we are speaking on this 
floor tonight talking about the dangers of deficit spending and record 
borrowing and these taxes that are being proposed, and we are trying to 
stop this from happening, people across the country are doing the same 
thing.
  I think my friend here is going to chime in as well and talk about 
this.
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. Thank you. I appreciate the gentleman yielding.
  I have just a couple of comments. I was back in my district this 
weekend and talked to some of our local governments. My background is a 
physician and a local mayor. And the community that I was mayor in just 
before I came here is looking at making a 5 percent cut in their 
budget, worst case scenario. They are looking at what they have to do 
to balance their budget. I also talked to a town administrator of 
Morristown, Tennessee, this past week. They were looking at their MTPO 
funds. They got an extra $720,000 in stimulus money for a bus system. 
To show you how out of touch the Federal Government is, they had about 
$600,000 in MTPO funds, that is Metropolitan Transportation Planning 
Organization funds, and they can buy buses with these funds and they 
can build bus stations. There is just one small problem in that 
community. Their general fund budget has got a $1.6 million hole in it. 
They have 16 people they can't hire right now that they normally do. 
They can't afford to hire the bus drivers.
  That is something that gets lost in this place up here is that we 
spend at these record deficits, and local communities are making these 
tough decisions. And they are tough decisions. Business leaders are 
doing exactly what they are doing with their budgets, tightening their 
belts. What do we do up here? In the omnibus spending bill, which I 
call the ``ominous spending bill,'' when everybody else is cutting it, 
what are we doing? Up 8 percent. Now, how can I go back to Tennessee 
and explain to people that we print money--or borrow it--and then go 
back and spend at that level while they are having to make these tough 
decisions? I yield back.
  Mr. SCALISE. I thank my friend from Tennessee for talking about the 
challenges as people look at what is happening up here in Washington 
and they are dealing with tough economic times back home. And this 
isn't something that families and States are new to. It seems like 
budgets are cyclical, sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down. But 
ultimately, you have to live within your means. And families are doing 
exactly that. Then they are looking at Washington and they are seeing 
what's happening up there when in just 2 months of a new administration 
where people were promised change, where a President stood here on this 
House floor just a few weeks ago and said, ``We cannot simply spend as 
we please and defer the consequences.'' And I think we all agree with 
those statements. But the problem is people then look, and the next 
day, the very next day after the President made those statements, he 
files a bill that spends and borrows at record levels, $1.7 trillion in 
borrowing and $1.4 trillion in new taxes. Many of those new taxes will 
fall on the backs of middle class families and small businesses.
  People are saying, ``Wait a minute, that wasn't the change we were 
told about.'' If they made less than $250,000, they surely didn't think 
they were going to see a dime of new taxes. And then they see that 
bill, the President's cap-and-trade bill, that actually adds roughly 
$1,300 just in energy costs. The estimates are that it will be more 
than $3,000 per family--not people making over $250,000, but a middle 
class family or a family making maybe $20,000 a year will see roughly 
$3,000 when you count up your higher energy bill, your higher gas bill 
at the pump and when you go and pay for products that use energy, like 
food. Any food product you use there is energy, transportation, related 
to that. So people look at all of this combined and they say, ``this 
doesn't add up to the things that I was hearing and that I was excited 
about.'' And so they are speaking up.
  What is important is that people are not just going to sit back and 
let this happen. We are not going to sit back and let this happen.
  I'll yield back to my friend.
  Mr. ROE of Tennessee. We have already had a perfect example of cap-
and-trade. It was last year when oil prices went to $147 a barrel. 
Every American citizen knows that that went straight out of their hip 
pocket. And like you pointed out, everything you buy at the grocery 
store, every product that is transported by energy pays for that. And 
we have already seen that. We know what will happen with cap-and-trade.
  Mr. SCALISE. Reclaiming my time.
  One other thing that was not brought up yet but a bill that was just 
filed about a week and a half ago that the President said that he 
supports is this bill called the Employee Free Choice Act, which has 
just perplexed the business community throughout this country. Small 
businesses are literally shaking at the thought that their employee 
workforce and employees across this country--we have already started 
hearing from employees who are very angered and disappointed that 
Democrats in Congress would take away their right to a secret ballot 
vote when it comes to deciding whether or not they want to form a 
union. And yet that is now part of the President's agenda, an agenda 
item that is estimated to cost this economy in our country over 600,000 
jobs in the first year in a tough economic time when we need to be 
creating jobs. The bill that they are filing could actually cost, run 
jobs out of this country to the tune of about 600,000 a year.
  I yield to my friend from Georgia.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. You brought up a good point there. In fact I 
was talking to a manufacturer in my district not long ago about this 
so-called employers free----
  Mr. SCALISE. Employees Free Choice Act, which it is not.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. The reason I have a hard time remembering that 
is because there is nothing free about it. It is actually a method of 
trying to force unionization on employers and employees alike. It is 
going to cost jobs. In fact, what I just was fixing to say was that I 
was talking to an employer in my district who said to me that if this 
act passes, he is going to shut the doors, and his business is going to 
go offshore. And that is going to happen all over this country. It is 
going to cost thousands and thousands of jobs.
  Why is that happening? It is happening as a payback. It is happening 
as a payback to the Democrats who get all this money and all the 
support from the labor unions because the labor unions want to make an 
environment where they can force unionization on small businesses and 
large businesses all over this country. And what is even more egregious 
is the forced arbitration that is in that bill that is not free either. 
It is totally wrong. Again, this is a steamroller of socialism being 
shoved down the throats of the American people. And we have got to stop 
it.

                              {time}  2145

  But it is going to cost jobs. And what it is going to do is it is 
going to put us in a bigger financial mess as a Nation. When we have 
the cap-and-tax placed on all energy, it is going to drive up the cost 
of all goods and services. Just like Dr. Roe was just talking about up 
in Tennessee, folks up there already

[[Page 8251]]

saw what happened. We have already seen in Georgia what happens. People 
stop utilizing energy. It is going to actually cost the Federal 
Government money instead of--and it is going to cost jobs.
  I am beginning to think that that is the purpose of all this is to 
try to put everybody on the government dole, try to create a big 
socialistic society where everybody gets a check from the Federal 
Government.
  But the thing is, America's hurting. America's hurting terribly. We 
have got to do something and we have got to do it now. But going down 
this road towards bigger deficits, borrowing more, spending more, 
taxing more is not the solution. The solution is stimulating the free 
enterprise system. Free enterprise is the economic engine that pulls 
along the train of economic security in America. And we are killing 
that engine. We are throttling it down, and we are shutting it off.
  And we have got to create jobs. We have got to create good-paying 
jobs. Building a bigger government, borrowing from our children and our 
grandchildren, is not the solution. And so we have just got to do 
everything we can to stop it.
  And I applaud you, Mr. Scalise, for bringing all these issues forward 
because it is just absolutely critical that the American people 
understand what is going on.
  You brought out the quote from the President. The problem is, what he 
says and what he does are two different things. He said he would never, 
never sign a bill that has earmarks in it. Well the first bill, that 
omnibus bill, was nothing but earmarks. It was just a payback to the 
liberal entities, as well as all of the liberal agenda that they have 
had stuck in some drawer somewhere. They just dusted them all off and 
brought them forth. We don't have the money to pay for that. And it 
markedly increases the size of government.
  We saw that with the budget that he has been proposing. And 
everything we are going to see is, we just see over and over again, the 
President says one thing and he does another. He says, we cannot simply 
spend as we please and defer the consequences, but that is exactly what 
he is doing.
  Mr. SCALISE. Well, reclaiming my time, one of the things that you 
talked about, you know, as you talk about the concern that your 
business people in Georgia have, I have heard the same thing from not 
just employers but from employees, workers in South Louisiana, who are 
very concerned that their ability to, their right to a secret ballot 
would be taken away. In fact, while it is called the Employee Free 
Choice Act, myself and others call it the Secret Ballot Elimination 
Act, because all of us in Congress, the President, even the leadership 
on the Democratic side, we are all elected by secret ballot. There is a 
secret ballot right that people have, and part of the reason for that 
is it protects employees from coercion and intimidation and those kind 
of threats that have happened throughout our history. And that is the 
reason that that is in place. And that a bill would be filed as part of 
the President's agenda that would take away somebody's right to a 
secret ballot, something that is at the heart of any democracy, I 
think, is offensive. And it shows people which road they are going 
down, that while we have got problems with our economy and we need to 
be focused on creating jobs, they see what this administration is 
really focused on. Taxing people's energy bills, taxing small 
businesses for the work that they do, that hurts their ability to go 
out and create more jobs to hire people in this country. And then 
passing legislation that would actually take away somebody's secret 
ballot, it is something that has gotten people's attention. They are 
seeing what these deficits will do to our future, our children and our 
grandchildren, and people are starting to speak up. And I am glad 
somebody else that is going to be speaking up is my friend from Texas 
(Mr. Gohmert).
  Mr. GOHMERT. I appreciate the gentleman yielding. There have been so 
many wonderful points made here. I say wonderful as an adjective, when 
actually it is tough to say wonderful about such a very perplexing and 
disconcerting issue.
  One thing that I haven't heard mentioned yet is about another issue 
that is contained in the budget, and that is with regard to 
restrictions on charitable deductions. Has the gentleman mentioned 
that?
  And I appreciate the time you yield.
  What struck me this weekend as I thought about President Obama and 
the Democratic leadership trying to restrict the deductions for 
charitable donations is, why would you do this? Because we know, 
worldwide, the best help that goes to people in need, whether they are 
starving or after an emergency, comes from the charities, the American 
charities. They can go straight in and start helping those people, 
whereas, our government, it has to go through the other government, 
often a third-world government, and sometimes we end up propping up 
really bad governments, just trying to help the people if we go through 
the government.
  So why would the Democratic leadership and the President be wanting 
to cut down on charitable donations?
  And that is when it hit me this weekend. It is about the GRE, the 
GRE, the Government Running Everything. That is what it is about. It is 
about power. That is where this restriction on deductions for 
charitable contributions is coming from. They want the government 
controlling everything. They see how philanthropic the American people 
are, how they want to help out of the generousness of their heart, and 
they say, gee, these charitable organizations, they are nongovernment 
organizations, NGOs are doing a great job. That ought to be us. Why 
don't we control that too?
  When the government's job ought to be making sure there is a level 
playing field; everybody has an equal opportunity, not equal results, 
but an equal opportunity. And our job is to provide for the common 
defense against enemies, both foreign and domestic. And if we do, we go 
after the cheaters. That is our job.
  But we have been so busy trying to run everything, we have not been 
going after the cheaters effectively; not on Wall Street, not in 
corporate America, not out there in the streets. That is what we have 
got to get back to.
  But I appreciate the gentleman yielding. But I just had to share, 
that is what hit me this weekend. It is about the GRE, the government 
running everything. This group running things now wants all power, 
including the power of charitable organizations.
  Thank you. I yield back.
  Mr. SCALISE. Well, I thank my friend from Texas. And you know, coming 
from Louisiana, right after Katrina, with all of the failures of 
government, from the Federal Government to the State government to the 
local government, it was our charities, it was our faith-based 
organizations that were the first ones in and consistently delivered so 
much relief and, in fact, are still in the New Orleans area today 
helping people rebuild, helping families get back into homes. It is 
those charitable organizations that don't get anything from government 
in most cases. And they just do it out of the goodness of their own 
heart and the divine providence from the Lord. And the fact that this 
President's budget takes away people's ability to deduct those 
charitable donations, clearly threatens a lot of those organizations 
themselves.
  And I know our time is limited. One thing we wanted to touch on as we 
have talked about the spending and the borrowing and the taxing, where 
is this money coming from?
  We had actually done some research on the President's budget. And in 
the first 4 years, in President Obama's first 4 years in office, and I 
am sure that the limits on the elections will dictate if there is going 
to be another four, but I think as people look at this and they get 
more concerned, where is this money coming from? Who are we borrowing 
this from? This isn't money we have.
  The first place the President is going in his budget is raiding the 
Social Security Trust Fund. And senior citizens out there who, 
justifiably, are dependent on that fixed income from Social

[[Page 8252]]

Security, and future generations who want to expect something from 
Social Security, are very alarmed to see that in the first 4 years, the 
President takes over $900 billion out of the Social Security Trust 
Fund. And so, record levels, again, of not just borrowing, not just 
record levels of taxes, but record levels, never before in the history 
of our country have we seen nearly $1 trillion taken out of the Social 
Security Trust Fund in just 4 years.
  And so, as we see the record levels of spending, and people can even 
look at this budget and they might find items in the budget, not in the 
baseline budget, but new levels of spending that they might like and 
think sound good. But then as they compare that against where this is 
coming from, is it worth adding to the Federal budget to take from 
Social Security, to take from our children and grandchildren, to tax 
small businesses and to tax every family on their energy bill? These 
are the questions that Americans are pondering. These are the questions 
we are fighting.
  And I will finish with my friend from Georgia (Mr. Broun).
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding. One other 
place that they are proposing taking money from is from our defense, 
from procurement. They are going to take away from our troops, and that 
is absolutely the worst thing to do. We live in a dangerous world. And 
we hear people talk about we have got to support our troops. But they 
want to take away the procurement that is absolutely critical for us to 
have a strong national defense. Constitutionally, that is the major 
function of the Federal Government. And the liberals want to take money 
away from our troops who are fighting for our freedom, who are giving 
up and their families are giving up sometimes their lives, their limbs 
and a whole lot of sacrifices that they are giving. And what we are 
hearing from the other side is they want to take away from our troops 
and take away from our defense.
  The anti-missile defense system is another area that they are talking 
about taking money from. Just last week I went and watched a rocket 
shoot down another rocket, a SCUD missile. It was just a phenomenal 
test, and they want to cancel that, which is going to make us less 
secure as a Nation. We can't continue down this same road. We have got 
to stop it.
  Thank you.
  Mr. SCALISE. I thank my friend from Georgia. And that is why, we are 
living in challenging times, but that is why we are proposing 
alternatives. As we have talked about the problems of this budget, we 
have good alternatives we will be talking about more throughout the 
course of this year.
  And I thank the Speaker for allowing us this time.

                          ____________________