[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14093]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          DEFICIT REDUCTION--A RETURN TO FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Connolly) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, there has been considerable 
finger pointing, misdirected, I might add, by our colleagues on the 
other side of the aisle, with respect to who is responsible for the 
mountain of debt weighing on our Nation. I rise to set the record 
straight and highlight just some of the actions we have taken to reduce 
the deficit and restore fiscal responsibility.
  When this Congress took office in January of 2009, we inherited the 
worst recession since the Great Depression and a $1.2 trillion annual 
deficit with red ink forecast far into the future. As my colleagues 
will recall, the general concern 10 years ago in the financial sector 
was whether the United States bond market could survive in the event 
that the entire national debt was retired as projected at the time. 
Starting in fiscal year 1998, we had three straight budget surpluses, 
totaling more than $559 billion, with a projected $5.6 trillion surplus 
well into the decade.
  Unfortunately, we now know what happened next. The Bush 
administration and Republican-controlled Congresses cast aside fiscal 
discipline and made a number of reckless, long-term budget decisions 
that turned record surpluses into record deficits. They initiated two 
wars, enacted two long-term tax cuts, and a new, permanent entitlement 
program, none of which was paid for, and all of which added to the 
debt. These actions alone added $6.6 trillion to the national debt and 
left the Federal budget fundamentally unbalanced for the foreseeable 
future. Tragically, but predictably, the $5.6 trillion in projected 
surpluses became more than $6 trillion in national debt.
  But, Mr. Speaker, while we inherited these budget deficits, we also 
inherited the responsibility to do something about them. The American 
people don't want to see more of the same bankrupt fiscal policies of 
the past. They want to return to fiscal responsibility, and this 
Congress has taken a number of steps to do just that.
  Earlier in this Congress, we adopted one of the most significant 
deficit reduction tools, reinstituting statutory PAYGO, or pay-as-you-
go legislation. PAYGO is a simple concept: If you've got an idea, 
you've got to pay for it. And we know it works.
  In 1990, in the face of then record deficits, Congress enacted 
statutory PAYGO, which helped lead to three straight years of 
surpluses. Unfortunately, in 2002, President Bush and a Republican-
controlled Congress failed to reenact PAYGO. The results were 
disastrous and predictable--an immediate return to record deficits. Our 
restoration of PAYGO this year is a critical step in controlling 
spending and reducing deficits.
  Mr. Speaker, the House of Representatives has made deficit reduction 
a priority with the passage of a number of important pieces of 
legislation. One of the largest drivers of the deficit has been the 
rising cost of health insurance premiums and health care costs. 
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the health insurance 
reform law will finally bend the cost curve and reduce the deficit by 
$124 billion over the next 10 years, and $1.2 trillion in the 10 years 
thereafter.
  Through passage of the Student Aid and Responsibility Act, we 
reformed the college loan program, producing new efficiencies, 
expanding opportunity for millions of young people, and we reduced the 
deficit by $19 billion.
  We responded swiftly to a Government Accountability Office report 
highlighting billions of dollars of cost overruns and wasteful Pentagon 
spending for weapons and services. The Weapons System Acquisition 
Reform Act and the IMPROVE Acquisition Act passed by this Congress will 
crack down on more than $300 billion in wasteful spending, further 
reducing the deficit, and will ensure that our defense dollars are 
serving the actual needs of our men and women in uniform.
  The American Clean Energy and Security Act which passed this body set 
new standards for energy efficiency and use of renewable energy, which 
would reduce the deficit by $9 billion over the next decade.
  The recently passed Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act 
will enforce greater accountability of risky bank practices and reduce 
the deficit by $3.2 billion over the next 10 years.
  Beyond those actions, President Obama's proposed 3-year spending 
freeze for non-security discretionary spending will reduce the deficit 
by another $250 billion over the next decade. The recently adopted 
House budget for fiscal year 2011 reduces the President's request by 
billions of dollars. I support the President's bipartisan National 
Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and its efforts to 
identify even further opportunities for additional deficit reduction.
  Mr. Speaker, despite inheriting record deficits, we have taken a 
number of steps that will restore fiscal responsibility and reduce the 
deficit. Already, our actions, coupled with the improving economy, have 
resulted in more than $250 billion in reduction of the debt in the 
current year alone.
  The United States went almost 30 years between budget surpluses from 
1969 to 1998. The actions of this Congress have set us on the path to 
ensure it doesn't take another generation.

                          ____________________