[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 10015-10016]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         FOCUSING ON THE CRISES

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, first, I welcome everyone back. I hope 
they had a good break.
  As a nation, our focus continues to be on the disaster in the gulf. 
This is a national tragedy, the full dimensions of which we still do 
not know. But one thing is clear: The top priority at this point, as it 
should have been from the start, is to stop the leak. Americans are far 
less interested in how tough the administration plans to be after the 
leak is fixed than they are in fixing it. People want action more than 
they want accusations. There will be plenty of time to assess blame and 
to tighten regulations after the crisis is met. But weeks of blame has 
done absolutely nothing to plug the leak. Let's focus on the crisis at 
hand.
  As we work to stem the crisis in the gulf, Congress cannot continue 
to ignore another pressing crisis--an exploding Federal debt that 
threatens our very way of life.
  This week, the Senate will debate the deficit extenders bill the 
House passed just before the recess. Just for a little context, let's 
remind ourselves what this bill is. The original purpose of this bill 
was to give America's job creators an assurance that the longstanding 
tax benefits they are counting on to retain workers will not be pulled 
out from under them. But because Democrats cannot seem to resist any 
opportunity to use a must-pass bill such as this as a vehicle for more 
deficit spending, they have piled tens of billions of dollars in 
unrelated spending and debt on top of it, all at a moment when the 
national debt has now reached $13 trillion for the first time in 
history. This is fiscal recklessness, plain and simple.
  The time has come for hard choices. Americans see what is happening 
in Europe, and they are begging us to bring the debt under control, to 
cut it down before we face a similar fate here. Instead, Democrats in 
Washington just keep piling on as if they are oblivious to the 
consequences.
  Some Democrats in the House started to rebel last week, and some 
Democrats in the Senate have indicated they will ask for amendments on 
this bill as well. They are demanding that party leaders make an effort 
to at least acknowledge that this debt crisis exists. But Americans 
want more than lipservice.
  Here is what the protests of squeamish Democrats in the House 
achieved: A bill that was supposed to increase the debt by $175 billion 
will now only increase the debt by $54 billion. In other words, instead 
of agreeing that the debt is out of control, Democrats played 
politics--they spent as much money as they could on this bill without 
losing the votes needed to pass it.
  Even in the face of public outrage, Democrats are showing that either 
they just do not get it on this issue of debt or they just simply do 
not care. But it is even worse than that because not only are Democrats 
clearly unserious about this issue, they are not giving the American 
people the whole picture. They did not lower the price tag on this bill 
by making tough choices; they just shortened the timetable on the 
programs it funds by openly promising to add that spending back later. 
They do not plan to spend any less; they just plan to spend it all by 
putting it in separate bills, which is a little bit like arguing that 
you have less debt because you put it on different credit cards.
  Clearly, Democrats do not see a $13 trillion national debt for the 
emergency it is. So let's remind ourselves where we stand so there is 
no confusion about the gravity of the situation. As I stand here this 
afternoon, every man, woman, and child in America would have to cough 
up more than $42,000 to pay down our debt. That is $42,000 for every 
man, woman, and child in the United States. And that is just the 
current debt. Remember, it took two centuries--two centuries--to 
accumulate a $10 trillion debt. In the first 500 days of this 
administration, Democrats added $2.4 trillion to the debt and plan to 
add another $1 trillion this year. Americans are as worried as I have 
ever seen them about the course we are on, and they have a simple 
message for Congress: Stop spending money we do not have.
  One more thing. If all the domestic crises of the past few years have 
taught us anything, it is that more government is not a solution in 
itself. Yet this administration has approached virtually every crisis 
it has faced with more government as the primary solution.
  Right now, among other challenges, we have a debt crisis, a jobs 
crisis, a housing crisis, a financial crisis, and an oilspill to which 
the American people clearly do not believe government is effectively 
responding. One can understand the American people's skepticism when 
they are told that simply adding more government is the solution to 
government's previous failures.

[[Page 10016]]

They are being told that adding more government is the solution to 
government's previous failures.
  Now is not the time to propose more government as a solution to these 
crises. It is time to rethink the model to start focusing on 
accountability and on results. And a good place to start is the debt. 
Americans expect action on this issue, and they expect it right now. 
Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress do not seem to be listening on 
this issue any more than they did on health care or the stimulus or 
financial regulatory reform or, for that matter, anything else.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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