[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9248]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               CONGRESS NEEDS TO CONTROL FEDERAL SPENDING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Florida (Mr. Stearns) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, recently, Speaker Pelosi sent a letter to 
her committee chairmen asking all of them to chip away at Federal 
budgetary spending. In addition, Majority Leader Hoyer recently wrote 
an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal urging for shared sacrifice to 
address the budget crisis this country is facing. Unfortunately, Mr. 
Speaker, their rhetoric does not match up to reality.
  Budget Chairman John Spratt even said, ``If you can't budget, you 
can't govern.'' Let me repeat that. This is what the Chairman of the 
Budget Committee said: ``If you can't budget, you can't govern.'' I 
could not agree more.
  It is becoming increasingly clear, Mr. Speaker, however, that House 
Democrats cannot budget. American families and small businesses are 
making tough choices in this economic climate. But Democrats continue 
to spend and to spend.
  The Federal Government is spending more per household than ever 
before and running up a $1.5 trillion deficit in 2010, the largest 
deficit since the end of World War II.
  Now, how much is $1 trillion? If you started at day one, at 1 A.D., 
and spent $1 million every day, you still would not have spent $1 
trillion.
  Despite deficits and debts as far as the eye can see, Democrat 
leaders do not plan to even pass a budget resolution. Since 1974, when 
the modern budget process was created, the House has never failed to 
pass a budget resolution. Speaker Pelosi and Leader Hoyer can send all 
the letters and publish all the op-eds they want, but it does not 
change the fact there is no significant or legitimate plan to rein in 
Federal spending or reduce the deficit by them.
  The Federal Government now spends over $31,000 per household, the 
highest ever. Recent budget deficits have reached unprecedented levels, 
accounting for 11 percent of the GDP. By comparison, the historical 
budget deficits, a yearly debt deficit, is only 2.9 percent of the GDP 
in the past.
  Publicly held debt is expected to climb to $15 trillion by 2020, and 
when combined with rising interest rates in a post-recovery economic 
environment, the interest payments on government debt also will 
skyrocket. CBO projects that the government's annual spending on net 
interest will more than triple between 2010 and 2020 from $207 billion 
to $723 billion; just the interest. These deficits are appalling and 
all more shocking since CBO based these calculations on the complete 
expiration of the Bush tax cuts, that the alternative minimum tax will 
never be patched, and that future appropriations would be indexed to 
inflation. This is something Congress never will do.
  Since Democrats have taken over Congress in January 2007, the 
national debt has increased 42.4 percent. While the Democrat leadership 
talks a good game about addressing spending, we have yet to see any 
real action by them.
  The first step is to pass a budget to provide us with a blueprint, a 
simple road map for deficit reduction. The Balanced Budget Act of 1985 
set the target date for a budget for April 15, the same day as Tax Day 
for most Americans. Unfortunately, the April 15 deadline for enacting a 
budget resolution has long since passed, and we still have no sign of a 
budget resolution. The Senate has not passed a budget, and the House 
has not even begun the simple process.
  Without a budget, there are no controls in place to rein in spending. 
It's a sign that Congress lacks the leadership and the willingness to 
set a framework to limit spending or control entitlement growth. Not 
passing a budget resolution sends a message to the American taxpayers 
that Congress is really not serious about addressing the fiscal crisis 
here, and is unable to meet the challenges of uncontrolled spending and 
runaway deficits.
  This entire situation, obviously, is getting out of control. When 
someone goes for debt counseling, the first step is to cut up the 
credit cards and live within your means. Congress needs to rein in 
Federal spending and to start living within its means. The answers are 
not higher taxes on out-of-work Americans, such as a Value Added Tax. 
That's why I've joined with my colleagues to send a letter to the 
National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform to not increase 
taxes through a VAT tax as a means of balancing the budget.
  High taxes aren't the solution, less spending is. We must reduce the 
spending of this Federal Government if we are to exercise fiscal 
responsibility.
  Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the Democrat leadership continues to talk 
a good game, but has not yet shown a willingness to act in any 
significant measure to get our fiscal house in order.

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