[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 666-667]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              THE DEFICIT

  Mr. CORKER. Madam President, I will speak for just a few moments on 
something I think is the most important issue facing our country today. 
I can't think of a better time than the first day of the new session in 
the U.S. Congress to address it; that is, the Federal deficit. I am 
proud to say that

[[Page 667]]

later this week, Claire McCaskill from Missouri will be joining me, 
along with Richard Burr, John McCain, Senator Alexander, and Senator 
Isakson in something called the Cap Act. The bill takes us, over a 10-
year period, from where we are in spending at the Federal Government 
level as a percentage of our country's economy, the gross domestic 
product, at 24 percent, down to the 40-year average which we have had 
in this country, as I mentioned, for 40 years, of 20.6 percent. It puts 
in place a construct or a straitjacket on Congress that allows us, over 
time, to take a methodical, thoughtful approach to spending at the 
Federal level but to actually have to do it.
  This bill, which we also offered as an amendment during the lameduck 
session--it is now a stand-alone bill--again, we will be offering it a 
little bit later this week. We hope to have additional cosponsors from 
both sides of the aisle. What it would do is take us from where we are 
today down to that average. If Congress did not act responsibly, then 
OMB would have the ability, through sequestration, to actually take 
money out of both mandatory and nonmandatory accounts to ensure that we 
again have that discipline to take us where we need to be.
  I have traveled throughout Tennessee and spoken about this bill. I 
have made about 46 presentations of how we in Congress could act more 
responsibly. It is amazing that people on both sides of the aisle have 
looked at this and said this makes a lot of sense. So it is my hope, as 
we look at trying to rein in Federal spending, that this bill--I 
believe this bill is the vehicle--there may be other ideas, but I hope 
this is something we, in fact, will act upon during the spring.
  I know the President most recently has talked a great deal about this 
issue of fiscal responsibility. I thank him for that. I am hoping that 
tonight, when he delivers his speech, he talks about the fact that we 
in Washington have to have the same kind of discipline that all our 
folks back home have to live by. Again, this is something we have been 
working on for a long time. We have tried to work on it in a way that 
in no way points fingers. I think people understand that people on both 
sides of the aisle are responsible for our country ending up where it 
is fiscally. So we have tried to draft something that brings people 
together and that, for the first time since I have been here--I have 
been here 4 years, and I have been amazed at the lack of discipline 
that exists in Congress. We have no mechanism, no straitjacket, if you 
will, that forces us to act responsibly.
  So over a long period of time we have worked to put together a bill--
by the way, I think it is eight or nine pages long--that actually does 
that. It has a smoothing mechanism in it so that when there are 
gyrations in our economy--we know the Federal Government can't react 
quite as quickly as a State or city--that smoothing is averaged out so 
we know what the target is in the ensuing year. It has tight 
constraints. It requires a 67-vote majority or two-thirds of the 
Senate, two-thirds of the House to override. So it is a very strong 
bill. Again, I think people on both sides of the aisle are beginning to 
embrace this type of thinking.
  It is my hope, again, as the President tonight, hopefully, talks 
responsibly about our fiscal state here in the United States, that this 
type of mechanism, if you will, gains momentum. It is also my hope that 
we will vote and pass something such as this, along with actual budget 
cuts prior to the debt ceiling vote. I think all of us know it would be 
very irresponsible not to act responsibly prior to this debt ceiling 
vote which will take place sometime in April, May or possibly June.
  So I thank my colleagues for the time to talk a little bit about 
this, again, on the first day of us coming back together. I can't 
imagine anything more important for all of us to focus on than to get 
our fiscal house in order. I know the whole world is watching us.
  I know people have said we in Washington don't have the courage to 
deal with this. I know the Presiding Officer has had to deal with this 
as the Governor of a State. I certainly had to deal with this as the 
mayor of a city and a businessman and financial commissioner of my 
State. We all know things are awry here. I think we have a wonderful 
opportunity, in a bipartisan way, to do something that puts our country 
back on strong footing.
  Madam President, I yield the floor, and I note the absence of a 
quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Tester). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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