[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 17543-17544]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         RESTORING OUR ECONOMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Schiff) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, in the waning months of the Clinton 
administration, Jason Seligman, a government economist, produced a memo 
for the White House that speculated on what the effects would be if the 
United States paid off its national debt by 2012, as many were 
predicting at the time.
  The memo, which was obtained by NPR under the Freedom of Information 
Act, was never released publicly, and the events of the intervening 
years have rendered it nothing more than an historical curiosity, but 
its mere existence is both a stark reminder of what might have been, 
and an acknowledgment that the great majority of the current debt was 
built up during the last administration.
  In late 2000 no one could have foreseen the 9/11 attacks or the wars 
that would follow. These certainly contributed to the red ink. But 
profligacy, poor strategic choices, and political positioning are the 
real drivers of our burgeoning budget, which was under $6 trillion at 
the time of President Clinton leaving office but is now nearly $15 
trillion.
  Add in a real estate bubble fueled by too easy credit and an economy 
that was no longer focused on creating and making things here in 
America, and the challenge facing us comes into even more clear focus.
  In one week, the bicameral supercommittee is due to present its plan 
to Congress to rein in our out-of-control finances and restore the 
responsible stewardship of our economy that prevailed at the end of the 
Clinton administration, when government ran surpluses for four straight 
years. A mere month after the supercommittee presents its plan, just 
before Christmas, we will either bless its work or face the real 
prospect of painful across-the-board cuts beginning in 2013.
  I have long supported a realistic approach and urged the 
supercommittee to go big and consider the full range of government 
spending in making cuts. However, I also know that we cannot put our 
fiscal house in order solely through spending cuts, and that the 
government is going to have to find a way to increase the revenue 
flowing into the Federal Treasury.
  While the choices we will confront in the next few weeks will be 
difficult, they're only the beginning of a process that must result in 
a new economic paradigm that will guide Congress and the administration 
in the coming years, when we'll be forced to adjust to a much more 
competitive global environment even as we work to put the economic 
downturn of the past 3 years behind us.
  As the current wave of pessimism surrounding the work of the 
supercommittee demonstrates, this will not be an easy task, nor will it 
be accomplished quickly. If we are to succeed, and success is an 
absolute imperative, I believe that we'll need a new set of long-term 
strategies and policies to accomplish five principles.
  First, the U.S. is going to have to become a manufacturer again. We 
should be proud that many of the world's iconic consumer products, like 
Apple iPhones, for example, were designed and developed here. But much 
of the benefit to our economy is lost because these products are too 
often manufactured overseas. American workers are not benefiting from 
the manufacture of Apple's category-leading smartphone.
  We need to return to an economy where American workers are involved 
in the full life cycle of a product, from concept, through design and 
testing, and on to manufacture and marketing. To do that, I believe 
that we need to inject some certainty into our corporate tax structure, 
as well as create a regulatory structure that protects workers, 
consumers, and the environment, but not in a way that is arbitrary or 
capricious.
  Second, we need to ensure that small business remains the catalyst 
for the American economy. Capitalism, by its very nature, is highly 
competitive, and most new businesses fail. While government cannot 
change that central truth

[[Page 17544]]

about a market economy, we can foster a climate that makes it easier to 
succeed by ensuring access to capital, targeted tax incentives, by 
creating a supportive infrastructure, and devising a regulatory 
framework that offers American business the best chance of success.
  Third, we're in a global war for talent, and we must reorient our 
immigration structure to attract the most promising people from around 
the world. It is no longer a given that a young Indian or Chinese 
entrepreneur will want to move to the U.S. if given the chance. 
Combined with the disquieting trend that American universities are not 
producing enough homegrown talent in science, technology, engineering, 
and mathematics, we face a daunting challenge. In coming days, I'll be 
introducing legislation that will make it easier for foreign-born 
graduates in select STEM fields to stay in this country by starting a 
new business here and hiring American workers.
  Fourth, America cannot compete with the developing world in terms of 
wages, but a highly skilled work force, buttressed by a revitalized 
world class infrastructure that reduces the time and expense of getting 
goods to market and fosters innovation, will keep us competitive. 
That's why I support investments in infrastructure and education that 
will lay the groundwork for a newly competitive America while 
addressing the current unemployment problem acting as a drag on our 
economy.
  Working together on these objectives, we can restore the middle class 
dream that hard work and perseverance will give the average American 
the chance to live comfortably. As President Clinton once observed, 
there's nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is 
right with America.

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