[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8883-8885]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, last week I had the opportunity to travel 
my State of South Dakota, as I think most Senators did who were home 
over the break. During the week, I was able to be part of a couple of 
events in my State with former Comptroller General David Walker. I 
think most people here are acquainted with Mr. Walker. He had a 10-year 
run as the Comptroller General of this country. He has since started an 
organization called the Comeback America Initiative and has been 
traveling the country trying to explain to the public the issues 
surrounding our national debt--high Federal spending levels and their 
effect on our Nation's future.
  I would add he is someone who takes both parties to task. He is an 
equal opportunity critic. He is very bipartisan in his criticism of the 
out-of-control spending that exists in Washington, DC, but he did point 
out the tremendous growth in government which has occurred in the 
course of our Nation's history. In fact, when our country was founded, 
if we go back to the formative years of our country--and he uses the 
year 1800 as an example--government spending made up just 2 percent of 
our entire economy. Just 2 percent of our GDP represented government 
spending. Today, it makes up almost 25 percent, and we are on a trend 
line, a trajectory, where that will rise to 39 percent by the year 
2040.
  So we have seen this upward spike in the spending, the amount of 
Federal spending as a percentage of our entire economic output. The 
reason Mr. Walker gives for the continuing increase in spending is 
primarily entitlement programs. In other words, we have Medicare, 
Medicaid, and Social Security which now represent about 43 percent in 
2010. Those three programs represented 43 percent of our total Federal 
spending and, again, that number is set to spike as we head into the 
future.
  Mr. Walker pointed out we are set to spend more on mandatory programs 
than we will take in in revenue in 2011. So this current year we will 
spend more on mandatory programs, which include those I just 
mentioned--Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid--than all the 
revenue the Federal Government will take in. So that would mean we 
can't even afford to pay out for the mandatory spending programs we 
have in our budget, not to mention those discretionary programs which

[[Page 8884]]

are the other part of our Federal budget.
  If we look at it in terms of how much we spend today and how much we 
borrow, we are borrowing about 42 cents out of every dollar we spend. 
That is the reality we are faced with. So it is clear we need to make 
some reforms, Mr. President, particularly in the entitlement programs, 
to put them on a more sustainable footing.
  Further, Mr. Walker shared the results of his fiscal fitness index, 
which puts the United States at 28 out of 34 developed countries--just 
behind Italy and just two places in front of Ireland. We are No. 28 out 
of 34 developed countries around the world in terms of our fiscal 
fitness.
  Mr. Walker's message, obviously, is not a fun one. It is not a 
message you would expect people to like to hear. It is not a message 
that promises more spending on people's preferred programs. Yet my 
constituents were eager to hear this message. Why is that? No. 1, he 
was honest. He was honest about the size of our problem, about the 
scope of our unfunded liabilities, about the causes of this deficit--
that it is primarily a spending-driven crisis, about the effect of the 
health care law on health care spending in this country, and about the 
measures that are needed to cut spending and to bring the budget back 
into balance.
  My constituents appreciate that kind of honesty. They appreciate 
someone telling them the truth, not simply continuing to make promises 
that cannot be kept. And, No. 2, they were eager to hear his message 
because his message offered hope. He pointed out that if the country 
adopted a fiscal plan that would bring down our deficits on a level 
that was similar to the plan of the President's fiscal commission, our 
Nation's rating on the fiscal fitness index would jump from 28th clear 
up to 8th place. He showed the attendees that there is a series of 
steps we can take to fix Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid--to 
preserve these important programs without bankrupting our country--and 
he showed us that if we start now we have time to make these changes 
without being forced to make Draconian cuts or to hike tax rates.
  This hope that we can fix these problems is real and it gives the 
general public something they can understand. That was certainly the 
case with my constituents last week.
  Unfortunately, there was another event that occurred last week and 
that was the release of the unemployment numbers. Those numbers did not 
reflect hope but, instead, indicated we have a long way to go toward 
fixing our economy. These numbers showed that unemployment had risen to 
9.1 percent. Further, the long-term unemployed increased to 6.2 million 
people, as those who are out of work are taking longer to find jobs. 
This long-term unemployment is particularly important for a number of 
reasons. No. 1, these individuals who suffer from long-term 
unemployment often exhaust government and personal resources that are 
available to them. As a result, they are at greater risk of falling 
into poverty. Further, it indicates our economy is not sufficiently 
dynamic. These individuals could have skill mismatches or there may 
simply not be any jobs in their local economy.
  Finally, the long-term unemployed may see their skills diminished and 
become less and less attached to the workforce. What this all means is 
it becomes harder and harder for these people to find a job as they no 
longer know the latest technologies or no longer have the skills they 
developed by years of practice. This creates longer term challenges for 
our economy to be able to find these individuals jobs.
  The question is how do we create an environment where businesses and 
individuals can be creating jobs. We know we need to cut spending, to 
cut our deficit, and to cut unnecessary and harmful regulations. In a 
recent presentation to the University of Washington, Nobel laureate 
Robert Lucas pointed out that the possibility of higher taxes, the 
uncertainty of regulations, and the increasing role of the Federal 
Government in health care because of the health care law, are all 
contributors to our slow economic recovery.
  Likewise, Dr. Lucas speculated that our economy may continue to grow 
at a slower rate because of the increased regulation, taxation, and 
spending that is moving us closer to a European welfare state. In fact, 
Dr. Lucas notes that these European economies have incomes that are 20 
to 30 percent less per capita because of these differences in the size 
of government.
  It is clear it would even further increase unemployment if we 
continued to move along this path. We cannot continue with the status 
quo. We already know the size of our debt is costing us 1 percentage 
point in growth every year which, according to the White House's own 
economists, is the equivalent of 1 million jobs. In other words, when 
we sustain the kind of debt load we have today--our gross debt as a 
percentage of our GDP, our entire economic output, is over 90 percent--
that means we are losing economic growth and that means we are shedding 
jobs as a consequence of this high level of debt and high level of 
spending.
  We need to grow the private economy, shrink government spending, and 
cut our debts and deficits. This is the path that will help us on a 
recovery, help our economy to recover, and create the jobs that are 
necessary to lower that unemployment rate.
  We know we can do this. There are a number of reforms and spending 
cuts we are pushing to attach to the deadline that is under discussion 
right now so we can make it easier and cheaper for individuals to 
create the jobs that are so necessary to get our economy back on track 
and get people back to work. There are a number of things that can be 
done and should be done.
  Obviously, as I noted, as we continue the debate about spending and 
debt and doing something about this year-over-year $1.4 trillion, $1.5 
trillion, now $14.3 trillion debt that is hanging like a cloud over our 
economy, we have to deal with that. We have an opportunity, as has been 
noted by the leader earlier this morning, to do that in the context of 
this debt limit debate we are going to have. We should view this--both 
sides--as an opportunity to do something meaningful about spending and 
debt and to put our country on a more sustainable fiscal path for our 
future.
  But there are a number of other things that impact the economy today 
that should be done. One is we have three pending trade agreements that 
were negotiated 3 to 4 years ago. They have been languishing here 
because the White House will not send those trade agreements up here 
for Congress to act.
  To give an example of what that means to an agricultural State such 
as South Dakota, Colombia is one of those three trade agreements--
Colombia, Panama, and South Korea, all of which present markets for 
South Dakota agricultural markets. But agricultural exports are a big 
part of our trade relationship with Colombia. In 2008 we had an 81-
percent market share in Colombia. Today that is a 27-percent market 
share. We need those trade agreements approved to create jobs and to 
grow this economy. I hope the White House will send those, follow 
through on their rhetoric and actually send those trade agreements up 
here so we can act on them.
  It has been 771 days since we passed a budget in this country. We and 
the administration talk about doing something about spending and debt, 
and yet here we are having gone 771 days without even having passed a 
budget, the most fundamental responsibility we have to the taxpayers of 
this country. If we are serious about spending and debt, we need a 
budget that sets a blueprint for a more fiscally sustainable future for 
this country. We need energy policies that allow us to develop American 
energy to get fuel costs under control, which also impacts in a very 
direct way our economy and our ability to create jobs.
  The solutions are out there, they are very straightforward and 
simple. We need to have the will to move forward and address these 
issues and I hope we will because the American people expect and 
deserve that we will. As Dr. Walker pointed out last week, in my State 
of South Dakota, if we do not, we are headed for a fiscal train wreck.

[[Page 8885]]

  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Utah is 
recognized.
  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I ask for enough time to give my remarks 
this morning and I ask for an equivalent amount of time for the other 
side.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. HATCH. I hope I can stay within the time constraints, but I am 
not sure.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Utah is 
recognized.
  Mr. HATCH. I thank the Chair.
  (The remarks of Mr. Hatch pertaining to the submission of S. Con. 
Res. 23 are located in today's Record under ``Submission of Concurrent 
Senate Resolutions.'')

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