[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 10305]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              DEBT CEILING

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Washington is engaged in a debate right 
now over the kind of country we want to be. The specific issue is this: 
At some point over the next several weeks, the Federal Government will 
no longer be able to borrow the money it needs to cover the cost of 
promises it has already made. So the President wants Congress to raise 
the statutory debt limit set by Congress. He wants us to raise the 
limit on the national credit card.
  Now, what Republicans have said is that the only way we will do it is 
if Democrats agree to change their ways so we don't end up with the 
kind of situation that we are witnessing over in Greece. Make no 
mistake, that is exactly where we are headed if we don't do something 
significant and do it now. Democrats so far have refused. Instead, they 
are making what can only be described as a bizarre request under the 
circumstances.
  In the middle of what we all agree is a debt crisis, they would like 
to spend even more. They want a second stimulus, more deficit spending. 
In the middle of the jobs crisis, they want to raise taxes that we know 
would kill even more jobs when even the President has said raising 
taxes would leave job creators with less ability to hire. These are 
their solutions. This is what the President came off the campaign trail 
to defend last Thursday, and this is what Republicans oppose.
  Our view is that the way to solve a debt crisis is to go on a diet, 
not a shopping spree. Our view is the way to create jobs is to make it 
easier for businesses to hire, not harder. Frankly, we don't think the 
voters sent a wave of Republicans to Washington last November because 
they wanted us to raise taxes. They sent us here to restore some 
sanity. But the President and his Democratic allies in Congress don't 
seem to get it just yet.
  Right now they are calling for a tax on aircraft manufacturers 
because they think it is good politics. It is their cheap attempt to 
try to make anybody who opposes it look bad. What they forgot is many 
of them voted to repeal a similar tax during the Clinton administration 
because of the devastating effect it had on jobs. They made the same 
arguments then, that we need to raise taxes on luxury goods to get more 
money, and it backfired. The shipbuilding industry alone lost tens of 
thousands of jobs.
  Our Democratic colleagues surely must remember this, but apparently 
they would rather have fun trying to caricature their political 
opponents than working out a bipartisan solution that would actually 
enable us to balance the books.
  Here is the point: Washington needs to find a way to spend less. 
Taxing more is their easy way out. They will start with aircraft 
manufacturers. Then when that is enough, and it never is, it is some 
other industry. Then another, and before we know it we are going after 
absolutely everybody. Why? Because it is easier to find a bill than it 
is to make tough choices. But most Americans know what it is like to 
make tough choices, and they want to know if they have to do it, why 
can't Washington.
  That is why I invited the President over here last Thursday to talk 
with Republicans. My hope, as I made clear, is that he would listen to 
Republicans and hear firsthand why we think raising taxes in a weak 
economy is a bad idea and what the realities are over here.
  My goal, as I said on Thursday, was to get together and talk about 
what is actually possible. The Obama administration said it wasn't a 
conversation worth having. Republicans in Congress believe finding a 
way to reduce the deficit and put Medicare on a more secure footing is 
a conversation worth having.
  So today I would like to reextend the offer. I think the best way to 
solve this impasse is for the President to hear what needs to be done 
and how we can do it; hear what can actually pass in Congress. He needs 
to understand the principles at stake from our point of view.
  It is not about rich and poor. It is not about an election. It is 
about Washington taking the hit for a change. It is about having 
Washington make some tough choices for a change.
  Americans want to see accountability here in Washington. They have 
seen Democrats spending trillions of dollars we don't have, and they 
have seen the economic situation get worse in many respects than it was 
several years ago. The facts speak for themselves.
  Since the President took the oath of office, nearly 2 million more 
people are unemployed. That is a 17-percent increase in the 
unemployment rate under President Obama. Gas prices have nearly 
doubled--up 86 percent since January of 2009. In the past 2 years, the 
Federal debt has increased 35 percent. Debt per person has increased by 
over $11,000. Health insurance premiums for working families have shot 
up 19 percent. All this while home values across the country have 
declined by 12 percent. They have clearly made the economy worse.
  Americans get this. They think Washington, DC, should find a way to 
pay its bills or scale back its commitments, as everybody in the 
country is doing. Americans have made enough sacrifices the past few 
years. It is time for Washington to learn to make some sacrifice of its 
own.
  Hopefully, the President will agree that reducing the debt is indeed 
a conversation worth having. I think we can do it. But I think he needs 
to understand what the legislative realities are and why and we are 
committed to a result that will restore the people's confidence not 
only in our economy but in our government.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I understand the clerk is about to report a 
motion to proceed.

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