[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9294]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              DEBT CEILING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Vermont (Mr. Welch) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELCH. I thank you, Mr. Speaker.
  Members of the House, the default clock is ticking. We face a default 
on August 2 if we do not raise the debt ceiling. Raising the debt 
ceiling is always a difficult vote. It is difficult because we have to 
do something that's necessary but not popular.
  Now, the question of the debt ceiling is about paying obligations 
already incurred. It's not about giving this House of Representatives 
permission to spend more money. But what has happened with this debt 
ceiling debate is that it is being used as leverage by both sides to 
try to get its way on a long-term budget resolution, and the reality is 
that this country needs both. It needs, number one, to have a long-term 
resolution on its fiscal situation, but, number two--this is the 
immediate need--it has to pay its bills.
  America is a great country. It has always paid its bills, and the 
debt ceiling is about that and nothing more. Incidentally, those bills 
are ones that have been incurred by Congresses that many of us were 
never part of. And it's not a question of whether it's a bill that you 
would have supported incurring the expense for: the Iraq war, the 
Afghanistan war, the Medicare prescription part D, the two cuts in 
taxes during the Bush administration, all of which were on the credit 
card. I was against those, but those are obligations that we have and 
we must pay them.
  The risk of default is enormous. Every increase in the interest rate 
of 1 percent will cost the American taxpayers $160 billion. The default 
clock is ticking.
  Now, 2 weeks ago the majority brought to the floor a clean debt 
ceiling bill for the purpose of defeating it, and immediately upon 
bringing this bill to the floor and defeating it, with unanimous 
Republican opposition and many Democrats voting no, Members went back 
to their offices and called Wall Street and said, Just kidding. We will 
raise the debt ceiling but we wanted to send a signal.

                              {time}  1020

  We are playing with fiscal fire here. You know, it's fine to 
negotiate, but negotiations cannot lead to default.
  Mr. Speaker, if we in this Congress, with the Republican majority now 
leading the way, fail to honor the Nation's obligations by making good 
on our responsibility to pay our bills, the bond market will work its 
will and we will lose our AAA credit rating, and we will do enormous 
damage to this economy.
  This is not about a Democrat or Republican speaking. Let me quote 
Chairman Bernanke and a few others who commented on the urgency of 
paying our bills. Chairman Bernanke just yesterday said that failure to 
raise the debt ceiling would create fundamental doubts about the 
creditworthiness of the United States and damage the special role that 
the dollar and the Treasury securities have in the global market. Now, 
I understand the desire to use the debt limit deadline to force some 
necessary and difficult fiscal policy adjustments, Mr. Bernanke said, 
but the debt limit is the wrong tool for that important job.
  A few other people commenting on this:
  JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon: A default would be a moral disaster. It 
will dwarf Lehman. Every single company with treasuries, every 
insurance fund, every requirement that--it will start snowballing, 
automatic, if you don't pay your debt. There will be default by rating 
agencies. All short-term financing will disappear. That's Jamie Dimon 
of JPMorgan.
  The Chamber of Commerce: Failure to raise the debt ceiling would 
create uncertainty and fear and threaten the credit rating of the 
United States.
  Moody's Rating Service on downgrading America's rating: Since the 
risk of continuing stalemate has grown, if progress in negotiations is 
not evident by the middle of July, such a rating action is likely.
  Fitch Rating Service: Failure to raise the debt ceiling in a timely 
manner would imply a crisis of governance that could imperil the U.S.'s 
AAA status.
  So we have two problems. We have a long-term problem that requires 
resolution, a long-term fiscal plan, but we have an immediate problem, 
and that is to protect the integrity of America's reputation for paying 
its bills.
  If we have a downgrade in our rating, it's going to affect the 
interest rates that we pay, and that's going to hurt folks in 
Republican districts. It's going to hurt folks in Democratic districts 
who have no power to do anything.
  We must raise our debt. We must pay our bills.

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