[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10867]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        DEBT AND RESPONSIBILITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Rangel) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker and my colleagues, last week, I tried to 
point out that there was a serious meeting going on in the White House 
last weekend between the President and our congressional leaders to 
point out that we were facing a serious crisis and that we had to do 
something to make certain that the President felt sure that we would 
increase the debt ceiling and that we would make certain that we did 
stop this unnecessary spending. And of course the question of revenues 
has always been a part of the debate.
  What I was trying to do was to point out that on one side it appeared 
the issue was that we shouldn't tax those people that created jobs--and 
these are people, as people have pointed out, who are the wealthiest 
corporations that have record profits, and of course the wealthy that 
have really had the lowest tax rates and have received more money in 
the last decade than in the history of the country.
  And I was really trying to say that, since the vulnerable and the 
poor did not have any lobbyists or voices to debate this issue, that 
when we talk about entitlements, that when we talk about Social 
Security and Medicare and Medicaid, these are not just political 
labels. The Medicaid, of course we're talking about the vulnerable, the 
poor, and those who are sick. Medicare, we're talking about the aged 
that need help. I was also pointing out that, unfortunately, Social 
Security has become the main income for so many Americans. And we have 
veterans that are coming home, we have the jobless, the homeless, the 
hopeless. And even though they did not have a lobbyist to say, hey, I 
want to have a seat at that table, that I called to all of our 
spiritual leaders, since I knew that in every religion there was a good 
Samaritan aspect which really ended up saying, just do the right thing. 
I didn't put politics in it, I didn't put party labels in it. And I 
wasn't just talking to Christians and ministers and Catholics and 
Protestants; I was reaching out to the rabbis, to the imams, to the 
Buddhists, to the Mormons, to the Muslims and saying that in every 
Scripture, in every religious document, taking care of the vulnerable 
and those who can't take care of themselves, that that moral issue 
should be on the table.
  Well, as a result of that, some people thought that instead of just a 
good Samaritan, I would ask what Jesus would do. And I just want to 
make it clear: I haven't the slightest idea what he would do, but my 
very dear friend, Governor Huckabee, said one of the things that Jesus 
would do would be to pay his taxes. And, of course, that was something 
that reminded me.

                              {time}  1030

  He also went to Deuteronomy. And he said it on TV: ``For the Lord 
your God will bless you as He has promised, and you will lend to many 
nations but will borrow from none. And you will rule over many nations 
but none will rule over you.''
  Well, again, that scored for the good Governor, but however, when you 
have got a $14.3 trillion debt, it's kind of late for that message to 
have a strong impact.
  But what I want to make clear is that no matter what religion you 
are, it appears to me that what we're talking about are two sides of 
sincere Americans that do recognize that this is not just saying that 
the sky may fall. All economists agree that there are various ways to 
do it, and we cannot just cut back spending in order to resolve this 
serious economic problem we have.
  As a matter of fact, we have to be very sensitive when we do cut back 
spending that we don't create an addition to the unemployment and those 
that provide services to the disadvantaged. And I am talking 
specifically about our hospitals, about our social workers. Because 
there is no one in this Chamber that doesn't believe that the homeless 
and the sick, those that are disabled and those that are dependent on 
these programs should be ignored as we protect those people who, for 
whatever reason, have not participated in the creation of those jobs, 
even though we all are waiting.
  But more importantly, we have not heard any complaints from the 
wealthiest of Americans that more equity should be involved in our 
taxing system. When the billionaires can say that their secretaries 
have a higher tax rate than they do, it means that we have a 
responsibility not to raise taxes but at least to close the inequity 
that exists that would raise revenue.
  So when we do get home it seems to me that we would say this is not a 
Democratic issue, this is not a Republican issue alone, it is a moral 
issue.
  Thank you, Governor Huckabee.

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