[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12116-12117]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            THE DEBT CEILING

  Mr. REID. Madam President, today our Republican colleagues in the 
House planned to vote on a bill to lift the debt ceiling for a few 
months before plunging this Nation and its economy back into a state of 
uncertainty.
  What I mean by that is under their legislation, which would extend 
the debt ceiling for just a few months, and the latest report, because 
the numbers they have come up with are all wrong, we would come back in 
September if, in fact, we ever left here, and we would be debating the 
debt ceiling all over again. What a way to proceed. It is unbelievable 
they would come up with such a program.
  Last night, Speaker Boehner pushed back that vote because his 
legislation did not even have the support of Republicans in his own 
Chamber. Group after group, from the Republican Study Committee, the 
Club for Growth, and many organizations have said they simply do not 
like his legislation.
  But pushing back the vote by a day or rewriting parts of the bill 
will not solve the underlying problem: A short-term solution is not an 
adequate solution for our economy. Our country, our economy, and the 
world demand more.
  Why do I say the world? Because our economy is the most robust, 
strongest economy in the world--the history of the world--and for us to 
fail to pay our debt would throw the world economy into a tailspin.
  Even if the Speaker could get his legislation through the House of 
Representatives, I can assure everyone it would not pass the Senate. 
And certainly if by some strange phenomenon it passed, the President 
would not sign it. We do not have to worry about that. There will be no 
veto. This legislation is so weak that it will not get out of this 
Chamber.
  Rather than lifting what economists call the fog of default, this 
Republican plan would usher in an era of bad economic weather that 
could last for years. A few weeks ago, Speaker Boehner said it was a 
terrible idea to merely postpone a default on the national debt or to 
push the problem down the road for a few weeks or a few months. That is 
what he said. Back then he was not interested in a short-term solution. 
Back then he was right.
  This is why: Economists, market analysts, and rating agencies have 
said the world economy simply cannot bear this kind of uncertainty any 
longer. They have said a short-term solution to the impending default 
would still result in the loss of our AAA rating that has kept interest 
rates low in this country and saved consumers money for more than 70 
years. So I trust Speaker Boehner and other reasonable Republicans 
understand the seriousness of a default crisis. Here is what the 
Speaker said very recently:

       That would be a financial disaster not only for our country 
     but for the worldwide economy. You cannot create jobs if you 
     default on the Federal debt.

  But a short-term fix does not get the job done. It would cause many 
of the same calamitous results as a technical default, including rising 
interest rates that would essentially raise every person's taxes. 
American families will pay more for their mortgages, car loans, student 
loans, credit card bills, and everything else. Higher interest rates 
would not just be costly for consumers, it would also cost the Federal 
Government more, and would actually increase our deficits and debt--and 
very quickly.
  A less than 1-percent increase in interest rates, which economists 
have predicted if the United States debt is downgraded, would cost our 
government more than $100 billion every year. I repeat: It would cost 
our government $100 billion extra every single year. In a decade, that 
would cost this country as much taxpayer money as Speaker Boehner's 
proposal would cut from the

[[Page 12117]]

deficit. In effect, his short-term plan would yield not a single dime 
of savings. Nothing.
  Republicans would like the American public to believe Democrats in 
Congress and the White House are insisting on a long-term deal for 
political reasons. They say Democrats want to push this off until after 
the Presidential election. That is not true. It is not Democrats who 
have asked for a long-term solution. It is the economy. The economy has 
demanded it.
  If Republicans in Congress are willing to risk our economy by playing 
politics in July, why would they not do the same in September, October, 
November, when his proposal--Speaker Boehner's proposal--would run out 
of money? That is why every economist, every market analyst, every 
rating agency, has insisted any legislation to avert a default on the 
Nation's debt must take us through the end of 2012.
  The Senate is considering a measure that would avert default and cut 
$2.7 trillion from the deficit. It is a reasonable measure. Republicans 
have supported every one of its cuts in the past, and it should be able 
to pass both Houses of Congress with bipartisan support. I have heard a 
number of my friends on the other side of the aisle come here and say: 
But they are talking about the overseas contingency fund. The 
Congressional Budget Office--the nonpartisan watchdog of Congress--has 
decided that is worth $1 trillion, just what we put in our bill. The 
Office of Management and Budget said it is worth $1 trillion. The 
legislation we are projecting gives each side something it wants. It 
protects Social Security and Medicare without raising a single penny of 
revenue. And, most importantly, it is a long-term strategy to safeguard 
the economy and give the markets the stability they need.
  Unlike Speaker Boehner's legislation, which economists have rejected, 
it would not put us through all of this again in a few months--probably 
only a few weeks--and with even less certainty of achieving a 
compromise than now.
  British Prime Minister David Lloyd George said: ``There is nothing 
more dangerous than to leap a chasm in two jumps.'' That is true. 
Congress has a duty to do what it takes to avert a national default in 
one swift leap.
  It will take political courage. I urge all of my friends, Democrats 
and Republicans, to join hands. We can take courage from one another 
and make that leap together. Because if we do not clear this chasm, our 
Nation's economy will go over the edge with us.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
order for the quorum call be rescinded.

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