[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12117-12118]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        DEBT LIMIT NEGOTIATIONS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, yesterday afternoon the White House 
issued a Statement of Administration Policy which said that when the 
legislation Speaker Boehner is now revising reaches the President's 
desk, unnamed senior advisers will recommend that the President veto 
it.
  I have a question for these senior advisers: what about this 
legislation is so offensive that you would rather see the Nation 
default on its obligations than have the President sign it into law?
  From what I can tell, the only thing in this bill the President has 
not already expressed his support for either publicly or privately is 
that it does not get him through his election without having to engage 
in another national discussion about the debt crisis that has brought 
us to this point.
  So I would ask these senior advisers whether that is a position they 
want to put the President in. Do they really intend to suggest that he 
veto the Nation into default for political reasons?
  That is how I read the threat. And I think that is how the rest of 
the country would read it too.
  So this morning I would like to reiterate my strong support for 
Speaker Boehner, the House Republican leadership and this plan to 
prevent default and reduce Washington spending.
  I also want to commend the Speaker for his efforts and his 
determination.
  This has not been an easy process, but I hope through it all the 
Nation sees how hard the Speaker has worked to ensure our Nation avoids 
calamity while safeguarding the American dream.
  The Nation has had a chance to see the Speaker at his best over the 
past few days.
  Unlike the President, he not only put forward actual legislation to 
prevent this crisis, he is keeping his promise to cut spending more 
than any increase in the debt limit--with no tax hikes.
  What about the President's plan? When asked about the President's 
plan, his aides point to a speech and a veto threat.
  With all due respect, Congress cannot vote on a speech, and a veto 
threat would not prevent default. The fact is Republicans have offered 
the only proposal at this point that attempts to get at the root of the 
problem and which actually has a chance of getting to the President's 
desk.
  That is why we will continue to press for the legislation Speaker 
Boehner has proposed, and that is why we will fight against anything 
that pretends to solve the problem but doesn't--including the bill from 
Senate Democrats that proposes the largest debt limit increase in 
history, while falling $\1/2\ trillion short on the cuts it claims to 
provide.
  This crisis our Nation faces at this moment has a very simple cause 
and is easily understood: Washington spends a lot more money every year 
than it takes in. Do that every year and the debt piles up. Now we have 
reached the point where our deficits and debt are so large they are 
suffocating job growth, threatening the wider economy, and imperiling 
entitlements.
  It took more than two centuries for Washington to amass a debt of 
$10.6 trillion. But just 2\1/2\ years after President Obama swore the 
oath of office, it is higher by more than one-third. Based on the 
President's actual policies, the situation is expected to get much 
worse.
  In just 5 years' time, under President Obama's budget plan, the 
Federal Government will spend almost as much money just to cover the 
interest on its debt as it will on national defense. Over the next 10 
years, the President's policies will add more than $9 trillion to the 
debt.
  This is why S&P revised its long-term credit outlook for the United 
States, not because we haven't authorized the President to spend more 
money but because he is asking for so much of it.
  Yet, incredibly, the President's budgets would do nothing to reverse 
this trend. So he can claim to be interested in a solution, but what he 
put on paper makes the problem worse.
  Right now, the President is asking Congress to raise the debt ceiling 
by more than it has ever been raised before in our history--even as the 
Nation is teetering on the edge of a crisis caused by that very debt.
  Let me repeat, our Nation is facing a crisis because of the size of 
our debt, and the President of the United States, the man Americans 
elect to be the steward of our economy, is threatening to veto any bill 
that doesn't add more than $2 trillion to the debt ceiling, the largest 
increase in history.
  The President is not taking a stand on cuts. He is not taking a stand 
on reform to entitlements. He is not insisting on reforms. Forget all 
that. What he wants more than anything else is more room under the debt 
ceiling to get him through the election. He has said that is his bottom 
line.
  I remain as committed as ever to resolving this crisis in a way that 
will allow us to avoid default without raising taxes and to cut 
spending without budget gimmicks.
  There is only one option that does that and that is the one Speaker 
Boehner has proposed, and that is being improved as we speak.
  I yield the floor.

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