[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12502-12505]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DEBT CEILING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 5, 2011, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. West) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. WEST. Mr. Speaker, free markets, free enterprise, innovation, and 
entrepreneurship are the foundation for economic growth and job 
creation in America.
  For the past 4 years, Democrats in Washington have enacted policies 
that undermine these basic concepts which have historically placed 
America at the forefront of the global marketplace. As a result, most 
Americans know someone who has recently lost a job, and small 
businesses and entrepreneurs lack the confidence needed to invest in 
our economy. Not since the Great Depression has our Nation's 
unemployment rate been this high for this long.
  Enough is enough. More taxation, regulation, and litigation will not 
create more jobs. Government takeovers of the economy have failed while 
the size and scope of the Federal Government has exploded. Washington 
has tied the hands of small business owners and job creators with 
onerous regulations and backward fiscal policies that have stalled the 
economy, slowed innovation, and destroyed jobs.
  We need commonsense growth policies to give small businesses and 
entrepreneurs renewed confidence in our economy and to remove 
Washington as the roadblock to job creation.
  America is at a crossroads, and House Republicans are committed to 
taking every possible step to spur private sector job creation and get 
our economy back on track so that Americans can do what they do best: 
create, innovate, and lead.
  Tonight, my colleague and I will convey the frustrations of small 
business owners and those who have received the bad end of the stick of 
horrible policies created by the Obama administration.
  At this time, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona, my friend and 
colleague, Mr. Schweikert.
  Mr. SCHWEIKERT. I thank the gentleman from Florida.
  One of my reasons for asking you for a little bit of your time this 
evening is one of these days I'm supposed to come here to the floor, 
and we're putting together an actual presentation of the Medicare 
actuary report to walk people through, both our citizens and our fellow 
Members here, the reality of the numbers. But there was so much 
rhetoric on the floor today, and even within the last couple of hours, 
that it became one of those ``it was time to come back here to the 
floor.''
  These are some slides that we used about a week ago. And it was my 
great frustration, because how do you manage your government? How do 
you engage in this political process when we're operating under 
mathematical folklore? We're living in a fantasy land when you see 
Members walk up to that microphone, look the public in the eye through 
that camera and say, If we would just get rid of those incentives to 
buy corporate jets, if we would just tax Big Oil, if we would just tax 
those millionaires and billionaires.
  So one more time, we're going to actually walk through a little bit 
of mathematical reality so we might be able to start having an 
argument, a debate, a discussion that has some basis in fact instead of 
basis in, I'm going to say whatever is necessary from this microphone 
to get reelected. And it breaks my heart, but in my 7 months here, I 
think that happens an awful darn lot.
  A quick sample of where we are at today. That's a dollar bill. Do you 
see this first part? That's 42 percent. So 42 pennies of every dollar 
this Federal Government is spending today is borrowed. That's why this 
debate that

[[Page 12503]]

we're going through right now is so much more than just the debt 
ceiling and how much more our borrowing capacity is. It is the fact 
we're buried in debt and we are crashing, being crushed under that 
weight.
  If you go and read the S&P letters and the Moody's letters, it's so 
much more than, Raise the debt ceiling or you might get downgraded. It 
is, You are going to get downgraded unless.
  There is a credible plan to demonstrate how you intend to bend this 
debt curve. That's the real debate around here. That's what you are 
seeing the Republicans passionately try to discuss with the American 
people and with our brothers and sisters from the other side that this 
was so much more than raising the debt ceiling. It was a discussion 
about saving this Republic.
  So if you have a Republic, this government borrows 42 pennies out of 
every dollar we spend. How long do you think that's going to last?
  So what sort of rhetorical things do we get to hear around here? 
Well, let's actually, now, do a little analysis on a couple of them.
  How many of you in the last 24 hours, both either in the gallery or 
here on the floor with me or my good friend Mr. West, have heard 
Members walk up to microphones, shake their hands and say, No more 
subsidies for those corporate jets?
  Okay. Maybe they're right. But let's actually do the math.
  We borrow about $4.7 billion every single day. And that whole piece 
of rhetoric, which I know has been tested through polling and focus 
groups so it is all about politics and campaigning and not the truth to 
the American people, is 15 seconds of that borrowing every day.
  So one more time. We borrow $4.7 billion every single day, and the 
rhetoric you hear about the depreciation on the corporate jets, we're 
going to need to take that away, even if it were something sensible, 
it's 15 seconds a day. So you nod your head and say, All right. What if 
we got rid of it? Great. But it's 15 seconds a day.
  So let's go on to the next bit of rhetoric we were hearing today.
  Big Oil, we need to take away those subsidies, those incentives to go 
out and find more oil. Well, let's do this. What if the math were we're 
going to take away those subsidies from all oil, all fossil fuels, not 
just Big Oil. Well, we borrow $4.7 billion a day. It's $2.44 billion a 
year. Well, that equates to a good 2.2 minutes of borrowing a day.
  So let's see. So far the two prime bits of rhetoric we heard here 
today equal 15 seconds, 2.2 minutes of borrowing, and this is the type 
of solution we keep getting from the left. And the reason we're getting 
those types of solutions is because it's tested through polling. It's 
easy for the public to understand, even though it's horribly untruthful 
to the public that's actually trying to get their heads around the 
scale of this problem.
  So let's actually go on to one of the other ones we heard today.
  How about those millionaires and those billionaires? You know, those 
Bush tax extensions. All right. But let's first be honest. They're the 
Bush tax extensions--they're actually the Bush-Obama tax extensions, 
because remember President Obama did sign the extension in December.
  If you were to take away those tax extensions for every American, not 
just those millionaires and billionaires, what does it buy you? 
Remember, once again, we're borrowing $4.7 billion a day. It would buy 
you a good 28 minutes of borrowing.
  So this rhetoric we hear from the President and around here, I know 
it may politically be wonderful and it's politically easy to digest, 
but mathematically, it just isn't the truth, and it doesn't lead you to 
a solution.
  Because think of this one more time. The depreciation on jets, the 
incentives to find fossil fuels, ending the Bush-Obama tax cut 
extensions, and assuming--which we did in our math--that every single 
dime came in, that you didn't slow the economy down, you didn't raise 
unemployment, we used a magical fantasy number that every dime came 
back in and was applied straight to the deficit and to the debt, all 
three of the rhetorical points we heard over and over and over today 
add up to a half-hour of borrowing.

                              {time}  2000

  I turn to my brothers and sisters on the left one more time--and this 
is starting to become a habit here--what would you like to do with the 
other 23.5 hours?
  I thank the gentleman for yielding.


                Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair reminds Members not to refer to 
occupants of the gallery.
  Mr. WEST. Mr. Speaker, we must empower small business owners and 
reduce regulatory burdens. Job creators are being bogged down by 
burdensome regulation from Washington that prevents job creation and 
hinders economic growth. These regulations are particularly damaging 
for the real job creators in the country, our small business owners. We 
must remove onerous Federal regulations that are redundant, harmful to 
small businesses, and impede private-sector investment in job creation.
  The Small Business Administration has reported that government 
regulations are estimated to cost our economy over $1.75 trillion a 
year. To make matters worse, in 2009, the administration considered 
adding another 184 regulations that are estimated to cost the economy 
in excess of $100 million each and are likely to cause more Americans 
to lose jobs.
  At this time, I yield to my friend and colleague from Colorado.
  Mr. TIPTON. Thank you, Congressman West.
  Tonight we're talking about small business in America, the number one 
job creator in America. I'm a small businessman. I'm not a career 
politician. It seems to me that once you come to this place and you're 
surrounded by pillars of marble, vast expanses of grass, and glorious 
monuments, that it seems to kind of cloud your vision from what's 
really going on back at home. We're seeing businesses right now--they 
aren't the megacorporations that are often talked about by our 
colleagues; they are small businesses trying to provide jobs, trying to 
be able to build a future.
  I live in western Colorado. My district encompasses a good portion of 
the entire State of Colorado, the eighth-largest congressional district 
in the United States, 54,000 square miles. The number one employer 
there, small business. Traveling through that district, I found it 
remarkable. As I have stopped into those small businesses, visited with 
the owners, sole proprietorships, Sub S corporations, LLCs, people just 
trying to make a living, as I visited in those communities with county 
commissioners, with city council members, one message comes through 
loud and clear: Government is overregulating America. It is hurting our 
ability to truly be able to get Americans back to work.
  Congressman West just mentioned a very important figure. In this 
country, we are paying $1.75 trillion a year in terms of regulatory 
cost. That is impeding America's ability to be able to get back to 
work. Now some of our friends always want to take that to the extreme, 
saying that we want to eliminate all regulations. It's not the case.
  When we go back to the beginning of the 20th century, when we were 
starting to build cars in this country, in New York City, there were 
two automobiles, two cars. They ran into each other. So stoplights are 
not a bad idea. But the government has overreached. It is hurting small 
business and our opportunity to truly be able to grow America.
  Let me tell you a story about a constituent of mine. He started out 
with nothing. He and his wife invested and they scraped together 
dollars and worked hard. And over the course of the years, they've been 
able to build a small car dealership in western Colorado. He called me 
up the last few days, and he said, Washington simply doesn't get it. 
They seem to believe that they need money more than we do here at home. 
And that brings us back to a lot of the conversations which we have 
been having over these last few days in terms of the debt and the 
deficit in this country. We currently have a debt in this Nation of 
$14.3 trillion. Come the

[[Page 12504]]

end of September, we're going to be adding on another $1.4 trillion on 
top of that national debt, a crushing burden on the promise of America.
  His granddaughter, she isn't old enough really to know how much she 
owes. But her portion of that national debt is now well in excess of 
$45,000. If our grandchildren are going to inherit the promise of 
America, we have to restrain, we have to slow down, we have to reduce 
the spending in Washington, D.C. We simply can't afford it. The numbers 
are too high. Our colleagues will tell us that taxes are the answer. 
They like to call it a balanced approach. We need more of your money 
because Washington needs it more. They failed to point out that through 
the bills that they have passed through this Chamber--Congressman West 
and I, we weren't here. We didn't help create the problem, but we are 
certainly here to try to help solve the problem.
  They increased the debt on the backs of the American people when they 
passed ObamaCare, the government-run health care. I'm concerned about 
that because it is hurting jobs in America. That small businessman who 
started that business from nothing and was able to grow that car 
dealership is afraid to hire because he doesn't know what the costs are 
going to be from the government-run health care. Well, we've got a 
pretty good idea--at least the upfront costs. It's costing us better 
than $1 trillion. Our senior citizens, indeed, are worried about that. 
Through the actions of our counterparts, we saw that $562 billion was 
cut out of Medicare to be able to fund that program. And starting in 
January this coming year, the President will appoint his 15-member 
commission to start rationing health care for senior citizens. We're 
fighting to stop that.
  Connectivity which we see in our economy. Between government 
regulations, excessive taxation, and having too many people in 
Washington who have never gotten dirt under their fingernails, they've 
never met a payroll, they've never created a job, they've never worked 
in the private sector. That's the disconnect between here and at home. 
We have people right now that are gathering around their kitchen 
tables. They are looking at the resources that they have coming in and 
know that they can't spend more than they take in. Tomorrow morning 
those small businesses are going to unlock the doors. They know that 
they have to spend within the limitations of the income that they have.
  Forty-nine of our States live under a balanced budget requirement, 
just like the men and women who live in the communities of those 
States. Isn't it about time, isn't it about time that Washington 
applied the same principles that they expect out of every American, 
every American family, to apply to Washington, D.C.? Some will say 
``no.'' But that's a challenge--more importantly, that is the 
opportunity that we truly face right now in this country. We have an 
opportunity to change the course of American history for the better, to 
embrace, once again, the values that truly made this country the 
freest, the richest, and the greatest nation on the face of the Earth, 
and that the Earth will truly ever see. American entrepreneurship, 
American know-how, but we have to have the freedom, the resources, and 
the opportunity to do that. The government is no longer the 
steppingstone to success in this country but has, indeed, become a 
stumbling block.

                              {time}  2010

  This is our chance. This is our opportunity. We have many votes here, 
had a vote today.
  This is not the end of the debate, but it is the beginning of a 
solution. If we embrace that opportunity, that special and unique thing 
that it is to truly be an American, American exceptionalism, and allow 
Americans to do what they do best, to innovate, to create and to build, 
we will be able to get this country back on the right course, but it 
will not come as long as we continue to build government, protect 
programs, and forget about the people who sent us to Washington.
  Let's stand up once again for the American people, for the small 
business people who truly make America work and are the number one job 
creators in our country.
  Mr. WEST. I thank my colleague from Colorado.
  Mr. Speaker, we know that not all regulations are bad, but so many of 
them are obstacles to job creation. A recent study by the Heritage 
Foundation found that an unprecedented 43 major regulations were 
imposed in fiscal year 2010 with a total economic cost of $26.5 
billion, the highest total since at least 1981.
  The cost of regulations is a big obstacle for American job creators. 
But when you think about regulations, here are examples of some of the 
ones that can make you laugh.
  The Department of Energy requires microwave makers to measure the 
amount of energy their products use in the ``off'' position.
  The Environmental Protection Agency wants stricter regulations on the 
amount of dust on American farms.
  The Department of the Interior wants to impose a fee on Christmas 
tree sales to promote Christmas tree sales.
  When you think about how government regulations destroy American 
jobs, these are the statistics that will make you cry. According to a 
Louisiana State University professor, the Department of the Interior's 
de facto moratorium of exploration in the Gulf of Mexico could cost 
36,137 jobs. In addition, more than 80,000 jobs could be lost due to 
the EPA regulations targeting the cement industry; and, finally, EPA 
greenhouse gas regulations could cost $1.4 million jobs.
  The American people placed an upper limit on the damage that 
Washington Democrats could inflict on the economy by firing House 
Democrats in the last election.
  In January, we began to implement the Pledge to America, which is 
focused on providing an environment for economic growth and job 
creation. We voted to repeal the government takeover of health care, 
roll back costly Obama administration regulations, cut job-destroying 
spending and change the culture of Washington, D.C., from one which 
talks about how much more they can spend, to one which now talks about 
how much we can cut in spending.
  The United States Congress in 2009 passed the President's almost $800 
billion stimulus package, which we now have convincing proof it did 
nothing to reduce unemployment. Today the House of Representatives has 
sent nine real-life job creating bills to the U.S. Senate, yet those 
bills continue to sit, waiting to be voted on, similar to the Cut, Cap, 
and Balance that we sent over that the Senate majority leader tabled.
  I have introduced my own piece of legislation to do my part to try to 
reduce unemployment, The Small Business Encouragement Act, H.R. 1663.
  The President continues with an economic policy based on job-killing 
overregulation, the specter of increased taxes and the implementation 
of ObamaCare. How many more months are we going to see this stagnant 
job growth? We are now at 29 months of unemployment in the United 
States of America being at or above 9 percent.
  The President has to realize his policies have failed. They have 
failed the American people, and it is time to go in a different 
direction. The solution lies in economic taxation and regulatory 
policies which incentivize long-term private sector growth. We must 
restore confidence, provide access to capital which will create 
economic certainty. Now is not the time for more rhetoric on spending, 
borrowing, and raising taxes. Our country is in a crisis, and time is 
running out.
  We must remember that it is those same mom and pop stores on Main 
Street back in our respective districts that create the jobs for our 
teenagers during these summer months. It is the local hair salon back 
home that my wife and my two daughters visit often that would be 
affected by the uncertainty that persists throughout this Nation.
  Economic uncertainty created by our massive Federal debt, burdensome 
regulatory environment on small businesses, and uncertain tax policy 
for

[[Page 12505]]

2012 is slowing commerce; and we must turn the corner. Today's somber 
GDP announcement in the last quarter of 1.3 percent growth and the 
previous quarter, 0.5 percent growth, is further proof that President 
Obama's administration's economic strategy is not working.
  Unemployment still remains above 9 percent, at 9.2 percent 
nationally; in the inner city and our black communities is at 16.2 
percent; and, unfortunately, for our veterans, of which I am one, that 
unemployment rate is 13 percent.
  We just talked about our quarterly GDP growth. That is unacceptable 
for the most powerful economy in the world. Providing certainty for 
America's small businesses should be the number one priority for 
Washington, considering they are the backbone of our Nation's workforce 
and the engine of our economy.
  In May, House Republicans put forth a plan for America's job 
creators. That includes commonsense policies to remove uncertainty by 
reducing regulatory burdens, lowering business tax rates to 25 percent, 
spurring exports by quickly passing the pending free trade agreements, 
and introducing a budget that gets our Nation's fiscal house in order. 
The sooner we enact policies like these into law, the sooner our small 
businesses will be able to lead us out of this economic downturn.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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