[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4274]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        FREE AMERICA TO PROSPER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Alabama (Mr. Brooks) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROOKS of Alabama. Madam Speaker, in 1945, at the end of World 
War II, America's Federal debt to gross domestic product ratio was 120 
percent. Washington responded with leadership. In 1946, the Federal 
budget was slashed a massive 40 percent.
  In 1947, the Federal budget was slashed by another 38 percent. The 
result? America rose to the challenge, and America prospered. By 1980, 
even though per-capita inflation adjusted Federal spending had tripled, 
Federal debt had shrunk to 30 percent of GDP.
  Since 1980, America's per-capita Federal spending has exploded to 
five times more than 1948 levels. The result? America faces a 
skyrocketing $17 trillion debt burden.
  America's Comptroller General warns that America's financial path is 
unsustainable. Instead of confronting our debt dependence, Washington 
kicks the can down the road and immorally sells our children into the 
equivalent of indentured servitude and poverty, while driving America's 
Federal debt to dangerous levels.
  To preserve the liberty and prosperity our ancestors sacrificed to 
give us, we must free Americans to again earn their prosperity and 
significantly cut Federal non-defense spending to restore financial 
responsibility and provide the stable monetary environment needed for 
economic growth.
  If the Federal Government will be financially responsible and stop 
killing job creation, America's economy will soar because we have, 
within our grasp, a massive new technology and energy boom.
  Mark Mills, adjunct fellow, Manhattan Institute states:

       By 2020 or so, the United States is expected to surpass 
     Saudi Arabia in oil output and Russia in gas, according to 
     the International Energy Association's best estimate.
       Dan Yergin, one of the world's leading energy experts, 
     estimates that the United States turnaround in energy has 
     generated 1.7 million new jobs . . . and that number should 
     almost double by 2020.

  The RAND Corporation adds:

       The pace of technological change--whether through advances 
     in information technology, biotechnology, or such emerging 
     fields as nanotechnology--will most certainly accelerate in 
     the next 10 to 15 years, with synergies across technologies 
     and disciplines generating advances in research and 
     development, production processes, and the nature of products 
     and services.

  Amazing economic possibilities abound if the Federal Government will 
simply allow Americans to seize them.
  Unfortunately, too many paternalistic Washington politicians distrust 
the American people to earn a better life for themselves or to take 
care of each other without government coercion or intervention.
  Financially irresponsible Washington politicians insist on spending 
money we do not have, risking a debilitating American insolvency and 
bankruptcy, debasing our currency, punishing success, rewarding 
destructive behavior, and strangling job creation in bureaucratic red 
tape.
  The Federal Government, by attempting to supply and command all 
things, saps America's spirit of energy and devours the financial 
capital needed for innovation, productivity growth, and jobs.
  America must stop kicking the can down the road to a day when the 
debt challenge is even more daunting. The time to act is now, while 
America has sufficient economic strength to succeed. We cannot wait 
until America is bankrupt and defenseless, our currency is valueless, 
and we are overwhelmed by closed businesses, lost jobs, and poverty.
  Congress must use the debt limit, the budget, appropriation bills, 
and every other means available to free America from the growing burden 
of crushing debt and a dictatorial Federal bureaucracy.
  America ended Democrat President Jimmy Carter's economic malaise with 
one election in 1980, giving us the wildly successful economic policies 
of Republican President Ronald Regan in 25 years of unparalleled 
prosperity.
  America's choice is between economic depression brought about by 
socialist, heavy-handed, bureaucratic Big Brother economic policies and 
prosperity brought about by policies centered on free enterprise, 
individual liberty, and faith in the American people--the same economic 
policies and freedoms that made America the greatest Nation in world 
history.
  America, please choose wisely. Your future and America's depends on 
it.

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