[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19439]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   FOREIGN OWNERSHIP OF FEDERAL DEBT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, the American public has caught on to our 
Republican colleagues' tax scam. They know their bill takes from our 
struggling middle class and rewards bountifully the billionaire class 
and transnational corporations--the very ones that will use the money 
to ship more of our jobs overseas.
  In fact, the only permanent tax giveaways this bill will cause are 
for big corporations. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates their 
bill will add $1 trillion additionally to our debt minimum, and that 
doesn't count the interest.
  This chart shows over time how much more of our gross domestic 
product--our economic prowess, what we produce every year in our 
country--is related to the national debt. The national debt has been 
exploding over time. Their bill makes it worse, not better. We should 
not so highly leverage our economy.
  Their bill flies in the face of fiscal responsibility, and to what 
end? The bill would decrease Federal revenue by a projected $5.5 
trillion, tragically putting our national economic security at grave 
risk. What is put on the table for cuts? Social Security, Medicare, and 
Medicaid--all on the chopping block.
  There is little in the Republican bill good for average Americans. 
With their legislation, our Republican colleagues will actually push 
America into deeper financial servitude to foreign investors buying our 
debt like China and Saudi Arabia. How does this make America great 
again? Foreign investors will be financing more and more of U.S. debt.
  This chart shows how much now is being financed by foreign interests. 
Way back, the American people used to buy Treasury securities, and we 
financed our own debt. But over time, what has happened is that because 
we were leveraging our economy too highly with debt--borrowed money--
foreign interests started to buy our securities. They now own nearly 
half. Do you know what? That means we owe not just the principal they 
have borrowed, but interest. So over time, the hole is being dug 
deeper, and foreign interests literally have now become the largest 
holder of U.S. debt.
  Under their scheme, foreign nations will snap up and buy more U.S. 
Treasury securities, and this will rob future investments that would 
benefit Americans because we are required to pay back not just the 
principal but the interest to foreign creditors. Imagine if that money 
that we are paying on interest to foreign creditors could actually be 
invested here in America through tax cuts that actually target middle 
class families to increase their buying power. But with this massive 
debt, the American Government is sliding on a slippery slope more 
beholden to foreign creditors, not the American people.
  China is now our largest foreign creditor. If you look at the debt 
that we owe, you will see China has been growing as an owner of the 
United States of America. Over time, they already own $1.2 trillion 
along with other Asian powers, or 19 percent of our foreign-owned debt. 
Our taxpayers are paying China principal plus interest--not a good 
formula for American independence.
  Yet China's authorities are not hesitant to undermine American 
interests starting with democracy itself. But on economic issues, they 
dump steel to such an excessive level on global markets that it has 
crushed our domestic steel industry. They manipulate their currency to 
advantage the yuan, and they continue to rob intellectual property from 
American companies and universities every day. Being in the pocket of 
China to finance our debt is not in America's interest.
  Other top countries buying U.S. debt include--get ready for this--the 
Cayman Islands with $260 billion, and India and Saudi Arabia with 
between $135 billion and $248 billion; and that is a conservative 
estimate. Even Russia--Russia--owns $86.2 billion of our debt--a 
country that interfered in our election process and in our closest 
allies in Europe's elections.
  America best be careful because we are ending up in foreign servitude 
through the ownership of the U.S. debt. Defeating the Republican tax 
plan is one way to start righting the ship of state.

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