Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to visit with the Members
of this body about the national debt. I am one of 37 members of the fiscally
conservative Blue Dog Coalition, 37 Members of Congress from all over these
United States who share a common concern, and that is the amount of our
national debt and the amount of our national deficit as it continues to
rise each day.
As visitors walk the Halls of the House office buildings, they will
occasionally spot one of these posters, which clearly marks that it is
a Blue Dog member. What we are trying to do with the American people, as
members of the Blue Dog Coalition, is point out that the U.S. national
debt today is $8.053 trillion and some change.
If we were to divide the national debt today by the 292 million people
that live in America, including the children born today, everyone in America
would have to write a check for $27,000 to pay off this national debt.
This is a tragedy. And it is time we restore some common sense and fiscal
discipline to our Nation's government.
There are some within the Republican leadership that are trying to make
us think that that is what they are trying to do, and what I mean by that
is this week, we are going to be voting on what they call a budget reconciliation
package. The Republican leadership is going to talk about how it is $53.9
billion in reduced spending. That sounds good. What they do not tell us
is what programs are going to be cut. They will try to convince us that
these cuts are happening to pay for the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
They will try to convince us that these cuts are being made to pay for
the war in Iraq. Not so. These cuts are being proposed by the Republican
leadership in this Congress to help offset $70 billion in new tax cuts,
new tax cuts that are being proposed in the aftermath of the most costly
natural disaster in our Nation's history and, yes, at a time when America
is at war, tax cuts that benefit those earning over $400,000 a year.
How are they going to pay for that? By cutting Federal student loans
$14 billion; by cutting Medicaid, the only health insurance plan for the
poor, the disabled, and the elderly, by $11.9 billion; by reducing child
support enforcement, $5 billion; by cutting our farm families, $3.7 billion.
Mr. Speaker, it is time we restore some common sense and fiscal discipline
to our Nation's government. And we can do it and we can do it in a humane
way, and we can do it in a way that reflects our values, which reminds
me of Matthew, chapter 25, verse 40: ``I tell you the truth. Whatever you
did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.''
Do we really want to cut Medicaid, health insurance for the poor, the
disabled, the elderly; student loans for our children; farm programs including
school lunch programs and food stamps to pay for tax cuts for those earning
over $400,000 a year? I can tell the Members that does not reflect the
kind of values I learned growing up at Midway United Methodist Church just
outside of Prescott, Arkansas.
So tonight we want to visit with the Members of this body and talk about
why this budget reconciliation bill is bad. We want to address this. And
here to do it with me are some of my colleagues in the Blue Dog Coalition.
Not only will people find us tonight being critical of cutting programs
for the most vulnerable people in America, but they will also find us offering
up a solution, an alternative, what we refer to as our 12-point budget
plan. And I am pleased to have a number of Blue Dogs join me tonight, including
the co-chairman of the Blue Dog Coalition, DENNIS CARDOZA; STEPHANIE HERSETH
of South Dakota; DAVID SCOTT of Georgia; and BEN CHANDLER of Kentucky.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Chandler).
Mr. CHANDLER. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Ross for yielding to me. I appreciate
my fellow Blue Dog from Arkansas putting this very important time together
for us to talk to the country about what we all believe is a very important
matter.
Mr. Ross's grandparents, I am sure, just the same as my grandparents,
grew up in the Great Depression. And I am sure that they had experiences
very similar to mine, and those experiences instilled in them a great sense
of fiscal responsibility. My grandfather, in fact, always used to tell
me, and I cannot even count the times that he told me, ``If you spent more
than you took in, you would go broke.'' Wise words. Too bad that the leadership
of the Republican-controlled Congress seems to have forgotten this most
basic rule of fiscal management. By all accounts, the mentality of our
grandparents and their generation has been lost.
As the gentleman said, later this week, maybe as early as tomorrow,
the House will consider the first of two bills the Republican leadership
will bring to the floor under the auspices of reducing the deficit. The
only problem is that this so-called deficit reduction package actually
adds billions to the deficit, hastening a fiscal crisis brought on by the
systematic mismanagement of our country's finances.
Our deficit has now passed $8 trillion, and we see right there on that
sign that the gentleman has got next to him, that poster, the number 8
trillion. I am surprised we can even breathe a number that big, all those
zeros. I did not even know what 8 trillion was until I came up to Congress
and I saw that number. And I am sure the American people would be astonished
if they realized just how much in debt they were now. And, incredibly,
something I heard from the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Tanner), who I
think is with us tonight, earlier this week he told me that this administration
has now borrowed more money from foreign governments and banks than the
previous 42 United States Presidents combined. Even using the projections
from the budgets adopted by this Republican-controlled Congress, the deficit
will grow by over $167 billion over the next 5 years. Bottom line, this
Republican-controlled Congress has proven itself utterly incapable of responsibly
managing the Federal Treasury.
Rather than use what little funds we have to pay down the deficit and
help those in need, many of my Republican colleagues seek another round
of tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans that will drive our country
even deeper into debt. This budget package that is being offered is nothing
more than smoke and mirrors. It is not about making sacrifices to reduce
the deficit. It is about carving out space for ever-larger tax cuts for
the wealthiest Americans by cutting programs that help seniors, students,
and low-income families. The very principles that our men and women are
fighting for in Iraq and Afghanistan, defending the ideals of our country
and helping those in need are on the chopping block this week.
The message from the Republican-controlled Congress is clear: under
our leadership the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle
class shrinks all the while.
Low-income families in my home State of Kentucky depend on Medicaid
for health care. Thousands of children in Kentucky schools depend on school
lunch programs for their only hot meal of the day.
And over 50 percent of college students in Kentucky rely on some type
of financial aid to pay for their college expenses. It is simply immoral
to turn our backs on those families in need and students striving to get
ahead. Not to mention the cuts to child support programs that will hurt
families across our country, and the fact that at a time when the USDA
must turn away three-fourths of farmers wanting to participate in conservation
programs, cutting Federal funds is going to put an even larger strain on
our farm families, certainly the farm families in Kentucky who are doing
everything they can just to make a living.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this misguided and immoral
budget reconciliation package and instead use this as an opportunity to
step back and examine the financial state of our country. Instead of leaning
on the poor as a means of cutting taxes for the rich, we need to get serious
about addressing the deficit.
Foreign lenders such as China own 40 percent of our total debt. At some
point, America must pay back the money it owes. The Republican leaders
on the other side of the aisle pride themselves in cutting taxes for the
American people. But their irresponsible budget practices now are nothing
more than a tax increase later. Continuing to make irresponsible financial
decisions now only adds to the burden we are leaving to the coming generations.
This Congress must take immediate action to put our fiscal house in
order, and I commend you, Mr. Ross, and I commend the other Blue Dogs for
your steadfast efforts to ensure that the American people understand what
is happening to them and the fact that their fiscal house is not in order.
You are doing a great service for this country, and I urge my colleagues
to join with the Blue Dogs and examine the budget reforms that we have
proposed.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for his words
this evening. He reminds me, growing up at the Midway Methodist Church
just outside of Prescott, I heard many a sermon about being a good steward.
When I came to Congress, it did not take me long to reflect back on not
only the values I learned growing up, being the son of public school educators,
but also I started thinking back to those sermons I heard growing up about
being a good steward. I think it is important.
As Members of Congress, I think we have a duty and a responsibility
and an obligation to be a good steward of the public's money. I thank the
gentleman from Kentucky for joining us this evening.
I mentioned that the Blue Dog Coalition has a 12-point plan for curing
our Nation's deficit spending. Throughout the evening, we are going to
bring some of them up. Let me point out that number one is to require a
balanced budget.
At the Ross household in Prescott, Arkansas, we have to have a balanced
budget in our family. The family pharmacy my wife and I own, we have to
have a balanced budget. For 10 years I was serving in the State Senate
in Arkansas, one of 49 States that requires a balanced budget. Blue Dog
Coalition members believe that we, as a Nation, should have a balanced
budget, and that is one of our 12 points requiring a balanced budget.
At this time I would like to yield to the co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition,
the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza).
Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Ross. He is a fabulous Member
who has led this effort in the House for a number of years, and I am very
pleased he is leading this discussion here tonight. I am pleased he brought
down a copy of our debt clock that sits in front of our offices. It truly
outlines the fiscal irresponsibility that the current administration is
engaged in.
I would also like to highlight one of the points Mr. Ross mentioned
and ask a question. I know that in Arkansas you all are pretty proud of
your university there and the Razorbacks. And if you are anything like
the folks where I am from, we are building a brand new university, and
we have the first class going through right now. And so you know how important
it is for young people, especially first-generation Americans who need
a start in life, trying to get themselves established to do better for
themselves and their families.
I am the first member to go to college, and I can say without a doubt
that I would not be standing here in the halls of Congress today had I
not gotten the great education that I got at both the CSU schools I went
to in California and the University of Maryland just down the street.
This past week when I was flying out here from San Francisco, I happened
on the president of the University of Maryland, Dan Mote. He was on my
plane. He came up to me on the plane, and he said, Mr. Cardoza, I know
you are a supporter of education, but what you are folks doing to higher
education, and these cuts to student aid? He said, This is going to devastate
the young people that attend my college and the people that are going to
attend the college in your hometown.
I said, President Mote, you are absolutely right. I cannot think of
one Democrat who is going to vote in support of these cuts to student aid.
In fact, I told him a story about the legislature in California. When
I served in the legislature, we actually lowered student fees, with the
help of the Republican leadership there, because they felt that was one
of the most important middle and upper income tax cuts that they could
possibly do because most of the folks that were not on financial aid already
due to need were their constituents.
Yet here in Congress, we see what they are proposing, and I believe
it is a $1.4 billion student fee increase or the cuts in the student loans.
Does the gentleman have that number?
Mr. ROSS. Out of these $50 billion in cuts, and Mr. Chandler from Kentucky
hit the nail on the head when he pointed out that they are talking about
cutting spending $50 billion, but they are really increasing spending.
That is true because they are proposing $70 billion in tax cuts, $50
billion in cuts in spending which leaves $20 billion not paid for but which
will have to be borrowed from foreign banks and foreign governments to
fund this tax cut to those earning over $400,000 a year.
Out of the $50 billion in cuts, nearly $8 billion of the $14.3 billion
in student loan cuts fall directly on students and parents. I am beginning
to really understand this because I have a daughter who is 17 and a son
who is 13, both getting ready before too long to go off to college.
Like every other parent in America, I spend a lot of time these days
thinking I wish I had started saving sooner, and I wish I had saved enough
to be able to provide for them the way I want to, and I will find a way
to do it. We all do as parents, but at a time when parents are struggling
to meet the needs of college tuition, the Republican leadership is proposing
$14.3 billion in cuts to student loans. The CBO, not some Democrat or Republican
organization, the Congressional Budget Office, has estimated that under
the Republican bill there are nearly $8 billion in new charges to students
and families that will raise the cost of student loans. The cost to the
average student borrower will be increased by $5,800.
Mr. CARDOZA. Mr. Speaker, that is incredible. That is an unbelievable
number. Really we could call this not the Reconciliation Act but the college
student tax act because that is what we are going to be doing, we are going
to be increasing the tax on those who can least afford it, those who are
trying to do better and increase their opportunity.
I would like to add that, under Bush, we have seen absolute record deficits.
We have seen $2.5 trillion added to the debt. As the gentleman from Tennessee
(Mr. Tanner) is fond of saying, we have borrowed more from foreign countries
than all previous presidents combined under President Bush. And we are
borrowing about 80 or 90 percent, the new borrowing that is taking place,
is coming from China and countries that are competing with us in trade,
and they are using that leverage to make our dollar less strong against
their currency. It is just a shame what has been happening here.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Ross for participating in this tonight and
being such a great leader within the Blue Dog Coalition.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for being
a part of this this evening.
The 12 points to reform this out-of-control Republican leadership that
continues to increase our debt and our deficit, point number 2 that the
Blue Dogs are offering up to restore common sense and fiscal discipline
to our Nation's government: Do not let Congress buy on credit.
Under President Clinton, we had the first balanced budget in 40 years.
It was largely due to the fact that this House at the time had what is
called pay-as-you-go rules in effect, which means if you want to increase
spending somewhere or pay for a new program, you have to cut spending somewhere
else. It makes sense. That is called pay-as-you-go or PAYGO rules. The
Republican leadership has ended the PAYGO rule in this Chamber. Point number
2 of the Blue Dog Coalition: Do not let Congress buy on credit. Restore
the pay-as-you-go budgeting concept to the rules of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Mr. Speaker, at this time, it gives me real pleasure to introduce a
leader in this Congress and a real leader in the Blue Dog Coalition, an
outstanding Member, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott).
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I feel very privileged and honored
to be here with my fellow Blue Dogs.
Our debate is going out across the country thanks to C-SPAN, and I think
it is very important that we understand that the American people have awakened.
All of the polls show it. The American people are glued in to what is happening
here in Washington, and right they should be.
I want to start off by saying that so that individuals who are tuning
in who would like to know just what are the Blue Dogs, more than anything
else, we pride ourselves on being, first and foremost, good stewards of
the taxpayers' dollars. We provide the sterling leadership in the Democratic
Party for responsible fiscal responsibility.
For 5 years, we in the Blue Dog Coalition have been begging and pleading
that this Congress develop a plan to pay as you go. Mr. Speaker, 5 years
ago when the Clinton administration left office, we had a surplus. Billions
and billions and billions of dollars were left in surplus. Now 5 years
later, under the Bush administration, we are trillions and trillions and
trillions of dollars in debt. Make no mistake about it, our debt and our
deficit is the number one problem and issue facing the survival and the
future of our democracy. And we are concerned about this national debt.
But at a time when we are expressly concerned about it and pushing forward
for responsible measures on the Democratic side, it is the height of hypocrisy,
it is the height of being insensitive, it is the height of indeed smoke
and mirrors for this Republican-led Congress and this Republican President
to, under the guise of giving a tax cut for billionaires and millionaires
across this country, say he wants to cut spending.
Cut spending of the most vital services, the most important needs in
this country, as a matter of fact, in the history of this country, in this
20th century. We have just been hit with the worst hurricane season in
modern times. Katrina was the worst that anybody can remember. Billions
and billions and billions of dollars worth of damage, an entire city, entire
region almost totally destroyed. Over 250,000 American citizens without
homes. We all remember those pictures, down in New Orleans, in the flood.
Our hearts went out to those people. Well, our hearts must continue to
go out to those people.
And the reason it is the height of hypocrisy is here is the President
of the United States and this Republican controlled Congress, who says
that they want to offset a $70 billion tax cut for the wealthiest people
in this country on the backs of those poor victims of this hurricane.
On the front page of the Washington Post this morning, the answer from
FEMA is to throw 150,000 American citizens who have become homeless on
the street. The answer from The White House and the answer from this Congress
has been to cut the very programs that will help these victims the most.
The most effective programs that have helped them has been the food stamp
program. And under this budget, this Republican held Congress, and this
President proposes to cut food stamps by $850 million. Not only at a time
when we have people who are homeless, without jobs, without hope, but according
to the Agriculture Department, just this year alone, we have added 2 million
more citizens to the hunger roles. The Republicans answer, cut the very
program that has been designed to help them by $850 billion.
Medicaid. Under this budget planned by the Republicans and President
Bush, they want to cut Medicaid by $12 billion, when 45 million Americans,
mostly senior elderly citizens, are going without any kind of health insurance.
And our farmers? Cut them by $2 billion. Farmers who have been devastated
by the flood, who have been hurt by the flood. Now is not the time to cut
the farmers.
And our veterans, $3 billion. Lord knows. We have not been doing right
by our veterans. We have cut them. We have cut them. We have cut them.
And the President's answer is, cut the veterans. This Republican Congress's
is to cut the veterans. Is that not a reason why they have had difficulty
in getting the votes? Why they have had to pull the bill last week?
And the American people need to wake up and understand and put the calls
in to your Republican congressman to let them know that America does not
want to cut the basic services for the needy while trying to add a $70
billion tax cut for the millionaires and the billionaires. They do not
need the money. But the children do.
This budget will cut children's nutrition by $2 billion and $5 billion
in child support. Heating oil is cut at a time when the oil companies are
getting record profits, and their executives are sitting fast.
Student loans, $14 billion at a time when going to college costs so
much. There will be tens of thousands of American children who will not
go to college if this Republican budget reconciliation bill passes. That
is why this is so important. That is why it is important.
Listen to me, America. And if you know other people, tell them to tune
in. We are here to tell you the facts. This Blue Dog coalition is one of
the most influential groups on Capitol Hill, and the reason why is because
people trust us. We have earned that. We have earned that distinction.
Folks like Charlie Stenholm, John Tanner, they have pioneered and set the
curve. Respect across party lines. Respect across this country, the Blue
Dog coalition. We are speaking the truth tonight.
William Shakespeare said it well when he wrote that great play, Julius
Caesar, when he said, et tu Brutus? Yours is the meanest cut of all. And
that is what these Republicans are doing in this bill. It is mean. It is
cold, and it is wrong. And the American people deserve better. And we are
going to give them better.
So Mr. Ross and my fellow Blue Dogs, we are here tonight to speak the
truth. We are here tonight to let the American people know, and we hope
and we pray that we will be successful in stopping this budget reconciliation
bill from being devastating to the American people.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his insight
and wisdom that he has shared with us this evening on this issue, this
so-called Republican budget reconciliation bill that they say will be brought
up for a vote either some time late Friday night or perhaps early Saturday
morning. We know all about that, you know, on the Medicare drug bill, for
example, they waited until 3 a.m. They wanted to make sure seniors were
fast asleep. And then they held a 15-minute vote open for 3 hours, until
they finally got those final two votes they needed to pass it.
I challenge the Republican leadership to give us a vote on this in the
middle of the day on Friday, when the sun is still up, and let the American
people see how democracy should work in this country.
I talked about the Blue Dog Coalition having 12 points for budget reform
to really get a handle on this debt, to stop deficit spending and to restore
common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. Number one
was, require a balanced budget.
Number two was, do not let Congress buy on credit. Restore PAYGO, pay-as-you-go
rules, to the floor of the United States House, meaning, if you want to
spend money on one program, you have got to cut spending on another program.
Number three is, put a lid on spending. Ever since I was a small child
growing up, I have heard it was the Democrats that spent the money. And
yet, you know it is a Democratic President, President Clinton, that gave
us the first balanced budget in this country in 40 years, from 1998 through
2001. Then what happened? For the first time in 50 years, the Republicans
now control the White House, the House and the Senate, and from 2001 to
2003, total government spending soared by 16 percent.
The Blue Dogs propose putting a lid on spending. The Blue Dogs propose
holding the line on discretionary spending for the next three fiscal years
at 2.1 percent. That is point number three to our 12 point plan for budget
reform.
With us this evening from the State of Tennessee is one of the founders
of the Blue Dog Coalition, former cochair of the organization and a real
leader, a founding father for the Blue Dog Coalition, John Tanner from
Tennessee. And just to expand on what Mr. Scott from Georgia said, I mean,
look, like so many people in this country, many of us in the Blue Dog Coalition,
we are sick and tired of all the partisan bickering that goes on in our
Nation's Capital. We are not standing here tonight to beat up the Republicans.
We are here tonight to try and hold them accountable for this spending
and offer up a solution on how we can restore common sense and fiscal discipline
to our Nation's government. Like so many people across this country, I
am sick and tired of all the partisan bickering that goes on at our Nation's
Capitol. It should not be about whether it is a Democratic idea or a Republican
idea. It ought to be about is a commonsense idea and does it make sense
for the people that send us here to be their voice and their representative.
That is what the Blue Dog Coalition is all about, as Mr. Scott indicated.
That is why we have earned the respect of so many across this Nation and
here on Capitol Hill.
At this time, I would like to turn this over to one of the founding
fathers of the Blue Dog Coalition, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Tanner).
Mr. TANNER. Mr. Speaker, I think that means I am old. I appreciate the
gentleman having this special order tonight and inviting us down here.
Mr. Scott, many of you may know, but his brother-in-law is the homerun
king of baseball, Hank Aaron, and he was nice enough to invite me down
to an event where Hank was here. And I appreciate that. I got a picture
of me and Hammering Hank Aaron that I cherish very much.
Mr. ROSS. We were glad to have you.
Mr. TANNER. I really enjoyed that. But I want to thank you all
for being here tonight. I want to talk about this financial picture of
our country maybe in a little different way. And the way I want to talk
about it is not as a Democrat or as a Republican, but as an American. We
only have one dollar. We only have one balance sheet. We only have one
military. We only have one economic opportunity in our lives here. And
folks, I have got to tell you, we are in deep, deep trouble. And the financial
picture of this country is deteriorating as we speak. I do not know how
else to say this. It is not fun to talk about the financial morass that
we are in. You know, there are not many politicians that go before the
American people and get elected and say, folks we have got a problem. We
do not have enough revenue, or we have too much spending. And we have got
to do something about it. You do not hear that. You do not hear people
saying we have got problems. We have to fix them together. And yet, that
is what I think the Blue Dog Coalition is all about. We have done everything
we can to reach out to the administration and the Republicans. We have
asked the President for a budget summit. We got a letter back saying that
would not be the case. We have asked the Republican leadership to consider
our 12-point plan, balanced budget amendment to try to get PAYGO back,
which is just common sense. If you are going to spend money, you need to
pay for it somehow. That has been refused. So we have tried every way we
can, and I will tell you, quite frankly, until the President of the United
States and the leadership here in Congress, the Republican leadership here
in Congress at the moment, levels with the American people about the deterioration
of their country's balance sheet, it is going to be awfully difficult,
quite frankly, for us here on the floor as blue dogs or any other Member
of Congress to convince the American people about how dramatic and how
drastically our collective financial deterioration has occurred.
Let me just try to put it very briefly in a context. Since 2001, when
we embarked on a different economic program, this Nation has gone into
debt another $2.3 trillion; $1.3 trillion of that has been borrowed from
private sources and, you know, what is so bad about this is that 85 percent
of this money has come from people who have loaned us this money who do
not live in the United States. I did some figuring today. Just based on
what President Bush and the Republican Congress has done in the last 4
years, and again, this is not partisan. You go to www.treasury.gov, the
U.S. Treasury Web site. What I am telling you is fact. It is not a political
argument. I wish it were. But it is not. You go to the treasury Web site.
What has happened to us is that, by these deficits, $157 billion in 2002,
we are paying interest at that year at 4.3 percent--2003, $377; 2004, $412,
the largest in history. Last year, $319. Anyway, you add all that up, we
are now paying $50-plus billion dollars a year in interest that we were
not paying before President Bush changed the economic game plan of our
country with this compliant Congress--$50 billion a year. What I tell people
is, quite frankly, what we have done is we have increased taxes on the
American people $500 billion over the next 10 years, and that is on interest.
Interest is a tax that cannot be repealed. Everybody out there knows
that when you run that credit card through, you do not have to pay for
it today; but you know at the end of the month you are going to get a bill,
and the bill is going to have interest on it. And where people get in trouble
when the bill runs up so high, all they can pay is interest, and when that
happens, that is when they get in trouble.
The United States Treasury announced the other day that for the first
quarter of 2006, they are going to have to borrow a record $171 billion.
This is just to finance our government for the first quarter of this fiscal
year. On February 9, we need to mark that down on our calendars, for the
first time in 5 years, the Treasury will have to offer a 30-year bond.
Do you know why they are bringing that back? We did not have it in 2001.
We could discontinue it then because we were on the road to some sort of
semblance of financial sanity.
February 9, 5 years later, we are going to bring back the 30-year bond.
Do we know what that means? It means we are borrowing so much money, we
have to long-term it, because we cannot afford it in the short term. That
is what the economic plan that we have been following for the last 4 or
5 years is doing to this country.
Now, if you do not think that is bad enough, consider the fact that
we now owe 44 percent of our privately held debt to people who do not even
live in America. Said another way, we are writing $185 billion worth of
checks every year for interest. We get nothing.
We get no health care, no veterans benefits, no anything. We write checks,
and 44 percent of those checks do not even stay in this country.
This has literally happened in about the last 50 months. It did not
used to be this way. In fact, when they got here, we had a $5 trillion
surplus. We do not need a surplus, but we need to pay our bills; and we
are not doing that.
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman raises such a great
point on the interest, and I think the American people need to know that
just on the money that we are paying these other countries, just on the
interest, it amounts to more than what we are paying for our own homeland
security.
Mr. TANNER. That is correct. This recklessness has got to be stopped.
The Blue Dogs will work with anybody. But until the President and the United
States Congress level with the American people and say we do not just have
a deficit that is cyclical that the country is experiencing, until they
will tell the American people the truth, we have a structural, institutionalized
built-in deficit that is going to sink all of us collectively as Americans,
not as Democrats or Republicans, as Americans, and rob our kids and really
our citizens of any hope of a better way of life.
That is what is at stake here. Until they level with us, we can come
down here and do these Special Orders, and I thank Mr. Ross and Mr. Scott
and Ms. Herseth and the others, but I tell my colleagues, this is not a
Democrat or Republican problem. This is an American problem; and until
they face up to it, we have a terrible situation here in Washington. I
commend the gentleman again for having this Special Order.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee, one of
the Founding Fathers of the Blue Dog Coalition, for sharing with us this
evening his thoughts on this issue. He is so right: Our Nation, just on
this debt, our Nation is spending nearly a half a billion dollars a day.
Our Nation is spending nearly a half a billion dollars every 24 hours,
simply paying interest on the national debt. Our Nation is spending nearly
a half a billion dollars, that is with a B, nearly a half a billion dollars
a day simply paying interest on the national debt.
A half a billion dollars, how much is that? We could build 100 brand-new
elementary schools every single day in America simply with the interest
we are paying on the national debt. I have Interstate 49 and Interstate
69 and Interstate 530 under construction in my congressional district.
Give me about a week's worth of interest on the national debt and I could
finish all three of them. So projects and priorities in this country will
continue to go unmet as long as we have this $8.53 trillion debt hanging
over our heads that is growing every day. That is the debt.
The other part of this the gentleman from Tennessee was talking about
is the deficit. Our Nation is borrowing $907 million every single day.
We are sending $188 million every day to Iraq and $33 million every day
to Afghanistan. At a time when America is at war, the Republican leaders
in this Congress are proposing an additional $70 billion in tax cuts. Never
in the history of this Nation has America cut taxes when it is at war.
And not only are we at war, but we are also coming off the most costly
natural disaster in our Nation's history; and they are proposing $50 billion
in cuts.
Mr. Tanner talked about how this is an American issue, and he is right.
It is also an issue that as a father concerns me. Cutting student loans
at a time when so many of us have children getting ready to go off to college;
cutting Medicaid, health insurance for the poorest among us so we can pay
for tax cuts for those earning over $400,000 a year, these are not the
kinds of values I was taught growing up at the Midway United Methodist
Church just outside Prescott, Arkansas.
Mr. Tanner mentioned how we have so much money that is being borrowed
to run our government from foreigners. We owe Japan $714.9 billion; China,
$191.1 billion; the United Kingdom, $152.5 billion; the Caribbean Banking
Center, $76.2 billion; Korea, $69.3 billion; OPEC nations, and we wonder
by gasoline is so high, OPEC nations, we have borrowed as a Nation $66.6
billion from them. The list goes on and on. In fact, we have borrowed,
this administration has borrowed more money from foreign governments and
foreign banks in less than 5 years than the previous 42 Presidents combined.
It is time to restore common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's
government.
Also joining us this evening is a relatively new
Member of Congress, a new member to the Blue Dog Coalition in her second
term, someone who has really made her mark here in Washington as a fiscal
conservative, someone who speaks with a lot of credibility on this issue,
and that is the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Ms. Herseth).
Ms. HERSETH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for his
kind words and for his extraordinary leadership on this important issue
within the Blue Dog Coalition and within the Congress on highlighting the
impact of budget decisions over the last 5 years that have created perils,
dangerous situations for the country now and into the future.
I would like to just share, if I might, and read from some quotes that
have come out, quoting individuals recently within the last week or two,
to highlight what Mr. Scott, Mr. Tanner, and Mr. Ross have already noted,
that this is not a partisan issue. There are those on both sides of the
aisle and those who do not have any affiliation with either political party
that are expressing the concerns with the budget reconciliation package
offered by the majority.
Let me first quote Robert Bixby, the executive director of the Concord
Coalition, from a statement he made just 2 days ago: ``This year's budget
resolution calls for two reconciliation bills, a spending cut bill of $35
billion and a tax cut bill of $70 billion.'' He is referring here to Senate
numbers. ``Simple arithmetic dispels the notion that this combination is
aimed at deficit reduction. It is hard to rally support for a spending
cut labeled the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 when it will be followed
by a tax cut that, by the same logic, should be labeled the Deficit Increase
Act of 2005.''
Or take a quote from our colleague on the other side of the Capitol,
Senator George Voinovich, a Republican from Ohio, a statement made just
last week: ``I do not know how anyone can say with a straight face that
when we voted to cut spending last week to help achieve deficit reductions,
we can now then turn around 2 weeks later to provide tax cuts that exceed
the reduction in spending. That is beyond me, and I am sure the American
people.''
Or let us take a statement from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan
from 2 weeks ago: ``We should not be cutting taxes by borrowing. We do
not have the capability of having both productive tax cuts and large expenditure
increases, and presume that the deficit doesn't matter.''
Or take a quote from the editorial boards across the country, including
one from the Des Moines Register: ``As a deficit reduction strategy, the
House GOP plan is ludicrous. After passing the budget cuts, next on Congress's
agenda is passing further tax cuts for the wealthy at a cost to the Treasury
of $70 billion over 5 years. Cutting spending by $55 billion while cutting
taxes by $70 billion will make the deficits worse, not better.''
The New York Times editorial board stated: ``An additional $70 billion
worth of upper bracket tax cuts heavily backed by the White House are waiting
in the wings and will drive the deficit even deeper across generations
of taxpayers. The administration and congressional leaders arranged to
separate votes on the two halves of the budget to obscure the full picture.''
Finally, from the Atlanta Journal and Constitution from last week: ``This
proposed belt-tightening by Congress is not being driven by national security,
deficit reduction, or hurricane relief. Instead, it has been proposed as
a way to finance a $70 billion tax holiday for the wealthiest Americans.
Congress can't tell the public one week that a dooming deficit is forcing
it to cut food stamps and Medicaid, then turn around the next week and
award the wealthiest Americans a generous tax cut.''
Mr. Speaker, that is really the bottom line here tonight, is it not?
And what we are trying to share with our colleagues and our constituents
is that if you do that, say one thing one week and turn around the next
week and do something that obliterates the savings that you claimed that
you were trying to achieve, that damages your credibility, it damages the
credibility of the work we do in this Congress. It damages the credibility
of the budget process, which is why the Blue Dogs have offered the 12 points
to reform the budget process.
Mr. Speaker, I agree with many back home in South Dakota that budget
cuts take courage. They do. They take a lot of political courage. Decisions
to cut spending, especially from popular programs, certainly are not easy
decisions. But I contend that it is cowardly not to be straightforward
with the American people about the priorities reflected in the entirety
of the reconciliation process.
As my colleagues have noted here earlier this evening, we can question
legitimately the priorities within the spending cut bill, the spending
side of the ledger in this reconciliation process. Take higher education,
over $14 billion worth of cuts out of the 50 to $55 billion overall on
the spending cut side of the package. This is a double whammy on our younger
generation, because not only do they have to pay thousands more to finance
their higher education, but they also have to pay the interest tax on our
national debt that increases.
Mr. Speaker, our knowledge base has been this country's way of staying
ahead of the rest of the world and maintaining our competitiveness in a
fast-changing global economy. But yet they take student loan programs that
represent 1 percent of the overall Federal budget and make it 30 percent,
roughly 30 percent of the spending cuts that they targeted in the spending
cut side of the reconciliation equation.
Then take agriculture and rural development. We cut all of these programs
out of agriculture and rural development that not only go back on the deal
we cut with farmers and ranchers in the farm bill in 2002 which, by the
way, has saved billions more than what was projected at the time it was
passed; but then we leave rural America behind at a time of skyrocketing
fuel costs, cutting value-added marketing programs, cutting programs intended
to expand broadband technology in rural America.
Then, take Medicaid. Medicaid, a program designed to help children,
pregnant women, people with disabilities, and the elderly. Now claims that
the growth of Medicaid spending is out of control cannot be supported when
you compare the growth in spending in the private sector. It is about half
in Medicaid as to what it is in premiums paid out and the growth of the
spending in the private sector for health care insurance.
So when you look at the number of people who are eligible for Medicaid,
that really requires a different approach and different solution, like
making it easier, not harder, to finance a higher education and making
it easier to get a higher-paying job. These cuts also in Medicaid affect
long-term care facilities, the residents, the staff, the communities; and
it affects the workforce, health and productivity issues that we face in
this country.
I also think we can raise serious questions as well about the priorities
within the preferential tax treatment portion of the reconciliation bill,
which extends provisions that are now secure until 2008, rather than providing
a fix for the alternative minimum tax, which is affecting more and more
middle-income taxpayers.
The final point here, we need to seriously question, as we have done
tonight, with our colleagues in the next couple of days, with the American
people, the overall result of this reconciliation package, which makes
the deficit worse, as we have demonstrated, which increases the country's
level of borrowing further, as Congressman Tanner pointed out with the
statistics of the foreign ownership of our national debt, and the increasing
percentages of that. The Treasury is set to borrow $151 billion in the
first quarter of 2006 alone, not to mention that this is simply an interest
tax on my generation, the generation following me, and future generations
of Americans.
Let me conclude by saying, let us stop the recklessness. I think the
American public wants us to stop the recklessness, to reform the budget
process as the Blue Dogs have proposed, restore the credibility in managing
the Nation's finances by taking action that reduces the deficit and puts
us back on track towards balanced budgets.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote no, oppose these
reconciliation proposals for both sides of the Federal Government's ledger,
for which the bottom line is even more red ink.
Mr. ROSS. I want to thank the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Ms. Herseth)
for her comments this evening, and I can assure you I join you in opposing
cuts to student aid programs. I join you in opposing cuts to Medicaid,
health insurance for the poor, for the disabled and the elderly. I join
you in opposing cuts to child support enforcement, and I join you in opposing
$3.4 billion cuts to agricultural programs, including $844 million to food
stamps, the elimination of school lunches and breakfast benefits for 40,000
children, $1 billion in cuts to farm commodity programs, and, yes, $1 billion
in cuts to rural development conservation and energy programs.
The gentlewoman from South Dakota is a real leader on the House Agriculture
Committee. I want to thank her for standing up and fighting those cuts
in that committee.
I promised you we would go over the 12 points to the Blue Dog budget
reform. The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott) is still here with me, and
we are going to try to get through these before we run out of time.
Quickly, number four, require agencies, these are our solutions, how
we fix the problem, restore common sense, fiscal discipline to our Nation's
government. Require agencies to put their fiscal year houses in order.
According to the Government Accounting Office, not some political party
group, according to the Government Accounting Office, 16 of 23 major Federal
agencies cannot issue a simple audit of their books. Worse, the Federal
Government cannot account for $24.5 billion it spent in 2003. The Blue
Dog proposal is simple, put a budget freeze for any Federal agency that
cannot properly balance its books.
Number five, make Congress tell taxpayers how much they are spending.
Number six, set aside a rainy day fund.
Number seven, do not hide votes to raise the debt limit. If the gentleman
would continue with a list, I think you have number 8 through 12 of the
Blue Dog plan for a meaningful budget reform.
Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Absolutely, our plan, the Blue Dog plan number
eight, is to justify spending for pet projects, that while we have many
projects that may be worthy, it is very important that we have written
justification available to the public so the public can see, and it strengthens
our credibility to make sure we are spending the taxpayer's money in an
efficient effective manner, justify the spending for pet projects.
Number nine, ensure that Congress reads the bills it is voting on. So
many times, we do not even have the time to read the bills we are voting
on. How can you vote intelligently on an issue if you are not even given
the time? The Blue Dogs will recommend that we at least be given a minimum
of 3 days to finally look at the legislation, to make sure that we understand
and have all the information for a vote.
Number ten, require honest cost estimates for every bill that Congress
votes on, most important. Get the right amount of money that it is going
to cost.
Number 11, make sure new bills fit the budget, pay-as-you-go, make sure
that we are not putting in more than we have to spend.
Number 12, make sure that Congress does a better job of keeping tabs
on government programs. The Blue Dogs propose that each committee be required
to submit a report at least twice a year, available again to the public,
which is very important that we make known that we want to make sure the
public is a working, participating partner in our 12 points.
Mr. Speaker, those are our 12 points. We are very proud of them. I think
they make sense. It gives vision. It gives direction. It gives purpose.
I want to just conclude, because I know our time is short, before I
hand it back to the gentleman from Arkansas, we are at Thanksgiving. What
an extraordinary time. Families all over this country a week from tomorrow
will be gathering together. We have got to make sure that we give them
aThanksgiving that they will appreciate, and I assure you that they will
not appreciate cutting Medicaid. They will not appreciate cutting the farmers'
programs. The veterans are not going to have a good Thanksgiving if they
know that their benefits are cut by $2 billion. Our students are not going
to have a good Thanksgiving if they know that the student loan program
is being cut by $14 billion; our children, child support $5 billion, child
nutrition, food stamps.
We have got to make sure that our people have a wonderful Thanksgiving
holiday. The way to do that is if they bring that budget reconciliation
bill up before we leave, in the name of the American people, we must vote
it down.
Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, members of the Blue Dog Coalition have come tonight,
not only to point out our Nation's debt and deficit, but to offer a solution
with our 12-point plan. We look forward to other opportunity in the future
to further discuss our 12-point plan for meaningful budget reform. |