Coats: We Need to Take Bold Action Today to Preserve our Country Tomorrow
WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Dan Coats (R-Ind.) today delivered his “return speech” on the Senate floor and urged Congress and President Obama to “take bold action today to preserve our country tomorrow.”
Click here to view Coats’ speech:
Below is the full text of the speech as prepared for delivery:
“Returning to the Senate is, in many ways, like having a chance to re-live a part of your life, yet doing so with the benefit of experience – gained from both my previous service in the Congress as well as my years in the private sector – that allows one to see things differently than before.
“While I can discuss with colleagues many things that are familiar and remain the same the second time around, there is also much that has changed in our country that requires change within this institution. And it is what has changed that has brought me back to the Senate.
“The more I witnessed what was happening to our country, the more I realized that I, along with many others, needed to re-engage in the task of returning our nation to the basic values and principles that have stood the test of time – not the least of which is a federal government that ensures a fiscally healthy nation whose finances and policies promote jobs and opportunities to its citizens.
“I did not want to be part of the first generation to leave our children with a country worse off than the one we inherited.
“When I first came to Congress in 1981, one of the very first major votes I was asked to cast was to raise the national debt limit above the $1 trillion level. Our nation had survived, grown and prospered for nearly 200 years before reaching the $1 trillion debt mark.
“As a then-newly elected member of the House of Representatives – having pledged to limit the ever-increasing reach of the federal government and vote to cut, not increase spending – it was not a measure that I wanted to support. But gritting my teeth and swallowing hard, I followed the request of our new President Ronald Reagan to pay past bills and get on with the business of cutting spending and reducing taxes.
“It took nearly 200 years for our country to accumulate $1 trillion of debt in 1981; only eight more years to reach $3 trillion and in just the past two decades that number has more than quadrupled to over $14 trillion.
“To say government has grown too big too fast is an understatement. And the danger is that this rapid government growth comes with a very steep price tag that threatens both our way of life as well as our nation’s security.
“During the decade of the ‘90s, the combination of economic growth, the defeat of the 1993 health care plan and President Clinton’s decision to move to the middle and support welfare reform all contributed to moving us toward a more fiscally responsible balance between revenue and spending.
“Finally, after years of battling recession and inflation America generated a budget surplus of $69 billion in 1998, the first surplus since 1969. This would have been the time to lock-in a balanced budget constitutional amendment and hold Congress and the White House accountable for future spending.
“Despite two serious attempts by Congress to pass such an amendment, the measure failed by just one vote. Had such an amendment passed and been ratified by three-fourths of our states, I do not think we would be faced with the dire fiscal situation that exists today.
“Unfortunately, the budget surplus in 1998 did not last.
“I am going to forgo the details of our exploding deficits and debt that has accumulated over the years. Much has been said already and published in this regard. Based on the results of the last election, the American public is better informed and more aware of our current financial situation and the dangerous consequences of unchecked spending.
“We have simply spent beyond our means in all areas of the government. Washington has increased unfunded liabilities and committed to programs which we cannot afford or sustain.
“Americans have heard the warnings of many who have analyzed our situation and sounded the alarm calling for immediate action to avoid a national fiscal crisis of unprecedented negative consequences.
“Many respected economists and financial experts have and continue to issue dismal warnings about our current fiscal condition. I’ll quote just a few examples:
“Erskine Bowles, former chief of staff to President Clinton and co-chair of the President’s deficit commission, said, ‘This debt is like a cancer,’ that ‘will destroy the country from within’ unless Washington acts.
“Pete Peterson, former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and finance executive, said this about the massive debt, ‘We need to ask ourselves, not just is this sustainable, but is it moral? What does it mean to burden our kids to an unconscionable doubling of their taxes?’
“Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of our military, said, ‘I believe that our debt is the greatest threat to our national security. If we as a country do not address our fiscal imbalances in the near-term, our national power will erode, and the costs to our ability to maintain and sustain influence could be great.’
“Former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker who served under both Republican and Democrat administrations said, ‘What threatens the ship are large, known and growing structural deficits…Habitually spending more money than you make is irresponsible.’
“But that is exactly what Washington has done– habitually spend, sinking our fiscal ship deeper and deeper each year.
“And so we saw a drastic swing in voter response this past November. Hoosiers and Americans united together in a common purpose demanding that our newly elected representatives repair our fiscal health that has been destroyed by excessive tax-and-spend policies.
“They called for a change in course. They called for bold action today to preserve our country tomorrow. They realized that the stakes are too high to ignore or delay addressing our fiscal challenges.
“Hoosier families and businesses; local communities and states and virtually every other entity across Indiana and the country have had to make sacrifices to trim their budgets. They are now calling for the federal government and Congress to do the same.
“But we cannot succeed unless we together – Republicans and Democrats – can agree that addressing our current fiscal crisis requires political courage and bold action from both parties, both chambers of Congress and President Obama.
“I believe Congress must execute a coordinated series of essential steps if we are serious about addressing the fiscal challenge before us.
“First, stop the fiscal bleeding and avoid economic distress. Washington must break its spending and borrowing addiction. Like curing any bad habit, it will take discipline and commitment.
“As we consider spending cuts and ways we can reverse the growth of government, everything must be on the table. All functions of government should be examined, including mandatory spending and defense.
“Serious discussions and proposals are currently underway in Congress that will set us on a course to fiscal health. I am participating in many of these discussions and hope this body will consider, debate and vote on these proposals.
“Second, we must recognize that spending cuts alone will not solve our fiscal challenges and preserve our future. We need to pair our cuts with a pro-growth agenda that puts Hoosiers and Americans back to work.
“One of the ways Congress can achieve this goal is by reforming the tax code. By lowering marginal tax rates on individuals and businesses; eliminating exclusions and special interest deductions and credits and simplifying the complex and convoluted tax code, Congress can help advance the economic recovery. I believe this is a necessary element in the task of returning to fiscal health. I am working to introduce legislation on this very topic in the coming weeks.
“Third, Washington needs to examine, reduce and in many cases eliminate harmful regulations and mandates. As I travel across Indiana, Hoosiers often tell me about the impact of burdensome regulations coming down from unelected Washington bureaucrats. These federal regulations increase costs on our job creators, stifling innovation and growth. Oversight and proposals to address the regulatory burdens are being considered by Congress and I hope we will be able to vote on these measures as well.
“Fourth, we need to continue to promote free trade policies. Approving the three pending trade agreements – Korea, Colombia and Panama – would be a good first step to open up our markets and increase job opportunities here at home. There are currently over 6,000 companies that export goods from Indiana and nearly a quarter of all Hoosier manufacturing jobs depend on exports.
“Having said all this, the greatest threat to our fiscal security is the growing and unsustainable mandatory spending. We cannot strengthen our country’s financial health without addressing Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
“These programs, including interest on the national debt, consume nearly two-thirds of the federal budget.
“While we hear a lot of talk about the need to tackle entitlement spending, little action occurs because it is often considered too politically dangerous. However, we no longer have a choice.
“We can no longer defer addressing these problems until after the next election. The entitlement crisis is here today. We must commit to finding a way to restructure entitlement programs and make them solvent.
“As Winston Churchill once said, ‘One ought never to turn one's back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half.’
“Well we haven’t met it promptly, but it’s not too late to begin the process of making common-sense adjustments to the current systems. Modest, incremental changes now will help us avoid more drastic and painful changes later.
“In 1983, Social Security faced a looming crisis, but President Reagan and Democratic congressional leaders joined together and reached an agreement on a series of incremental reforms that helped preserve the program for the last 30 years.
“That is what we need to work toward today – restructuring entitlement programs to preserve benefits for Americans without bankrupting states and deepening the national debt. The goal is not to undermine these needed benefits; the goal is to be able to offer them for future generations. Failing to act not only will prevent the survival of these programs, but also the survival of our economy.
“Over the past decade, we have watched as the fiscal storm clouds have gathered and watched as they have become darker drawing ever closer. The fiscal storm is now bearing down upon us and the alarms are sounding louder.
“As I have said, it is incumbent upon each of us in the Congress to acknowledge that the storm is here and to do ALL we can to mitigate the damage. But given the current division of authority between the two parties and the two chambers, to succeed we will need to set aside the politics of 2012 for the future of our nation.
“However, no matter what we do as elected representatives, we cannot ultimately succeed without the engagement, support and leadership of the President.
“We know the President understands the gravity of our fiscal crisis. As a former senator, as a presidential candidate and now as our commander-in-chief, he has clearly articulated his understanding of the issue.
“In 2006, then-Senator Obama said, ‘Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership.’
“In 2008, presidential candidate Barack Obama said, ‘We’re going to have to take on entitlements and I think we’ve got to do it quickly.’
“And in 2009, President Obama said, ‘What we have done is kicked this can down the road. We are now at the end of the road and are not in a position to kick it any further.’ He also promised his administration would ‘work with Congress to execute serious entitlement reform.’
“Now, President Obama, as both Republicans and more and more Democrat members of Congress are committing to go forward – and as Republican and Democrat governors of states in fiscal peril are responding – our nation needs you to assume the primary leadership role in helping us avert financial meltdown.
“The 2012 election must be subordinate to the urgency of the challenge before us. We cannot afford to wait until 2013 to begin the necessary work to prevent a fiscal disaster. We need presidential leadership now. Our country’s future is at stake.
“Given the immensity of the fiscal challenges we face, some would say that it’s too late to remedy the problem. I don’t hold that view – primarily because of our nation’s history in rising to the challenge.
“From the Founding Fathers and George Washington to Lincoln, Roosevelt and Reagan, times of trial and crisis have always produced moments of great leadership and the response of the American people to support that leadership.
“And that is what Americans are yearning for today: leadership – leadership to guide us out of this dangerous financial hole that threatens our nation’s security and future.
“So I ask the President – as other presidents throughout our history have done in times of major threats – grant us the leadership needed to restore the strength and prosperity that has been the American story and has allowed our nation to be the defenders and protectors of democracy and freedom.
“Thirty years ago, when Ronald Reagan delivered his first Inaugural address, he expressed the urgent need to rein in spending and curb the size and growth of the federal government.
“President Reagan said doing so would require, ‘our best effort, and our willingness to believe in ourselves and to believe in our capacity to perform great deeds; to believe that together, with God’s help, we can and will resolve the problems which now confront us.’
“For each of us serving today, I believe it is our duty to rise to the immediate challenge and ‘resolve the problems which now confront us.’ It will take all of us uniting behind a common purpose – that above all else, we must first restore and strengthen our fiscal security. We must articulate a clear vision, set specific goals and make the tough decisions needed to bring our nation out of debt and preserve prosperity and opportunity for future generations.
“I am here today to commit to Hoosiers, my colleagues, my children and grandchildren and all our nation’s children and grandchildren – that I will not turn my back on our economic dangers or seek the false safety of political denial.
“I am standing here today to find solutions – to make the hard decisions – and to leave behind a country that is stronger and more fiscally secure for future generations.
“This crisis is not insurmountable. We can overcome it by doing what great generations before us have done – mustering our will to do what’s right. If we do, I know America’s greatest days are not behind us, but still lie ahead of us.”
# # #