Trade Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, prior to being elected to the U.S. Senate, I spent 28 years in business. When you are in business, you know you can't keep spending more money than you are taking in or you go broke, you go out of business. I was elected to help get our country back on track and get the reckless spending and record debt of Washington, DC, under control. In fact, the very first bill I introduced in the U.S. Senate was the Balanced Budget Accountability Act. It is pretty simple. It requires that the Members of Congress pass a balanced budget or they don't get paid. The people of Montana deserve real solutions to address the failures of Washington, DC, not more budget gimmicks and backroom deals.

In fact, Montana's farmers will suffer because of this budget deal. The crop insurance program was gutted as a way to make this deal work. Where was the voice of Montana? Where was the voice of rural America as this backroom deal was cut?

This deal takes our Nation in the wrong direction, and that is why I am voting no. This budget deal would increase our spending by $117 billion over the next 2 years and raise the debt limit through 2017. How big are these numbers? We are currently at about $18.1 trillion of debt. By the end of this 2-year agreement, sometime in 2017, we will be above $19 trillion. How big is 1 trillion? Do you know how long it takes to count to 1 million? If we were to count to 1 million 1 digit per second, 24 by 7, it takes less than 30 days to count to 1 million.

How long does it take to count to 1 billion? To count to 1 billion would take 32 years. Then the question is, How long would it take to count to 1 trillion? We are throwing around these numbers without much sense of how big they truly are when we are talking about $18 trillion--and soon to be $19 trillion--worth of debt. How long would it take to count to $1 trillion? It would take 32,000 years.

It is irresponsible for Washington to increase the limit on the Nation's credit card while at the same time busting the budget and increasing government spending with the false promise of far-off savings and new revenues that will never materialize. It is time that Washington, DC, takes a page out of Montana's playbook and stops spending more than we are taking in. It is time for commonsense solutions that protect the taxpayer and make elected officials accountable for delivering results to the people they serve because Americans deserve a thoughtful and open discussion, not one with backroom deals, about how to best support the Nation's priorities while also cutting wasteful spending and reining in this national debt. The current budget fails to provide a more secure future for the next generation of Montanans.

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