Conference Report on S. 1932, Deficit Reduction Act of 2005

CONFERENCE REPORT ON S. 1932, DEFICIT REDUCTION ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - December 18, 2005)

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, Ruth Marcus, a reporter for the Washington Post, wrote the other day that those who forget history are condemned to be spun by it. I remember history. I have been here for a quarter of a century, and I have heard the representations made by Republicans in the administration and on this floor over those years, telling me how their policies were going to lead to fiscal responsibility, reduction of deficits, elimination of debt. It hasn't happened. Not in one of the 17 years has that happened.

In fact, when Washington is under the total control, absolute control of Republicans over the last 5 years, we have had the worst deficit performance in our history, and we have had much larger spending than we had under Bill Clinton.

There is only one person that can stop spending in America. You have heard me say this before. It is the President of the United States. He can veto a bill, and we have never in the 25 years I have served here overridden a President's veto that said we were spending too much.

As a matter of fact, the only veto override that I remember in the Reagan years was when we overrode a veto where President Reagan said we did not spend enough money. In that instance it was on defense; $4 trillion of deficits under Republican Presidents, $62.5 billion surplus under a Democratic President. That is the experience of the 25 years.

My friends, if we were responsible people, we would say we will cut spending, and then we will cut revenues. Because if we have the courage to cut spending, then we do not need to pay for the things that we cut. But if we do not have the courage to pay for what we buy, we are misserving the American public and, even more deeply, our children and our grandchildren. That is the consequence of your policy.

You come here cutting revenues. That is an honest policy, but you do not have the courage to cut the spending. You cut $50 billion, you say, in this bill, but you then cut $56 billion in revenue. You don't have to be much of a math expert to know that that is a $6 billion addition to the deficit.

Ladies and gentlemen, America expects better of us. America expects honest leadership. America deserves honest policies. The absence of honest policies has led to us incurring $1.5 trillion of deficits in less than 60 months. We can do better. We ought to do better. We must do better. Reject this irresponsible bill.

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Mr. HOYER. The chairman of the Budget Committee came to this floor and put a bag over his head because he was ashamed of serving in this House. He was ashamed.

Mr. NUSSLE. Would the gentleman yield on that point?

Mr. HOYER. Not yet.

Mr. NUSSLE. Well, the gentleman referenced me.

Mr. HOYER. I did reference you and I may do it again, but I will not yield yet.

He came to this floor, and he said he was ashamed. He was ashamed because of a bank scandal. It wasn't handled very well but there were no tax dollars involved, nobody lost anything and the account at Riggs Bank was never overdrawn. But, my friends, under his administration over the last 5 years, $1.5 trillion in deficits.

Now, let me tell you something. Economic performance, these are facts. This is not Dickens or Chaucer or Shakespeare or anybody else. These are facts from your budget book. Average weekly earnings, Bush I, minus 1.1 percent; Bush II, minus three-tenths of 1 percent; Bill Clinton, plus eight-tenths of 1 percent; Median household income, Bush I, minus eight-tenths of 1 percent; Bush II, minus nine-tenths of 1 percent; Clinton, plus 1.6 percent.

Poverty, Bush I, went up 1.8 percent. Bush II it has gone up 1.4 percent; Clinton, down 3.5 percent. Jobs, you talked about jobs. Bush I, plus-2.13 million; Bush II, now about 4 million; Clinton, 21 million new jobs average. Now, let me give you the averages. Bush I, 44,500 per month; Bush II, 34,678 per month; Clinton, 228,464 per month. Real GDP. Bush I, up 2.1; Clinton, plus-3.6 percent; Bush II, plus-2.6 percent.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, we like a lot of polls. The Dow Jones, that is sort of a poll on economic security, growth, confidence in our economy, Dow Jones under Bush I, up 46.7 percent. Under Bush II, now it has gone up a little bit the last few days, about 1 percent, from the time he took over to now.

Now, listen to this, my friends. This is a poll that counts about people who think our economy is doing well. Up under Clinton, remember it was 46 percent under Bush I, 1 percent under this President, under Bill Clinton, 255 percent increase in those 8 years.

So in conclusion, my friend, I will tell you that on every statistic, the representations you have made have been wrong. I will tell you the last 2 months, the last 2 months, ladies and gentlemen, the deficit in America went up $130 billion of deficit spending in just the last 2 months. That is the fiscal management that presents this program on the floor today. America ought to reject it, and we surely should on their behalf.

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