House Democrats Delivering for the People

Floor Speech

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Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, House Democrats are delivering for the people, and let me explain to you how they are doing so.

Under President Biden's leadership, our economy is growing at nearly the fastest rate in over 40 years. The child tax credit is cutting taxes for hardworking middle-class families across the country. And by putting more of working people's own money back into their pockets, it is generating $20 billion in spending in local economies, supporting local businesses and jobs.

Now, Madam Speaker, we are hard at work to deliver even more for working families through the Build Back Better plan and the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

But while House Democrats are delivering for the people, unfortunately, some on the other side of the aisle are promoting misinformation about the coronavirus and opposing overwhelmingly popular vaccine mandates that will save lives and keep our schools open. Some of them, Madam Speaker, have even spread false narratives about the attack on our Capitol and on this Chamber nearly 9 months ago.

As The New York Times reported earlier this month: ``A growing number of Republicans and their media allies have downplayed the riot. Some have begun to treat it as a heroic act.''

Madam Speaker, this dangerous rhetoric from Republicans continues as Senate Leader Mitch McConnell now threatens the full faith and credit of the United States, and Senate Republicans refuse to do their job to ensure that America can pay its bills on time.

Let's be clear, Madam Speaker, raising or suspending the debt limit does not authorize new spending. It is about meeting obligations that the government has already made, including the bipartisan COVID relief package passed last year in December and vital payments to Social Security recipients as well.

In fact, much of the debt was accumulated under President Trump. The massive tax giveaways for millionaires and billionaires that Republicans pushed through under President Trump added $1.8 trillion to the national debt, and a full 97 percent, Madam Speaker, of the total debt subject to the limit was accumulated before President Biden took office.

Madam Speaker, it is no surprise that congressional Republicans voted three times--not once, not twice, but three times--to suspend the debt limit under President Trump.

Leader McConnell and congressional Republicans know what is at stake. In 2019, Mitch McConnell himself said that raising the debt ceiling, and I am going to quote, Madam Speaker, ``ensures our Federal Government will not approach any kind of short-term debt crisis in the coming weeks or months. It secures our Nation's full faith and credit and ensures that Congress will not throw this kind of unnecessary wrench into the gears of job growth and a thriving economy.''

Not my words, Madam Speaker, Mitch McConnell's words. He said it himself. This is about supporting American jobs and our economy. This is about doing our job for the American people.

We urge Leader McConnell: Stop playing games with the full faith and credit of the United States. Stop playing games with American jobs. Do your job to ensure that America can pay its bills on time by addressing the debt limit.

Now, I think it is important for the American people to understand why we are here standing up for the credit of the United States, and I can think of no one better to help explain precisely that than my good friend, the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Cartwright).

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Cartwright).

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Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman for his comments. He couldn't be more right.

He raises a real salient point, which is the hypocrisy of the minority leader in the United States Senate and the position that he is taking today in threatening the full faith and credit of the United States of America juxtaposed against the position that he took a mere year ago.

But it just so happens that we have several distinguished colleagues from the State of Pennsylvania who know a thing or two about the debt ceiling, and that includes our prestigious colleague on the Ways and Means Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Brendan F. Boyle).

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse), who does a wonderful job, as well as my friend, my fellow Pennsylvanian, Mr. Cartwright.

I am glad to be here in this good fight with them, but I wish we didn't have to be here fighting this fight. I mean, why do we do this to ourselves?

Here is what I mean. Congress does a lot of dumb things, historically, year in, year out. I think most people would agree on that.

But of all the dumb things Congress does, this repeated political food fight over the debt ceiling is without question the dumbest, the most unnecessary, and the potentially most dangerous.

Now, I want to point out, for the record, almost no other country on Earth even has this concept of the debt ceiling. In the few that do, none of them--none of them--have this sort of political fight where a figurative sword of Damocles is hanging over the entire country and its economy. It makes no sense, and there is no benefit to it, none.

Now, year in, year out, when we have this, again, dumb and unnecessary debate over the debt ceiling, a lot of people, especially people who have been in town for a while, will say, somewhat cynically: Well, you know, eventually, they are going to raise it. What is the fuss? Eventually, they are going to raise it.

Sure enough, every single time, it has finally been raised. But that kind of fight over seeing which side will give in first, that sort of political game of chicken, has a real cost.

I want to cite this figure. It was 10 years ago, almost exactly 10 years ago, that we came the closest to not raising the debt ceiling. It was in the summer, late summer of 2011. The GAO found that that delay in raising the debt limit, that sort of uncertainty as we approached the deadline, that increased the Treasury's borrowing costs by $1.3 billion.

Just imagine what we could do right now with $1.3 billion, what that would mean for my constituents in Pennsylvania or constituents in Colorado or in any State or any district in the country.

This has a real cost and, of course, if we were to ever go over the edge and fall off, the effects, not just for the United States but for the worldwide economy, would be devastating.

On the Ways and Means Committee, I have had the opportunity to interrogate a number of Treasury Secretaries over the years. Whether it was Trump's Treasury Secretary, Mr. Mnuchin, or President Biden's Treasury Secretary, Ms. Yellen, both have given almost verbatim answers when I asked them about what the consequences would be if we actually did ultimately default.

Here we are again at this point. Madam Speaker, what I want to do then is solve this problem, not just for this latest instance, but for all future ones. So I am introducing legislation this week, along with Budget Committee Chairman Yarmuth, the two of us.

Our bill works like this. It would give to the Treasury Secretary, now and in the future, the ability to raise the debt ceiling. If Congress disagreed with that decision, Congress could always overrule it by passage in the House and the Senate. But the authority would rest where it should, with the Treasury Secretary. This just makes sense.

It would eliminate, once and for all, this dumb political food fight. It would also ensure that this is taken out of the political realm and put where, frankly, it should have rested back in the beginning, over at Treasury.

Now, I have had a bill for years now, in many different sessions of Congress, to just scrap the debt ceiling altogether. The way it is practiced today was in no way envisioned when it came into existence almost 80 years ago.

But I understand the practical political realities of that, so we are pragmatically putting in this alternate approach, this different piece of legislation.

I would urge those in the House and Senate for whom raising the debt ceiling might be a politically difficult vote to consider this piece of legislation so that you, yourself, don't have to vote to raise the debt ceiling, but that the appropriate official, the head of Treasury, would have that authority, again, still reserving for Congress the ability to intervene if, for some reason in the future, we were to ever disagree with the decision of a future Treasury Secretary.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record an op-ed that I wrote on this subject just about a month or two ago, and I would urge all colleagues of mine, in the House and the Senate, to stop playing politics with this issue. The Debt Ceiling: A Broken Mechanism

Why do we keep doing this to ourselves?

Congress finds itself in an all too familiar position: working against the clock to reach a deal on the debt ceiling. Failure to raise the debt ceiling would bring default on our nation's debt, and likely worldwide economic collapse.

I can't help but feel a sense of deja vu as I remember this scene unraveling two years ago, and too many times to count before that.

The debt ceiling was created to put a cap on what the government can borrow--in order to pay its own bills. The government issues debt. Congress sets that debt limit. This explains why the debt ceiling needs to be raised or suspended continuously. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the government currently is $28.5 trillion in debt within this self-imposed limit. When the limit is reached, the Treasury Department can no longer pay its bills and risks defaulting on its own debt obligations.

Looking back at its own history, the debt ceiling has been raised over 100 times. What once may have been a helpful lever that could be used in a thoughtful way is no more. That noble function, if it ever existed, is but a thing of the past.

Instead, it has become highly politicized, costly, and downright dangerous.

Even if the debt ceiling is ultimately raised, just the uncertainty alone is costly. During the 2011 debt ceiling negotiations, in which a compromise was struck only two days before Treasury's borrowing authority would be exhausted, the GAO found the delay in raising the debt limit led to an increase in Treasury's borrowing costs of $1.3 billion.

The debt ceiling does nothing but create pointless panic, harming workers and businesses that fuel our economy. Factoring in our current recovery from the pandemic economy only exacerbates this self-inflicted Crisis.

Many people have lost jobs or seen household incomes drastically cut. The June 2021 data from the Census Bureau revealed there are 25 million people who are unemployed, or who live with an unemployed family member. There is a lot at stake out there.

It's clear we need to do everything we can to protect the integrity and fabric of our economy. Our current process of ``governing by a deadline'' does the opposite. The debt ceiling, and the recurring havoc it brings, is a completely broken mechanism.

With Democrats in full control of the White House and Congress, we must seize the opportunity to finally fix this flawed policy--by simply getting rid of it. This is why I have introduced legislation, House Resolution 1041, to kill the debt ceiling once and for all.

The time is now to make this common-sense change. We cannot wait a few more years. We need to work together to implement smart fiscal policies that grow our economy, and don't threaten to destroy it.

It is long past time to permanently retire this sword of Damocles.

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Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks and for showing once again the innovative and creative problem-solving that the good State of Pennsylvania is so well-known for, with respect to the legislative solution that he has proposed.

I certainly agree with his admonition that it is time for our political leaders to stop playing politics with respect to the debt ceiling. I hope our colleagues in the upper Chamber, including the minority leader, are listening.

I do want to zero in on one particular thing that my colleague from Pennsylvania referenced, which is the consequences, right? What happens if, in fact, the United States Government defaults?

I think a lot of folks watching at home are asking themselves that same question, so I would pose to my other colleague from Pennsylvania that same question.

What happens, as a practical matter, if we, God forbid, were to default?

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Mr. NEGUSE. Well, I would just simply say what is so striking about the consequences that you described, Mr. Cartwright, and that Mr. Boyle described, in terms of the warning that was given by Secretary Mnuchin years ago, is that congressional Republicans back then did the right thing. They heard the same warnings that Representative Boyle described, and they voted to increase the debt limit. They did it not once, not twice, but three separate times during President Trump's administration.

What has changed? That is the question that I wish the minority leader of the United States Senate would answer.

But I think we know the answer, that this is ultimately politics and gamesmanship. I would hope that for the good of the country, he and his colleagues would reach the same conclusion that they reached literally less than a year ago.

I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Brendan F. Boyle), because his experience on the Ways and Means Committee, I think, is instructive with respect to how we dispose of this particular question and issue.

Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania. Madam Speaker, one thing I want to make clear, as Mr. Neguse very eloquently did, is that the position on this side of the aisle has been completely consistent, regardless of the political party of the occupant of the White House.

I voted every single time to raise the debt ceiling while Donald Trump was President. I have served for 7 years, so 4 of those years under a Republican President, 3 of those years under a Democratic President. In fact, the majority of the votes I have cast to raise the debt ceiling have been under a Republican administration. For many of my colleagues on this side of the aisle, they can say the same thing.

So I am being completely consistent; those of us on this side of the aisle are being completely consistent. It is the other side, especially in the Senate, that is playing this political game that is so dangerous and so unnecessary.

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Mr. NEGUSE. Well, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania. Again, he couldn't be more right in terms of the hypocrisy of some on this particular issue and the adherence to, I think, the morally correct and economically correct position that so many on this side of the aisle have taken year after year after year. Our hope is that our colleagues in the upper Chamber will do the same.

Don't you agree, Mr. Cartwright?

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Mr. NEGUSE. Madam Speaker, the gentleman couldn't be more right. And certainly, the good news, for those that are watching, is that House Democrats are committed to doing everything that we need to do to ensure that the full faith and credit of the United States is not threatened or undermined.

We have a colleague who has joined us who has spent her entire career ensuring precisely that, and that is the distinguished gentlewoman from the State of Texas.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for her to address this Chamber on this subject.

Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, I am most grateful for the opportunity to join the gentleman from Colorado, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, and the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

I have just finished with a conference call with the director of the CDC, but I just could not miss the opportunity, because I am almost in a deja vu, having been here for--even shocking myself, because when you are enjoying serving, you don't count the years--but more than two decades. I have seen the dastardly results of government shutdown. So I want to thank the gentleman for bringing this to the floor.

Madam Speaker, I believe that it is always important to know who governs and how we are governed and what document do we yield to in terms of being governed. And I heard my friend from Colorado make the point that Democrats are ensuring that this government is governed.

This morning I was on the floor, and I made the point that I don't stand here as a Democrat or a Republican but as an American, an American that has the responsibility of government. And that means that all of the shenanigans in the other body should be immediately dispensed with.

One point of the Constitution that I always like reading is: We, the people of the United States, in order to create or to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare. This was the very premise that the Founding Fathers--and everyone knows the Constitution missed some elements on those who were slaves, missed elements on women. They missed some elements; they missed some issues. But the premise was that we gather for the general welfare, uniquely grounded in some values of European principles but uniquely American.

Why did we form this government?

So having lived through government shutdowns, let me just, for a very brief moment, capture the horrors of a government shutdown, which is tied to ultimately the CR, but the effort that we, as Democrats, our leader, our Speaker, our leadership, rightly so, were acting not as Democrats but they were acting as leaders of this Nation, protecting those who are most vulnerable.

So the full faith and credit is not something to dismiss. Let me say, over and over again--I know it has been said on this floor--we are paying bills. As I said, if you had the light on for the last 20 days, you have a bill.

So to lift the debt ceiling--and I would like to characterize it some other way--to provide the mechanism to pay your bills. If you had the cable on for the last 20 days, you are paying your bill. So we are simply paying the bill.

The lack of responding to paying bills creates inflation, puts a damper on the view of America as an international destination for businesses. It, in fact, crumbles the economy on the most vulnerable, the hardworking bus driver, union worker, teacher. Because what you have done is, you have not given their dollar substance. That is how they make a living; that is how they pay for their responsibilities of a quality of life.

I always think of the persons who cannot speak for themselves who are doing great work. Teachers are doing great work; paramedics are doing great work; nurses are doing great work. I always think of bus drivers, because I think of school bus drivers. There is a shortage of school bus drivers. They are all doing great work.

So let me say that I came on the floor because I clearly wanted to emphasize the eloquent and important points that you are making, that it is tomfoolery to make political points about the debt ceiling, which is a responsibility that cannot be gotten rid of.

So it would be okay if I said: Well, we would want to say that. When I say that, if you are playing politics, you say we don't want to do that either, meaning those of us who are governing. But it is an obligation of governing and governance, and it is constitutionally vested not only in the language of full faith and credit but in the opening statement of the Constitution. If we don't take care of the general welfare, then who will?

I am grateful, as I close, to say that I support the INVEST Act and one bill, the Build Back America Act. That is how I would proceed on the unifying of those. The reason why I connect that, again, is to make the point that, as I have read line by line of the Build Back--and I am on the Budget Committee, and we sat on a Saturday to bring this bill forward to you-all. And rightly so; we make no complaint about that. But to get this bill here. It is ready. We passed it out of the Budget Committee.

But as I looked at it, I have not deflected the gentleman here, deflected families. But it is a justice for women act. It is finally penetrating where women are in America, in terms of the care economy, in terms of pre-K, in terms of child care, in terms of family responsibilities. It is a bill that gives justice to women.

And so tie it to our responsibilities of governing, to lift the debt ceiling for payment of our bills, and also this book, the Constitution, doing our duty to create this Union that has been created to ensure general tranquility and the general welfare of the American people. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me and his leadership.

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Mr. NEGUSE. I thank the gentlewoman for her remarks. Those of us who have had the privilege to work with the gentlewoman from Texas know that her ability to speak truth to power really is second to none, and I think her argument is as compelling as it is straightforward. General welfare. Full faith and credit. Pay your bills.

And so I say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle in this Chamber and in the upper Chamber, it is time for you to do your job. Let's address the debt ceiling and let's get on with the business of this Congress in promoting and protecting the general welfare of our wonderful country.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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