In Opposition to Democrats' Reconciliation Package
Floor Speech
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Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania. I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma, and we do sit on the Committee on Ways and Means together.
Madam Speaker, I just think that where we look at today, I have heard so much in the last couple weeks about looking at this as kitchen table economics.
Madam Speaker, if you want to talk about it in real terms that every single American would understand, people who actually do their bills at their kitchen table, that figure out what their future looks like at their kitchen table, then we need to start talking in terms that they understand.
So when we talk about what America gains in revenues, what this Federal Government gains in revenues each year is $3.5 trillion. This Federal Government spends $6.5 trillion.
Now, people say, well, that is not too bad. That is only a $3 trillion difference. But what it comes down to, if you want to use kitchen table economics, let's talk about what it means to people who actually sit at a kitchen table, sometimes work two jobs, sometimes not only the father but the mother gets up and go to work every day to put food on the table and put a roof over the head of their children and plan for the future.
Let's talk about kitchen table economics, and let's reduce it down to terms that people actually understand: A person making $35,000 a year thinks it is okay to spend $65,000 a year.
Nobody with any type of economic sense or common sense would say: I think that is okay. I think that is the way I should live my life. I think that is the way I should plan for the future because I think it is going to be really great for my kids and grandkids going forward.
$3.5 trillion in revenue from taxpayers, and the government is spending $6.5 trillion. That is a difference of $30,000 a year for the average person on their kitchen table who is spending $30,000 more a year than they bring in. That is lunacy. Nobody would tell their sons or daughters to plan their life that way.
The reason I brought this picture of this iceberg is because I believe America right now is facing a Titanic moment. The truth of the matter is, we can't really see what our total debt is. It is below the surface. Funded and unfunded liabilities right now, which the American taxpayers are responsible for, is $130 trillion.
It is truly a Titanic moment. We are steaming toward an iceberg that is going to sink the ship. We sit back and talk about these things in terms that don't really matter. We talk about tree equity. We talk about this equity and that equity. What we don't talk about is the equity to hardworking American taxpayers.
We don't talk the truth to them, and we hope that we will pass a bill that they can't possibly imagine it can't possibly be paid for by only those making $400,000 or more a year.
The constituents that I represent in Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District know what it is like when they go to get a gallon of gas. They know what it is like when they have to heat their home this winter and know that it is probably going to be 50 to 60 percent more this winter than it was last winter.
Their gas, their groceries, everything that they consume is going up at a rate that they can't possibly imagine. And they can't imagine it because they are not being told the truth.
We are talking about we are going to build it back better. We are going to ruin the greatest Nation the world has ever known by unsustainable spending and by an administration that fails to tell the whole truth and what is below the surface and what is going to sink the ship.
The tip of the iceberg is the only thing the American people see right now. The truth lies below the surface. Getting the truth out is almost impossible, especially in this House, in the people's House on this floor.
Madam Speaker, I am sorry to interrupt you. I know you are busy reading something there, but perhaps you ought to read that bill. You ought to see exactly what is being proposed. I don't believe the majority has read that bill. I don't believe the majority really believes in that bill. But I do know the majority will continue to keep their heads down, read their phones, read their cards, and listen to a false narrative coming out of the White House and a complicit media that refuses to tell America the truth.
We are at a Titanic moment. We are facing debt we cannot possibly sustain. We are taking ourselves out of a position to be the strongest country in the world, and we are doing it right here in the people's House. We are discussing taxes and cost of living that are off the charts, that we have never seen in our life before. And we can continue to read our phones, read the teleprompter, and whisper to people: Just pay your fair share.
Really? Really? Is that the way we are going to run it? Is that the way we are going to go forward? Are we going to go home to our home districts and say: Look, you are just going to have to pay your fair share.
That is what we are going to keep telling them. We will whisper our way through this crisis, and it will end up as a disaster.
How anybody can sit on the floor of this House representing their home districts, three-quarters of a million people is what most of us represent, and go back home and tell them: I did what was right for you.
Never before has this country ever faced the crisis it is facing now. It is not because of a foreign power. It is not because of somebody trying to take us over. It is the rotting that is taking place right inside this House in this session.
Madam Speaker, I would implore every single Member of the House--I don't care if you are a Democrat; I don't care if you are Republican; I don't care if you are liberal or you are a conservative, just stop being stupid because there ain't no fixing stupid.
The path we are on right now is a complete disaster. Everybody knows it. Not everybody speaks it because they just don't want to break ranks.
This is a Titanic moment. This is what America is facing. I would implore each Member of this House to wake up and do what is right for the American people.
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