Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023

Floor Speech

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Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 327, I call up the bill (H.R. 2811) to provide for a responsible increase to the debt ceiling, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. ARRINGTON. 2811.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2811, the Limit, Save, Grow Act.

Over the last 2 years, President Biden has financed his radical agenda and vast expansion of the Federal Government with an unprecedented $10 trillion in spending, $6 trillion of which has been added to our national debt, the highest level of deficit spending in the history of America.

This unbridled spending spree has resulted in sustained record inflation, soaring interest rates, an economy in a recessionary tailspin, and a nation on the brink of a catastrophic debt crisis.

Mr. Speaker, the fiscal state of the Nation is bleak; our national debt is unsustainable; and the outlook grows more uncertain every day.

For 100 years, the debt ceiling has served as a check on our accumulating debt and its impact on the financial health of our Nation. No responsible leader can look at the rapid deterioration of our balance sheet and the unsustainability of our deficit spending and stand idly by defending the status quo.

Mr. Speaker, this isn't a Republican problem, and it is not a Democrat problem. It is America's problem, and it is a mathematical reality that requires real leadership from both sides of the aisle before it is too late.

House Republicans' debt ceiling proposal is an important first step to getting our fiscal house in order and a good faith effort to bring the President to the negotiating table.

Our plan will reduce deficit spending, save taxpayers $4.8 trillion, and begin extinguishing the flames of our current cost-of-living crisis.

First, we limit Federal spending by reining in and rightsizing the Federal bureaucracy. Our bill will reduce FY24 discretionary spending levels by 9 percent, $130 billion, returning us to the same spending levels we were operating under just 4 months ago.

Going forward, we will cap the growth of discretionary spending by 1 percent annually over the next 10 years, reducing wasteful Washington spending by over $3 trillion.

Mr. Speaker, put simply, this bill would require Washington to do what every American has been forced to do as a result of Biden's spending-induced inflation: tighten our belts and change our spending habits.

Second, we save taxpayer dollars by reversing some of the Democrats' reckless spending, reclaiming tens of billions in unspent COVID funds, defunding the President's army of 87,000 IRS agents, repealing special interest tax breaks for the largest green energy corporations, and rescinding President Biden's unconstitutional student loan bailout.

Third, this legislation will grow the economy by returning to pro- work, pro-growth, and pro-energy policies that will unleash American prosperity once again. It stops the assault on U.S. energy production and restores American energy dominance. It reins in Biden's unprecedented barrage of regulations. It breaks the cycle of poverty and government dependence for generations of Americans by restoring commonsense, Clinton-era work requirements for able-bodied adults.

Mr. Speaker, it is time to get America back to work, turn this economy loose, and let the tide of prosperity lift all boats.

We have put forward a plan worthy of the people we serve. Now, we must put aside political small-mindedness and rise to meet the enormous challenge facing our great Nation.

If we fail to meet this moment, then we risk being the first generation in history to leave our children a weaker America with fewer opportunities and a lower standard of living.

Let me be clear. We will pay our creditors, and we will protect the good faith and credit of the United States, but we will not give this President or any politician a blank check to bankrupt our country.

Mr. Speaker, this is where the reckless spending stops. This is where we speak up for our children. This is where we fight together to save our country.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 2811, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, the last time we had a significant fiscal reform it came through debt ceiling negotiations that were led by no other than President Joe Biden in 2011.

When President Biden negotiated the fiscal reforms in the debt ceiling in 2011, he said he was pleased and thankful to do it. He called it a normal process. He said that you have got to compromise, didn't like the my-way-or-the-highway approach, and said it was a great honor. I hope he shares those sentiments today and soon.

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Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, the Republican tax cuts gave us unprecedented growth and prosperity. It lifted 6 million people out of poverty and created the lowest poverty rate in the history of our great Nation. President Biden's budget recently has the highest levels of sustained spending, borrowing, and taxes in the history of the country.

Foxx), my dear friend and a champion of fiscal responsibility.

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Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues act like there are no alternatives for funding cuts and savings, like there is no waste, woke, and bloat in the Federal Government.

The President himself has issued 800 executive orders totaling $1.5 trillion. One of those items is the student loan bailout that benefits two out of three highest income earners in our country. It is costing taxpayers $700 billion.

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Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, you are going to hear about a number of vulnerable people, communities that get Federal funding, but you will not hear, I bet, anything about the most vulnerable group of people in this country, and that is the next generation of Americans who will inherit $31 trillion in debt, the highest levels of indebtedness in our Nation's history.

Where are they in this debate? That is the big question. Who is speaking up for them? That is a big question. I know my colleague will.
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Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, you will hear many of the tired, old, false choices like hungry children, struggling families.

I would remind you and the people of our great country who are experiencing sustained levels of 40-year inflation, who are struggling to put food on the table, that that has come as a result of reckless spending here in Washington.

There are a lot of programs: Global Equity Fund, electric buses and ferries, $80 billion for IRS agents, $27 billion for climate slush fund--I could go on and on. You will not hear any of that from my friends on the other side of the aisle.

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Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, again, with all due respect to my colleague from Texas, Democrats will act as if these are the choices, but they are false choices because they could choose to defund the moneys that came from Democrat earmarks to companies that create dirt bike culture or maybe--with all due respect to the First Lady--the Michelle Obama Trail in Georgia.

There is a list of things. You will not hear them today in this debate or any concern, in my opinion, for our children's future as it relates to the debt.

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Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, more ``Apocalypse Now'' from my colleagues who give electric vehicle tax breaks to people who make $150,000. That is not a priority when you are $31 trillion in debt. Government subsidized healthcare for people making over $300,000 is not a priority when you have a 10-year tripling of our interest, doubling of our annual deficits, and a bleak outlook for our children.

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Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to my friend and colleague, we are trapping millions of people in poverty and dependence on the government because we are not incentivizing people to move up and out of welfare so they can realize their greatest God-given potential. It is not compassionate to not expect the best out of our fellow Americans.

President Biden, when he voted to support commonsense welfare-to-work reforms said this: We need to replace the culture of welfare with the culture of work. We need to replace the culture of dependency with the culture of self-sufficiency. I agree with the Joe Biden that said that then. I hope he will come to his senses, come to the table, and do what he did in 2011: include responsible fiscal reforms as we lift the debt ceiling and pay our bills.

Mr. Speaker, I agree with my colleague. A budget is a vision and a statement of values. We have received the President's budget. We are conducting oversight. We will be presenting our full 10-year budget resolution. I can tell you; it will be starkly different than the President's and the Democratic Party's vision for America's future.

This budget will not ask for $100 billion more in discretionary spending while American families are struggling to buy groceries and put gas in their cars. It is just so out of touch.

We need the kind of leadership that will lean in and say we are going to be an example and that we are going to look for the waste, which is not hard to find in this town. We are going to right the ship and restore fiscal responsibility.

The President, also, as part of his value statement adds trillions of dollars--$65 trillion--in taxes over the 10-year horizon, which is the most that any President has ever proposed in the history of our country. He proposes spending to the tune of a quarter of our entire economy, which is the largest economy in the world. That is larger than any year of spending since we invaded Normandy. That is what our President is doing and putting forth as the Democratic Party's vision for this future in the midst of this economy that is struggling. Families are struggling. This debt crisis looms large on the horizon.

Where is the leadership?

I respect my colleagues. I appreciate their friendship, but this is the moment that we have to step up and put our fellow countrymen first and walk in their shoes and not get caught up in trying to protect with a death grip the blank check that we have seen and the endless money that is being printed and borrowed. It will end poorly.

We have this window of mercy to act, and we have got to act together ultimately for this to be sustainable because this is the first step. It will require many more steps. We didn't get here overnight. We won't get out of it overnight. We have to take the first step together. I implore my friends and my colleagues to come with us and do what has been done so many times.

That is the thing, Mr. Speaker. Eight of the last most meaningful, most significant fiscal reforms in this Congress came as a result and at the same time we were negotiating a debt ceiling. It is not wild, and it is not reckless. It is responsible to do that. You can raise the debt ceiling. You can pay your bills. You can protect the future for your children.

That is leadership, and that is what this country needs in this hour.

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Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, let me say how blessed I feel to serve alongside my ranking member. I appreciate his thoughtful comments, and we are going to do a lot of great things together.

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Mr. ARRINGTON. Mr. Speaker, leadership isn't easy, and boy, does our Nation need it right now. I know of such a leader. His name is Steve Scalise. He is our majority leader and a champion for freedom and fiscal responsibility.

Mr. Speaker, I thank again my ranking member, my friend, and my partner in public service.

My Democrat colleagues say, let's raise the debt ceiling today, and we will deal with the debt tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes. It never comes. We are prepared, I guess, to bury our children under the mountain of debt that we have amassed because of a government we think the people want and need.

How irresponsible, how reckless, how weak, how cowardly that we won't step up and do the right thing. I can't believe that the Democrat party has strayed so far left that ensuring that able-bodied people who are receiving public assistance work is an extreme MAGA idea and that it is radical for people to rein in spending to just last year's levels of spending.

I have heard a lot of fear-mongering, false choices, and phantom funding cuts, all in an attempt to accept the status quo.

Here's what the status quo has given us: skyrocketing prices, shrinking paychecks, soaring interest rates, a labor shortage, a culture of dependency, an overall weaker economy, and a more vulnerable Nation.

Mr. Speaker, all of us have contributed to this, I will admit. I have conceded that. But we have a moment in time. The hour has come. We have to work together to restore fiscal sanity in this place before it is too late.

The consequences of our failure to act, Mr. Speaker, could not be more grave. I will say it again. We have got to pay our debts. We have got to protect the good faith and credit of the United States. We cannot give an unlimited line of credit to any party, any politician, and allow our country to be bankrupted and to rob our children of the blessings of liberty in this land of opportunity. We shouldn't accept that. We should work together to be responsible, be leaders, leaders worthy of this great Nation.

Let's vote together in support of H.R. 2811.

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