Saving the Republic
Floor Speech
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Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague Congressman Good, and I appreciate the words of wisdom of my colleague Ralph Norman.
Mr. Speaker, let me begin with an uplifting statement. God is still on the throne, and we, his humble children, have a responsibility to be worthy of his love and grace and the anointing of what it is to be an American citizen.
Every generation of Americans has risen to face the challenge and threat that our Nation has endured now 240 years.
In our generation, one of the most insidious threats that we face is the degree of debt that we have allowed, in my generation, our Nation to assume. We now face a $33 trillion debt. That is $33,000 billion.
Mr. Speaker, if this body were to balance the budget--which is our goal, by the way. It is why we are here tonight addressing this Chamber and the Nation that we love, standing shoulder to shoulder with each other so that our words are forever inscribed on the historical record of our country, that some stood to fight for the future of our Republic, to restore fiscal sanity to this body.
Were this body to produce a balanced budget and we were to run a $1 billion surplus, Mr. Speaker, it would require 33,000 years to address a $33 trillion debt with a $1 billion surplus, and 1 billion is 1,000 million.
Every American has imagined, well, what would I do if I had a million dollars? I would pay off my house, settle my debts, take care of my family, build mother-in-law a house. I would set aside some money for my children and my grandchildren. I would bring generational growth to my family if I won the lottery and had a million dollars.
In this town, we throw around trillions like it is nothing. Every dollar that we spend in deficit every year is put upon our grandchildren. Is this reflective of anointed value that our Lord has bestowed upon us as American citizens?
As we stand beneath the glory, Mr. Speaker, of one flag, we are ultimately one people. The challenge of this generation and this body and this majority party, this Republican Party, an honor that I wield not upon my lapel but within my heart of what it is to be a conservative constitutionalist Republican American citizen, I stand in the body that is responsible to correct course that our Nation has taken up.
Mr. Speaker, it was 1980 before America had accumulated $1 trillion of debt. Since then, we have added $32 trillion of debt.
It took 200 years to accumulate $1 trillion of debt, and now we have $33 trillion. It is unsustainable, so we are demanding a correction of course because our Nation is headed precipitously to a fiscal cliff beyond which we may never recover as a Nation.
We love our country enough that we are willing to stand and fight for the future of our Republic. If it makes some of my colleagues uncomfortable, oh, well.
If you are willing to participate in the change of spending trajectory that this generation is required to produce, then stand with us. If not, if you don't quite have the courage, at least get out of our way. If you oppose us, prepare for a fight.
We love our country enough to stand in this Chamber and make some noise about the debt that we have accumulated and the deficit spending that we continue to add.
Perhaps my colleague, Congressman Good, has a comment to share with the Speaker regarding the difference between our national debt and our annual deficit and how quickly we are adding to our debt at a rate that has never been seen in our history.
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Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, our Nation can still succeed, reflective of the will of the people that we have sworn to serve. What we require in order to deliver is not an imagined, unreachable goal or an unreasonable demand. What we require of our Republican colleagues is that they embrace the core principles upon which the Republican Party has been built. Just stand upon the core principles that they claim to possess and help us save our country from bankruptcy.
We have the power of the purse. May I say with respect to my colleagues in the Senate, the Founders knew what they were doing when they created a bicameral Congress. If they wanted a unicameral Congress, they would have had one. That was stated last night at our Freedom Caucus meeting, words of wisdom spoken.
We are the House of Representatives. We are the voice of we, the people. We control the Nation's wealth or squander it. We have reached a point that is untenable to continue.
We ask our brothers and sisters, the most conservative rank of our conference, the Freedom Caucus, all of whom we respect, we ask the Speaker, whom we elected, to stand with the conservative voice that is itself reflective of the voice of the people we have sworn to serve, let us change the trajectory of spending across our 12 appropriations bills which are filled with conservative policy that is transformative for our Nation if we can pass those bills. Let us join and stand as one and pass those bills reflective of our agreement at 2022 spending levels, and in some cases pre-COVID 2019 spending levels.
None of us here, Mr. Speaker, would stand and say that the Federal Government was too small in 2019 or didn't spend enough money in 2022. All we ask is a reasonable adjustment to the trajectory of spending. This is why we are speaking to you tonight, Mr. Speaker, and we ask that our voices be heard respectfully by our colleagues. Let us save our Republic.
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Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Norman and Congressman Good.
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