The Department of State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, FOREIGN OPERATIONS AND RELATED PROGRAMS APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008--Continued -- (House of Representatives - June 21, 2007)

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Chairman, I have had conversations with Mr. Blunt and I have also had conversations with Mr. Obey, and I want to tell the Members of the House that it would be my intention if we complete this bill and we can complete the Legislative appropriations bill tonight in the next 5 1/2 hours, then it would be my intention that we would not meet tomorrow.

I want all the Members to understand that we will complete the Legislative appropriations bill this week, but if we can complete both of those bills tonight, it would be my intention that we would not be meeting tomorrow.

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Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentlelady for yielding and I congratulate her for the work she has done.

First of all, this bill is $700 million below what the Republican President asked us to spend. All of this stuff about how we're the big spenders, when this bill is $700 million less than President Bush asked us to spend. Number one.

I have been in this House for 26 years. Eighteen of those years we have had Republican Presidents. During those 18 years, we have run up $4.5 trillion of deficit spending. One person in America can stop spending: a President. During those 26 years, a veto of a President that was vetoed because we spent too much money has never been overridden. Not once. $4.5 trillion of deficit spending under Ronald Reagan, George Bush I, and 6 years of George Bush II.

Now, Bill Clinton was President for 8 years during those 26 years that I have served. And we ended up with a $62.5 billion surplus in those 8 years. And perhaps if you come to this floor and say it enough, the big lie said over and over and over and over again, just like Frank Luntz wrote it for you, maybe the American public will believe it. Isn't it a shame, however, that Frank Luntz can't fix the figures in your budget document.

You have been in control, of course, for the last 6 years of everything. And guess what happened? We doubled the rate of spending from the Clinton administration to the last 6 years. Doubled it. And we, I can't know what the geometric figure is in terms of escalating the debt and going from a $5.6 trillion surplus which George Bush, President of the United States, said Bill Clinton left him, and you turned that into a $3 trillion deficit in 72 months. I daresay nobody in the history of the world has done that. Nobody in the history of the world has been that fiscally irresponsible. And for the large part you did it without a single Democratic vote. And you didn't need us to vote, because you were in control of everything.

And I sit there and listen to this, and I won't characterize it as my chairman characterized it, although I can't say that I come here and disagree with my chairman, but I won't characterize it. But honesty at some point in time has a virtue. You ought to try it. Just for a little bit.

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Mr. HOYER. My remarks are always addressed to the Chair, in case you need interpretation. Just assume that I am addressing the Chair.

Now, if any of my friends when they hear about me talking about irresponsibility would take that personally, understand that it is meant simply to be addressed to the Chair.

But if the shoe fits, put it on.

My friends, you have been a part for the last 6 years of the most fiscally irresponsible leadership in our history. The facts speak to that. Your budget book speaks to that. And what did you do, this family budget leadership group that we hear talking about? They jettisoned, they abandoned, they eliminated PAYGO provision which, by the way, was adopted in a bipartisan fashion in 1997 after we adopted it in 1990 in a bipartisan fashion. But you said, no, we can't live within PAYGO. That's too tight for us. Families might have to live in that, but we can't live in it.

So what did you do? You simply eliminated PAYGO. Well, we've reinstituted PAYGO, and our budget reaches balance. And we don't raise taxes. You like to say we raise taxes because, after all, Frank Luntz told you, Just say they're raising taxes. Doesn't matter whether it's true. The American public will believe it.

Ladies and gentlemen, this debate is designed to mislead the American public, because they don't read the budgets and the fine print. They perhaps do not remember that in 18 years, Republicans ran up $4.5 trillion of deficit spending while under Bill Clinton's administration we created a $62.5 billion net surplus with 4 years of surplus, the first time that has happened in the lifetime of anybody in this Chamber.

So I say to my friends that we can debate the substance of this bill, which is $700 million less than your President asked us to spend. The gentlewoman from New York has brought a responsible bill to this floor. The problem with these across-the-board cuts and what Mr. Obey really meant, Mr. Chairman, is that it is simple to say cut across the board, because you don't have to make any decisions. You don't have to defend any premise. You just have to say cut 1 percent. And as was pointed out earlier by Mr. Israel, does that mean 1 percent in defense spending? Does that mean 1 percent in military financing? Where they purchase, by the way, weapons from the United States of America. Does it mean a 1 percent cut in salaries or administration of critical programs that might be small programs? You don't have to decide. It's so simple. One percent. Won't hurt anybody. Fine. Then say where you want to cut.

I was an appropriator for 25 years and I don't like the across-the-board cuts because they are simplistic, imprecise, and cut the good with the bad. May there be bad in this bill? There may be. Offer an amendment to cut the bad and let's debate that, whether it's good or bad.

So, my friends, don't talk to me about fiscal responsibility. I've been here too long and I know too many of the facts. You cannot fool me. You can fool some of the people some of the time. You didn't fool them last November. And I don't think you're going to fool them in the future.

This is a responsible bill. If you don't like some portions of it, we've had 50-plus amendments for you to strike certain portions of it. But don't come to the floor and pontificate on fiscal responsibility. And, by the way, my friend, the government today is larger than the government when you inherited it.

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