U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern's Remarks at the United Chamber of Commerce's Annual Meeting

U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern's Remarks at the United Chamber of Commerce's Annual Meeting

Gillette Stadium
Foxborough, MA

Good afternoon and thank you for inviting me to join you at this luncheon today.

I want to thank the United Chamber of Commerce for sponsoring this event and also for the work they do day-in and day-out on behalf of the members.

I especially want to thank the Kraft family for hosting us in this beautiful facility and to congratulate them again on another outstanding season - a season we know is long from over.

After the Patriots won the Super Bowl in 2001, I wrote Jonathan's dad a letter encouraging him to hire Josten's in Attleboro to design and manufacture the Super Bowl rings.

Mr. Kraft liked that suggestion and as a result the Patriots had a local company responsible for those 2001 Super Bowl rings. I'm confident that the Patriots will be in a position to give Jostens some more business again this year.
I actually think that story is instructive for a couple of reasons:

First-Chambers of commerce do that sort of thing every single day - putting their members in touch with other businesses for the benefit of supporting the regional economy they serve. They do a great job advocating for their member businesses on a wide range of issues and, believe it or not, their voices are always heard.

Second - On a larger scale, I think that kind of strategic collaboration should serve as a lesson for all of us as we struggle to survive this sluggish economy. Only those that partner and plan will succeed because - to be perfectly candid - there is just no money.

I'll try to be as non-partisan as I can here - but I do believe that all of us should be concerned about the financial condition of our country. We are, to borrow a phrase, "spread very thin".

William H. Gross, a businessman and founder of Pacific Investment Management Company, described our situation in a guest column in yesterday's Washington Post as follows:

"The United States is overextended, not just militarily but economically. We are trying to do too much, borrow too much, spend too much and sooner or later we will have to suffer the consequences."

Now, I understand people have different opinions on the war in Iraq, but no one can dispute that the cost of that war, estimated at $5 to $6 billion a month-just for the military and not the reconstruction effort- has far exceeded all initial projections. And right now, we are paying that tab alone.

Congress has actually already appropriated $169 billion for the war and the reconstruction of Afghanistan and Iraq, with only a small amount of that going to Afghanistan.

We also have incurred the necessary but very expensive costs of improving our homeland security which many would argue has been underfunded.

Add to that cost the $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that Congress recently passed to supposedly stimulate the economy.
And now the President has announced that he wants to send astronauts to Mars and colonize the Moon. Ambitious proposals, important but costly.

So while our revenues are shrinking, spending is increasing.

Our deficit for this past fiscal year approached $480 billion - the largest in the history of our country.

Right now $4,300 of an average family of four's annual tax burden goes towards just paying down the debt - that is what we now call the "debt tax".

Now - none of you could run your businesses this way. And no bank would allow you to continue to take on debt unchecked by any corresponding increases in your revenues.

I mean there is a reason why we balanced the budget, reduced the deficit and started paying down the debt in the mid-1990s-it was to strengthen the economic position of this country-not to weaken it.

There is a cause and effect between the these things and not so long ago it was proven to work-we had record budget surpluses and were wisely investing in our infrastructure, our labor force and education.

So what does this mean for all of you….

Well, not far from here in Franklin there is a new interchange being built at the intersections of Route 495 and Route 140. It is a badly needed and very promising public works project that will expand economic development opportunities and add jobs in this region.

It is being built with $11 million in federal money that I earmarked in the TEA-21 Transportation bill that passed in 1998.
In Congress, we are about to consider the reauthorization of that six year major transportation spending bill this spring.
I must tell you that I doubt very much in the current fiscal climate - we could succeed in earmarking funds for such a worthy transportation project like that again.

In fact, I'm worried that without some increase in the gasoline tax (last adjusted for inflation in 1993) we may not match the same level of investment that we made in our infrastructure 6 years ago.

The US Department of Transportation has stated that $53 billion is needed annually to simply maintain our roads and bridges in their current condition. The DOT has also said that $75 billion is actually needed to improve our transportation system and to reduce congestion.

Here in Massachusetts-because of severe weather conditions and the comparative age of our infrastructure-the current condition of our roads and bridges is not very good. In fact, 50% of our 5,000 bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete and 44 % of our urban roads are in poor condition (US DOT).
So I think you can fairly apply the Route 495/140 interchange example to many other areas that are crying out for greater investment.

Such as the soaring costs of health care which I know you are all impacted by.

According to the 2002 Kaiser Family Foundation Report, health care costs increased for the 4th straight year - up 9.3%
I'm not an economist but it seems to me that one of the best ways to reduce health care costs and drive down premiums is to expand health insurance to those that are currently uninsured or underinsured. Whether you realize it or not, we all pay when uninsured people are taking to the emergency room.

The same Kaiser report also revealed that prescription drug costs remained the fastest growing item in healthcare - up 15.3%
I believe we need to introduce greater competition into the prescription drug market - including allowing access to cheaper prescription drugs in Canada.

Unfortunately, the recent Medicare bill specifically prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from negotiating lower prescription drug costs.

Now, you people do comparison shopping in your business in order to get the best price. Why shouldn't the federal government do the same?

It is important to note that there are also very simple ways to reduce the cost of health care in this country.

For example, right now 40 cents of every health care dollar is spent on administrative costs; overhead, paper etc. - most of which have no correlation to the quality of the health care delivered.

If we were able to reduce that 40 cents in administrative costs by a dime - just ten cents, it would save $480 billion annually.
I think these are the initiatives and strategies we need to focus on if this economy is to fully recover and I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.