Continuing Extension Act Of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, it was fascinating to be here in the Senate Chamber this morning when first the Senator from Iowa made the statement, ``I'm all for paying for things.''

I am all for paying for things? But not for this. Not for that. Not for the next thing.

Watching the Senator's voting record, it seems that everything is an emergency. He certainly does not seem to want to be paying for anything, just add it to the debt.

Mr. COBURN. Will the Senator yield for a moment.

He talked about a tornado in Oklahoma. When the Oklahoma City bombing happened and we sent emergency funds to Oklahoma City, we paid for them. We decreased spending somewhere else to pay for that spending. His point falls on a flat wall because when we had an urgency such as that in 1995, we paid for it.

Mr. BARRASSO. I heard the Senator, my good friend from Michigan, a few minutes ago say it is the United States versus China. My good friend from Michigan said we are laser focused on China and that China is spending money every day to beat us.

I think the problem is the government in Washington is spending money every day--the taxpayers' money, money we do not have, and that is what is going to beat us. It is money irresponsibly being spent by this government in this city, voted on time and time again by a Washington government that doesn't live within its means, doesn't do what the States in this country do, where we do live within our means. I served in the Wyoming Senate where we did balance the budget. The Governor had a line-item veto. We had to balance our budget. It is the spending by us in the United States that is going to lead to China beating us, not money being spent in China every day.

That is why on the front page of the Wall Street Journal today, above the fold, right there, Wall Street Journal, Friday, March 26, 2010, ``Debt Fears Send Rates Up.'' The fear of the debt is sending rates up.

What it means is people do not think we are responsible in the way we are living. We are not living within our means. We are not doing what a family does in this country, where a family says we have to live within our means. When the Senator from Iowa says you can't go down and get an extended line of credit if you have already tapped your credit, this country continues to do it. Washington continues to overspend and not live within its means. The amount of spending being done, often under the guise of saying it is an emergency, has been irresponsible, unsustainable, and my concern is it will soon be irreversible.

I believe in this country. I believe in America. We are a strong nation. We are a resilient nation. We are a proud nation. And we are a nation that has faced down some of history's most vicious tyrants, we have faced down some of the most incredible obstacles, challenging obstacles, and we have risen to the occasion time and time again.

Today, here we are, faced with many challenges, none of which is too large or too difficult for the American people to overcome. But the President of the United States has determined the people cannot be trusted to overcome the obstacles we face. Instead, here in Washington, Democrats believe the government continues to be the answer. I am here to tell you that government is not the answer. The government is the problem.

Americans have been promised transparency, accountability, hope, and change. Instead, what the American people have been given is irresponsible and unsustainable spending, along with unthinkable government intervention into nearly every aspect of our lives. This country needs an economic environment where people, where individuals, where families, where businesses can recover and thrive. What the administration has done is give us more bureaucracy and more debt and it is going to get worse now that the health care bill has been signed into law. To make matters worse, this government in Washington is sending the bill to our children and our grandchildren.

Look at the proposals that are ahead of us here--costly cap-and-trade proposals which are going to raise costs and raise energy prices for American families, government-run health care, irresponsible bailouts of every industry in sight, one takeover after another, where government says we know better than the American people.

Government is wrong. I have great concern that people here in Washington are completely out of touch with what is happening in the real world. I go home to Wyoming every weekend. I am going today. That is the best way to do it, to go home and listen to people who have to balance their checkbooks, people who have to live within their means, and then visit with State legislators who know when they go to the capitals of their respective States that the States have to live within their means, balance their budget, don't overspend, tighten the belt, cut spending if we need to.

Watching this debate in the last couple of weeks with health care, having practiced medicine for 25 years, we need to focus on the overall health of people as well as the economy, because if people cannot put food on the table or a roof over their head, no matter what additional bill is passed in Washington--which spends more money--that is not going to make it easier for the families of America. Spending billions to combat global warming--global warming--billions, it seems senseless for somebody who is retired and can't afford to heat their home in the Wyoming winter.

There was a time when our leaders recognized that America's most valuable asset was the American people. I continue to believe that. There is a reason the preamble to our Constitution begins with, ``We the people,'' not ``You, the people.'' Our forefathers created a system of government through which free Americans get to decide their own fate. Today the very fabric of America is in danger of being tattered beyond repair, and every time I go home, as I travel around the State of Wyoming, people continue to tell me we are losing our country. I am not the only one who is hearing it. When Senators, when Representatives go home--and many of us do go home every weekend--we are hearing it State by State. Those Members of Congress who choose to not go home, to not go visit with the people they represent, to not hold town meetings because they are told by leadership don't go listen to the people, listen to us--those are the kinds of people who continue to vote for irresponsible spending.

I am hoping Members go home over the upcoming Eastertime, go home and listen to people in their own home communities who will say Washington needs to live by the same rules families in America live by--live within your means. American families know what it means to live within your means.

Since the beginning of this crisis, Americans have been forced to make some very difficult choices and to tighten our belts. Financially stressed Americans balance budgets for food, for gas, for electricity, for tuition, for clothing, rent, mortgage payments, and much more. When your neighbor maxes out the limit on their credit card they are keenly aware this is a clear indication of a spending problem. They cannot call the credit card company and simply say increase the credit limit. Unfortunately, we know Washington is not your average consumer. President Obama said it best. He said:

In the long run we can't continue to spend as if deficits don't have consequences, as if waste does not matter, as if the hard earned tax dollars of the American people can be treated like monopoly money.

Let me repeat that. This is President Obama who said last year, right before Christmas, ``We can't continue to spend as if the hard earned tax dollars of the American people can be treated like monopoly money. That's what we have seen time and time again.'' He said ``Washington has become more concerned about the next election than the next generation.''

Those on this side of the aisle are most concerned about our economy, our Nation, jobs, growth, opportunity, the families of this country. This is a long-term problem and it must be addressed in the short term. We cannot afford to wait. We cannot continue to call everything emergency spending without paying for it.

The American people are demanding action. Time and again Washington's insatiable appetite for spending is met with more of the same. Only in Washington can you max out the country's credit card at $14 trillion and simply keep on spending. Unlike your average American, Washington has refused to make the tough choices needed to rein in unsustainable deficits we are now facing. Since we are not making the tough choices, the cost of handling the debt is continuing to go up. Interest rates are rising which means the amount of money that is going to go to pay that debt will continue to rise. Yet we are looking at a deficit that continues to rise, $1 trillion a year, all the way through 2020, and a Presidential budget that will double the national debt in 5 years and triple it in 10.

The current national deficit for this fiscal year is $1.4 trillion. That is three times the previous record high. As I said, according to the budget projections, the deficit is going to be close to $1 trillion a year through 2020. This budget deficit is simply appalling. All you need to do is go home, have a townhall meeting, listen to people. People around the country are incensed with this sort of reckless, wasteful Washington spending.

The worst part is people do not believe they are getting value for their money. In a recent poll, of every $1 you send to Washington in taxes, how much do you think is being wasted? The American public said 50 cents on every dollar sent to Washington in taxes is being wasted. That is an all-time record high number. People are not seeing that Washington is being responsible in how taxpayer dollars are being used and the American people simply do not believe they are getting value for their money.

I agree, the people are not getting value for their money. All you need to do is look at the Washington wasteful spending and it is no surprise that the American people are incredibly upset. Year after year, monstrous deficits are leading us to a national debt crisis. In 2009 alone, the public debt grew 31 percent. It now is almost half of the gross domestic product. By 2020 it is expected to balloon to over 70 percent of the gross domestic product.

So when I look at this and I talk to people at home and I think about this and I look at the great threats, the great threats to our Nation, to me the debt is the threat. As a result, I take a look at this major spending bill, the so-called stimulus package--which was supposed to keep unemployment down below 9 percent and said if you didn't pass it, it might go to 9 percent--they passed it, and it still went to 10 percent. Do you know only 1 in 16 Americans believes it actually created jobs. he President is out there saying it created jobs, traveling around the country, and only 1 in 16 Americans believes it. That is how severe this problem is.

With that, I see my part of the time has expired and I wish to turn the remainder of this time over to Senator Coburn.

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