Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2011

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Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. Mr. Chairman, who would have thought we would have witnessed the things we have witnessed in this country over the last 2 years?

Who would have ever thought the President of the United States would fire the CEO of General Motors?

Who would have ever thought in this great country we would see the taxpayers bail out the financial industry and bail out the auto industry?

Who would have ever thought in this country we would have a pay czar--a pay czar--telling private American citizens how much money they can make?

Who would have ever thought in this country we would have a major policy change, done in a completely partisan fashion, when the health care bill passed and when the majority of Americans opposed it?

Who would have ever thought, as OMB pointed out this past week, that we would have a $1.4 trillion deficit--the largest deficit in American history--and a $13 trillion national debt? On the path we are on currently, by 2020, we will have a $26 trillion deficit.

Who would have thought those things would take place?

I would argue, although the other side is going to say, ``Oh, this is terrible. We can't reduce the spending level in this bill to the amount that the gentleman wants,'' this is a modest first step. This is a modest initial step towards providing some fiscal sanity to this town and to this Congress.

My amendment is real simple. It says this bill should go back and we should spend it at 2008 baseline levels. After all, a lot of families are living on something less. A lot of families have had to live on what they were functioning on in 2008. A lot of small businesses are functioning on what they had to in 2008.

Why in the heck can't the Federal Government do the same thing?

This amendment takes us back to 2008 levels, which was before the bailouts, before the so-called ``stimulus,'' before the out-of-control spending. Remember, since 2008, there has been a 38 percent increase in this bill. So this takes it back to a reasonable level, and I would argue this is a modest first step that the American people want us to take.

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Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. Just a couple of quick responses to the chairman's comments.

Mr. Chairman, first of all, I voted against the bank bailout, the TARP bailout. If my memory serves me correctly, the gentleman voted for that proposal.

Second, the chairman's comments about how this is such a dramatic cut is a great example of how out of touch this town is with the American people. All this amendment does is say let's spend what we spent just 2 years ago, in 2008. Go talk to average Americans. They think that's probably something the Federal Government could do--spend what we were spending 2 years ago.

Also, remember that this bill is a 38 percent increase over 2008. That's on top of the transportation spending that was in the stimulus bill. So it's even bigger than 38 percent, this increase over 2008.

Finally, I would say this: If big government spending, if big government taxation, if big government regulation were going to get us out of this economic mess, well, heck, we'd have been out of it a long time ago because that's all this government has been doing for 2 years.

Mr. Chairman, I will just close with this. How bad does it have to get before we can begin to reduce some spending around here? Do we have to have a $2 trillion deficit? Do we have to get to $30 trillion in debt? I mean, how bad does it have to get before we can start to do those things that make sense and that will guarantee a prosperous future for our kids and our grandkids?

I yield back the balance of my time.

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