Debt Ceiling

Floor Speech

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Washington is engaged in a debate right now over the kind of country we want to be. The specific issue is this: At some point over the next several weeks, the Federal Government will no longer be able to borrow the money it needs to cover the cost of promises it has already made. So the President wants Congress to raise the statutory debt limit set by Congress. He wants us to raise the limit on the national credit card.

Now, what Republicans have said is that the only way we will do it is if Democrats agree to change their ways so we don't end up with the kind of situation that we are witnessing over in Greece. Make no mistake, that is exactly where we are headed if we don't do something significant and do it now. Democrats so far have refused. Instead, they are making what can only be described as a bizarre request under the circumstances.

In the middle of what we all agree is a debt crisis, they would like to spend even more. They want a second stimulus, more deficit spending. In the middle of the jobs crisis, they want to raise taxes that we know would kill even more jobs when even the President has said raising taxes would leave job creators with less ability to hire. These are their solutions. This is what the President came off the campaign trail to defend last Thursday, and this is what Republicans oppose.

Our view is that the way to solve a debt crisis is to go on a diet, not a shopping spree. Our view is the way to create jobs is to make it easier for businesses to hire, not harder. Frankly, we don't think the voters sent a wave of Republicans to Washington last November because they wanted us to raise taxes. They sent us here to restore some sanity. But the President and his Democratic allies in Congress don't seem to get it just yet.

Right now they are calling for a tax on aircraft manufacturers because they think it is good politics. It is their cheap attempt to try to make anybody who opposes it look bad. What they forgot is many of them voted to repeal a similar tax during the Clinton administration because of the devastating effect it had on jobs. They made the same arguments then, that we need to raise taxes on luxury goods to get more money, and it backfired. The shipbuilding industry alone lost tens of thousands of jobs.

Our Democratic colleagues surely must remember this, but apparently they would rather have fun trying to caricature their political opponents than working out a bipartisan solution that would actually enable us to balance the books.

Here is the point: Washington needs to find a way to spend less. Taxing more is their easy way out. They will start with aircraft manufacturers. Then when that is enough, and it never is, it is some other industry. Then another, and before we know it we are going after absolutely everybody. Why? Because it is easier to find a bill than it is to make tough choices. But most Americans know what it is like to make tough choices, and they want to know if they have to do it, why can't Washington.

That is why I invited the President over here last Thursday to talk with Republicans. My hope, as I made clear, is that he would listen to Republicans and hear firsthand why we think raising taxes in a weak economy is a bad idea and what the realities are over here.

My goal, as I said on Thursday, was to get together and talk about what is actually possible. The Obama administration said it wasn't a conversation worth having. Republicans in Congress believe finding a way to reduce the deficit and put Medicare on a more secure footing is a conversation worth having.

So today I would like to reextend the offer. I think the best way to solve this impasse is for the President to hear what needs to be done and how we can do it; hear what can actually pass in Congress. He needs to understand the principles at stake from our point of view.

It is not about rich and poor. It is not about an election. It is about Washington taking the hit for a change.

It is about having Washington make some tough choices for a change.

Americans want to see accountability here in Washington. They have seen Democrats spending trillions of dollars we don't have, and they have seen the economic situation get worse in many respects than it was several years ago. The facts speak for themselves.

Since the President took the oath of office, nearly 2 million more people are unemployed. That is a 17-percent increase in the unemployment rate under President Obama. Gas prices have nearly doubled--up 86 percent since January of 2009. In the past 2 years, the Federal debt has increased 35 percent. Debt per person has increased by over $11,000. Health insurance premiums for working families have shot up 19 percent. All this while home values across the country have declined by 12 percent. They have clearly made the economy worse.

Americans get this. They think Washington, DC, should find a way to pay its bills or scale back its commitments, as everybody in the country is doing. Americans have made enough sacrifices the past few years. It is time for Washington to learn to make some sacrifice of its own.

Hopefully, the President will agree that reducing the debt is indeed a conversation worth having. I think we can do it. But I think he needs to understand what the legislative realities are and why and we are committed to a result that will restore the people's confidence not only in our economy but in our government.

I yield the floor.

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I understand the clerk is about to report a motion to proceed.

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