Budget Negotiations

Floor Speech

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, over the past few days, a lot of people have taken it upon themselves to offer Republicans in Congress and me in particular their advice on the debt limit. I have listened to all of it very carefully. I appreciate how frustrating it is for people to think that in spite of everything we know about the state of our economy, and despite all the warnings we have heard about the dangers presented by our deficits and debt, we can't do something about it. I share that frustration. No one has spent more time cajoling and persuading this White House of the need to do something big.

I was truly hopeful the President could be persuaded to view the upcoming debt limit vote as an opportunity to cut Washington spending and the debt that has ballooned since he took office, and to preserve entitlements at the same time. But, in the end, he wasn't interested in doing something of that magnitude that would pass.

He gave us three bad choices: higher taxes, smoke and mirrors or default, and we refuse to accept any of them. Republicans will not be reduced to being the tax collectors for the Obama economy. We will not be seduced into calling a bad deal a good deal, and we will not let the White House fool around with the full faith and credit of the United States.

If the President wants to threaten seniors or veterans or rattle the world economy by pretending he cannot pay our bills, he, of course, can do that. But he is not going to implicate Republicans in these efforts.

That is why I proposed, as a last resort, a plan that would force the White House to show its hand. If the President would rather default than cut back on the size and scope of government, let him explain that. If he would rather preserve his vision of Washington than protect entitlements, let him explain that. If he and the Democratic Senate would rather borrow and spend us into oblivion, they can certainly do that. But do not expect any more cover from Republicans on it than they got on health care--none.

The American people deserve to know what their elected representatives stand for in this debate. None of these proposals that have been presented up to now would do that.

If Democrats will not agree to reforms we need, then we should at least show the public where we stand. What they wanted was a deal that purported to lower the debt from $26 trillion to $24 trillion over 10 years, then have us give it thumbs up and call it a bipartisan victory for fiscal discipline. We were not about to call this a good deal any more than we were willing to call the health care bill real reform.

We refuse to let this President use the threat of a debt-limit deadline to get us to cave on tax hikes or phony spending cuts. It is time to change this debate altogether. It is time to make it clear to the American people where the two parties stand in this debate.

Either you are with the President and his vision of a government that continues to live beyond its means or you are with those of us who believe Washington needs some strong medicine. Either you want to simply borrow and spend our Nation into oblivion or you want to get our fiscal house in order, and the single most effective way to do that is with a balanced budget amendment.

If the President and Democrats in Congress will not agree to cut back, let's force them. Let's pass a constitutional amendment that actually requires Congress to live within its means.

It is time for the American people to contact lawmakers on the Democratic side and simply demand it. Republicans are unanimous in their support for a balanced budget amendment. We need 20 Democrats to join us.

It is an uphill climb, but if the American people speak out, we can get it done. If the President will not agree to it, it is time we go around him and directly to the American people.

Let's keep the pressure on. Let's show the administration where the public is on this issue. Let's get our fiscal house in order.

I yield the floor.

Source