Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today because we are discussing the cut, cap, and balance legislation, which I support. This gets back to a poster I have had at home with my kids over the years. I have a copy of it here. It is called ``the two penny difference.'' It says that if you earn a dollar and you spend the 99 cents, you are OK. But spend $1.01 and you are heading for trouble. This is from many years ago.

Today, spending seems more fashionable than saving. What once was called ``poor money management'' is now called ``deficit spending.'' Whatever it is called, it leads to inevitable headaches for people, companies, and even for governments.

Frankly, that is the situation in which we find ourselves today, a major headache, because as a nation we have continued to spend money we don't have. As a result, we have been borrowing money, significant amounts of money. Actually, it is about $4 billion a day. A lot of it we are borrowing from overseas, and much of it from China. You say, how does one maintain oneself as an independent, strong, and forceful nation when it owes that sort of debt to someone else?

What the American people have told me as I traveled around my State is that Americans believe--and the people of Wyoming clearly believe--they want Washington to cut spending, not increase taxes. The White House doesn't seem to hear that message. They are ignoring it, tuning it out. They have admitted they don't have a plan to cut Washington wasteful spending, and actually the President doesn't think he needs one. I will quote the White House press secretary:

Leadership is not proposing a plan.

You know, it is saddening, but it is not surprising given this White House's track record of changing positions, saying one thing and doing another, and nobody can predict what they will do. Last week, the President said he would not support a short-term increase in the debt ceiling. He even warned the House majority leader: ``Don't call my bluff.'' We have all seen it on television. Now we know it was a bluff.

The President is now saying he might welcome a short-term increase in the debt ceiling. Yesterday, the President announced--or it was announced by his spokesman--that they would consider the short-term increase. So it is hard to tell what they are thinking at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. A lot of times it depends which way the wind is blowing. White House officials aren't the only ones who think it is better to not propose a plan. The story in Roll Call yesterday said that the senior Senator from New York warned the Democrats to not release a plan. The article even said they told the budget chairman not to propose a budget because it would give others around the country something to shoot at.

We have been here for over 800 days since a budget was passed through the Senate, and a Senator tells the chairman of the Budget Committee don't let them see the budget. According to this article, it said he thought it was politically helpful to spend time ``attacking corporate jet owners and defending entitlements.''

Our entitlements are going to be bankrupt in just over 10 years, and some folks don't want to produce a plan to save them or to strengthen them. That is what we are hearing on the floor of the Senate.

People often try to figure out how large this debt is that we have. We spend more on interest on our debt--just interest--each and every day than it would cost to buy several hundred corporate jets, which the senior Senator from New York is railing against. And that is just the interest alone on the debt. That is what kind of money we owe.

This isn't the kind of leadership America needs right now. Even though the White House and my friends on the other side of the aisle continue to send different signals each day, Republicans remain committed to cutting spending. In fact, we put forward the only plan that has passed either House of Congress. It is called cut, cap, and balance. It will cut spending. The American people realize we continue to spend money we don't have. It will cap future spending, and it will require Washington to balance its budgets. Wyoming does that every year. Every other alternative in the Congress, on the Hill, around town, is either undefined or unfinished or only speculative.

I am pleased that the Senate will soon vote on cut, cap, and balance, which is a plan that is good for our country. It is common sense that when Washington is $14 trillion in debt, we must cut spending. When Washington borrows $4 billion a day, we must cap future spending. When Washington borrows $2 million every single minute, we must learn to balance our budget.

Americans understand our country can't continue down this same track. We cannot continue to spend money we don't have. Cut, cap, and balance is the best plan for America.

I yield the floor.

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