Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011

Floor Speech

Mr. WELCH. I thank the gentleman from Maryland.

We face two immediate challenges. The first is, will we pay our bills? That's the whole issue of raising the debt limit. America pays its bills, it's as simple as that. If we owe veterans who served this country their benefits, they're going to get paid. If we went to a war and didn't pay for it and fund it when we went, we have to pay that bill when it becomes due. That is the question. And by the way, Republican iconic figure, Ronald Reagan, who was familiar with tax and budget fights, was the one who said he would never make the debt ceiling, America's full faith and credit, a hostage to a point of view, and did the right thing to pay those bills.

The second issue that we face--and I acknowledge my Republican colleagues for their focus on this--is a long-term fiscal plan. The bill that we have brought before the floor, a balanced budget amendment, raises the question: Is it an effective tool, or is the better approach a balanced approach to revenues and to spending?

The State of Vermont does not have a balanced budget amendment, yet in Vermont we pay our bills and we balance our budget. We do it, number one, by working together. And one of the points that the rating agencies have made is the apprehension here is not so much our ability to pay our bills, it's our ability to work together. Working together requires that we have a balance of cuts, look at that budget, where can we save money? But it also requires that we have a balance of revenues because part of the goal here--again, of a confident country--is to grow our economy. That requires investment in infrastructure, in education, in new industries. And if we are going to be successful, this cannot be just cuts. It has to be balanced with investments that will grow this economy, grow jobs, bring that unemployment rate down. We can do it together.

I see the gentleman from South Carolina included in his approach cutting the Pentagon. That has to be on the table.

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