Cut, Cap, and Balance

Floor Speech

Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam President, throughout the course of this debt ceiling debate, the American people have watched in utter disbelief of what they have seen. They understand we need to get our fiscal house in order; they see what has gotten us into this mess; and they want it stopped before they agree to give us blanket authority to raise the debt limit. What they are saying is we must spend within our means just as they have to do.

We have a way to do that. It is the cut, cap, and balance plan. It has already passed the House. The companion bill, with 39 cosponsors, has the support so it should be considered in this Chamber as well. I am proud to say I am one of those 39 cosponsors of the Senate bill. I signed onto the cut, cap, and balance bill because the American people--and more specifically the people of Arkansas--have demanded that we address this crisis now, not later. They know Washington is not good with remembering to follow through on the things they promise to do later.

Some will say this is too simple an answer. They say the fiscal mess in which we find ourselves is a complex problem. It is not though. Just look at the numbers.

This year alone we will spend $3.7 trillion while collecting only $2.2 trillion. We borrow 40 cents of every dollar we spend.

President Obama and the Democratic majority in this Chamber will say the way to fix this problem is to raise taxes. They may try to use other words and phrases such as revenue enhancers while talking about raising taxes, but make no doubt about it, they want to put the onus back on the American people.

There is a major problem with this approach. Washington does not have a revenue problem; it has a spending problem. Again, the numbers back this up. Traditionally, government spending is about 19 percent of our gross domestic product. Since President Obama has been in office, government spending has been much closer to 25 percent of our gross domestic product. This administration has raised Federal spending to the highest peak since World War II.

How do we solve this spending problem? We do it through cut, cap, and balance. Cut now--the House bill immediately cuts over $100 billion in spending; cap for the future--the spending cap mechanism in this bill caps spending over the next 10 years, bringing it down to less than 20 percent of our gross domestic product within the next 5 years--and the balance is for a balanced budget amendment, something our entire Republican caucus supports in the Senate, as do many in the Democratic majority, at least according to their on-the-record statements.

This bill prohibits the Treasury from borrowing unless a balanced budget amendment is sent to the States for ratification. Let's pass a balanced budget amendment and give the people back home the decision about whether they want to require us to operate under a balanced budget amendment. I think you will find they overwhelmingly do. Unfortunately, the Senate majority, with no plan of their own for reining in the out-of-control spending, will not allow us to have a debate on this bill.

Last Friday they moved to table the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act, effectively ending any consideration of the bill. All this reminds me of the debate over the House-passed budget we had a few months ago. The majority over here had strong words of criticism but no budget proposal of their own. Again, strong words of criticism and no plan of their own. Only this time it is worse.

With our Nation on the brink of default, the majority clearly believes it is better to score political points than have a debate on the merits of our proposal. They control the floor, the agenda, and the amendments that are accepted. If any member of their caucus wants to change the bill, they certainly have that option. But instead of having the debate, we get political theater from the majority.

This is not what our constituents deserve. They deserve a real debate. They sent us here to work together to prevent a catastrophe on par with what has happened in Greece, Ireland, and Portugal. They want to see us get our fiscal house in order. That is what the root cause of this crisis is all about. We are not just having a debate on raising the debt ceiling. If that were all this discussion was about, it would have been over months ago. Nobody wants a default.

The debate that is going on today is about a much bigger problem: the out-of-control spending that has put us in this position time and time again. Cut, cap, and balance is one way to solve the problem. It is a solution that helps us avert an immediate meltdown and brings a sense of fiscal responsibility to Washington where it is so badly needed.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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