Disapproval Resolution Regarding the Debt Limit Increase

Floor Speech

Mr. NEAL. Madam Speaker, I'm fascinated by this argument, for the people that are viewing it, largely because this is not an argument about new spending; this is an argument about paying for past spending. So when Bill Clinton said ado, said goodbye to the American people on January 19, 2001--this is fact, not opinion--America was staring at a $5.6 trillion surplus. On January 20, George Bush took the oath of office, and when he left 8 years later, we were looking at a $10.6 trillion deficit.

Let's recount those years: Two wars, $2.3 trillion worth of tax cuts, and a prescription D benefit that was unfunded. And all of the money they applied to those arguments--and I am very pleased by the fact I voted against those tax cuts, spoke against them, and voted against the war in Iraq. But all of the money that I've just referenced was borrowed money by the Republican Party. They borrowed all of the money for it--fact, not opinion. And now the bill has come due, and they're on the floor talking about fiscal rectitude.

Now, here's what I think is important: The gentleman from Florida opened this debate, my friend, Mr. Mack, by talking about our money and how that money is utilized. Well, guess what? The veterans hospitals, 35,000 men and women wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, is he saying that that's not our money that ought to pay for those hospitals?

Joe Stiglitz has estimated that the cost of disability for the war in Iraq will be between $500 billion and $900 billion.

I hope people pay attention to what I'm about to say. Almost one out of two people who have served us honorably in Iraq and Afghanistan, they're coming back with a long-term disability. Those VA hospitals are going to be stretched for years to come.

Now, whether you were for Iraq or against it, our responsibility is to pay for those men and women who served us honorably: 20 years old, life expectancy of 80, they're in our care for the next 60 years.

I would note with some humor that the Republican leadership did not send out, today, people that were here for the tax cut vote or for the vote on the war in Iraq. Remember weapons of mass destruction and how that vote was to take place?

Friends, this is about paying our bills. This is not about new spending. And I hope there's no confusion in the hinterlands. Today, because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, every American citizen has a bill of $17,000.

They helped bring us to this path of fiscal irresponsibility during their years of borrowing and borrowing and borrowing, and they ask the American people to embrace amnesia. They set the fire, and now they're calling the fire department.

This is a very simple vote. It's about paying our bills.

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