Increasing the Public Debt Limit
INCREASING THE PUBLIC DEBT LIMIT -- (House of Representatives - November 18, 2004)
Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 856, I call up the Senate bill (S. 2986) to amend title 31 of the United States Code to increase the public debt limit, and ask for its immediate consideration.
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Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for yielding me this time, and I commend him for his very excellent work on fiscal soundness for our country and in this Congress. He has so eloquently driven the message home that no country has ever been strong, prosperous, and bankrupt. I thank him for his eloquence and his leadership.
The gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), our distinguished ranking member on the Committee on Ways and Means, has been a champion for middle-income families in America and understands the importance of the fiscal soundness they have in their homes in paying their mortgages, their credit cards, their car payments, and the impact of a huge budget deficit, a huge national debt has on the lives of working families in America, and I commend the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) as well.
I want to reserve my highest praise for the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm). This Congress has been blessed for many years by his distinguished service in the House of Representatives. He has been a champion for the American people, for the American farmer, and a leader for fiscal soundness in our country. He is about accountability, accountability in our service here. No one has been a stronger or more eloquent voice for that message and what it means. He has been a teacher to the Congress. He has changed the thinking of a political party by making Democrats the party of fiscal responsibility for having a pay-as-you-go policy where we say no more budget deficit, no more deficit spending.
It has too high a cost in the personal lives of the American people. It has too high a cost to fiscal soundness of our country, and as others have indicated, there are countries that own our debt that we are at the mercy of should they decide not to play in those markets at any given time.
So this place will simply not be the same without the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), but I hope that as a source of comfort, if that is the word, to him as he goes on to other great things, and I know he will, that he has made a tremendous difference for our country. He has made tremendous progress for our country. I know I speak for every person here when I say it has been an honor to call him colleague. I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm).
Mr. Speaker, many of us just came back from the dedication of the Clinton Library, where obviously we were drenched in the rain for several hours. But it was well worth it because we could pay tribute to a President who too was committed to fiscal soundness. Under the economic policy and the plan that was passed in this body by only Democratic votes, our country went on a path of fiscal soundness that had zero deficit in 1999. Zero deficit. Think of it. Compared to this year when the deficit is over $425 billion just for this year. And President Clinton, when he left office, he put us on a path of fiscal soundness and surplus of $5.6 trillion, $5.6 trillion in surplus.
And now we are going on a path of over $3 trillion in deficit, a huge swing approaching $10 trillion. It is historic, the swing that has taken place. So no wonder we would endure the driving rain and all that it did to us there to thank President Clinton.
And I might say that in attendance were also present Jimmy Carter, President George Herbert Walker Bush, and President George W. Bush. And both Presidents Bush spoke with great eloquence. They spoke with great unity for our country. It was an honor for all of us to hear their words and to be there with them at the dedication of the Clinton Library. So it was a very wonderful occasion. And I, as Democratic leader, want to thank President George W. Bush for giving us the planes to enable us to go there and to thank our distinguished Speaker for rolling the votes so that the Democrats and I think some of the Republicans could go there. Senator Frist was there, but some from the House were there as well.
But just to get back to our subject here, here we come back. Is it not ironic that the Republicans in the campaign went out there and talked about their economic policy and the first order of legislative business when we get back here is to increase the debt ceiling? In the course of the President's administration now, this 4 years, it will have been raised $2 trillion. This is absolutely astounding in terms of these figures. Whatever happened to the deficit hawks? I know they are over there. We heard from them in earlier manifestations of their legislative lives that they really were concerned about the fiscal soundness of our country. Have the deficit hawks become an endangered species?
Be true to yourselves. Face the facts. We have to have pay-as-you-go again. Pay-as-you-go is what brought us into surplus. Pay-as-you-go is the way we have to go now. And we will have that opportunity to do that later.
I am going to submit my fuller statement for the RECORD because the hour is late and because my colleagues have spoken so eloquently to this point. But I just want to close with a point about accountability. This budget that we have is supposed to be a statement of our national values. We have talked about that over and over again. And a value that we have to have is accountability, how we answer to the next generation for the debt that we are piling on them. We want to give our children opportunity. Instead, we are giving them obligations.
It is simply not right.
So I urge all of my colleagues to support our motion to commit which will accommodate, will give the government a chance to go forward, but also to put a limit on this profligate increase in the debt. I hope at the end of the evening, though, that everyone who stands up for fiscal soundness will vote against this irresponsible lifting of the debt ceiling unless there is a responsible discipline thrust upon it of pay-as-you-go or a plan from the President to say how he intends to reduce the deficit.
With that, once again, I want to commend my colleagues, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Tanner), and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) for their exceptional leadership on this subject, which is a very, very important one to our children, that we are accountable to them, that what we hand to them is our responsibility and that we will never forget that.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for fiscal soundness, vote for pay-as-you-go, vote for a plan to reduce the deficit, vote for a limitation on the time that the Republicans can continue to pile on and pile on the debt.
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At the same time, President Clinton's responsible economic policies eliminated the deficit, and we had three years in a row of budget surpluses.
How ironic-and how sad-that our first item of legislative business upon returning to Washington after election is to raise the debt ceiling to make room for the enormous piles of debt that President Bush, and this Republican Congress have run up.
When President Bush took office, we were on a path to a $5.6 trillion surplus. We are now facing a $3 trillion deficit-a fiscal collapse of nearly $9 trillion. Record surpluses have become record deficits. The deficit for this year alone is $413 billion.
Now, Republicans want to raise the debt limit for the third time in three years. Including this year's increase, Republicans will have raised the debt limit by more than $2.2 trillion since President Bush took office.
What happened to the Republican deficit hawks? They have become an endangered species in Washington. The truth is that there really is no limit to the amount of debt Republicans are willing to run up.
Republicans will tell you that these deficits are not their fault; that they were caused by circumstances beyond their control. But it's just not true.
These deficits are the direct result of irresponsible Republican choices-tax cuts for the wealthy and reckless corporate handouts including tax breaks that encourage shipping jobs overseas.
The Republican policy of borrow-and-spend must end. We are running up a bill and handing it to our children.
We should be giving our children opportunity, not obligations, but America's growing debt will ensure that our children and our grandchildren are paying for Republican irresponsibility for the rest of their lives.
Their taxes will pay for the interest on our debt instead of keeping our military the strongest in the world, strengthening Social Security, or improving education.
Higher deficits also have real consequences for American families today. The federal government is by far the largest player in the credit markets, and when federal borrowing increases there is less credit available to everyone else, causing interest rates to rise.
Higher interest rates mean consumers must spend more on their mortgage, credit cards, and student loan payments.
And when it becomes more expensive to borrow money, businesses are less likely to make the investments that generate jobs and opportunities.
Democrats have a better way. We believe in accountability in government. Accountability was one of the six core values in our New Partnership for America's Future.
Democrats believe we must return to accountability by restoring fiscal discipline and eliminating deficit spending with pay-as-you-go budget rules in which both tax cuts and spending increases must be paid for.
These rules created the surpluses under President Clinton, and can work again.
Democrats tried earlier today to restore the successful pay-as-you-go rules, but Republicans wrongly rejected that effort. Now, because this issue is so critical, we offer the Republicans yet another chance to work together in good faith to reduce the deficit.
CHARLIE STENHOLM has long been one of the most passionate and eloquent advocates for fiscal responsibility in this Congress. And tonight he is giving us another opportunity to meet our moral responsibility to the next generation.
By supporting his motion to instruct, we will agree to increase the debt ceiling until April 15 next year, at which point the President must present a balanced budget. This would keep the government running and give the President and Congress time to put forward the balanced budget the American people need and deserve.
Thank you, CHARLIE, for all of your leadership, and for this motion. I urge my colleagues to support the Stenholm motion to instruct.
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