had a bill on the floor where we did away with all of these loopholes and reformed the tax codes. mr. duffy: and they did nothing to support that reform. and now they demagogue our plan again. we hear about sending jobs overseas, well, jobs a going overseas because we're taxing our businesses too much. when you tax them too ch, they go other places and when they go other places like china, india, mexico, vietnam, they take our jobs with them. i've heard a lot about medicare. the only party in this house who has cut medicare is the democrat party. $500 billion out of medicare in an ipab bill that is going to ration care for our seniors. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair would remind members to heed the gavel. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van holn: mr. speaker, i would urge my colleagues to look at the congressional budget office analysis of the impact of the republican budget on senior citizens on medicare. essentially what they do is give

seniors a raw deal compared to what members of congress get themselves. anda raw deal in a big way. -- a raw deal in a big way. with that i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from ohio. mr. jordan: yield one minute to dr. fleming. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana. mr. fleming: thank you. mr. speaker, but for the president of the united states who serves today a a democrat-controlled congress over the last two years we wouldn't be here today debating this. $3.8 trillion added to our debt and continuing on that same glide path. mr. speaker, we're here today because people across america, businesses, cities, states, all have to balance their budgets. the only game in this country, the only entity that doesn't have to balance its budget is the federal government. and that's what's ruining our economy. so all we're asking for in this bill is simply to immediately

cut $111 billion in fiscal 2012, begin capping our spending rates, bringing it down to what's traditional, 18%, and then finally passing a balanced budget amendment that will finally put the restraints on this body, on the president of the united states and certainly on the senate, finally so we will begin to do the people's work and we allow this economy to flourish once again. thank you, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: mr. speaker, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from ohio. mr. jordan: yield two minutes to the gentlan from florida. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida for two minutes. . >>very second of every day, washington adds another $40,000 to our national debt, $40,0. in fact, by the time i finish

speaking this sentence, our national debt will increase another $360,000, $360,000 in one septemberens. we have reached the edge of a cliff and it's going to take tough decisions and responsible leadership to eliminate this massive, massive debt. i rise in support of h.r. 2560, the cut, cap and balance act of 2011. i support it because it's right, not because it's a republican plan, but because it's a commonsense plan. it's the american family plan. every american family cuts their budget, caps their budget, balances their budget with their own finances, so should washington. that is not unfair. to argue against this is to argue against common sense. this is to say as bad parents do, do as i say, not as i do. that is bad parenting and that's also bad legislation. unfortunately, over the past three months, our efforts to get

serious about this crisis has been meant with scare tactics. enough, enough of the political parlor tricks coming out of this city. it is time for us to do the job that the american people sent us here to do, practice, walking-around common sense. that's what my grandfather taught me, it is good in small business and good enough for washington d.c. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: mr. speaker, american families don't have the luxury of saying if we don't get things 100% our way, we won't pay our family bills. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from ohio. mr. jordan: yield one minute to the gentleman from ohio, mr. chabot. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio. mr. chabot: our national unemployment rate is stuck at over 9%. we are currently borrowing 43 cents on every dollar that's spent around here and our

national debt stands at a staggering $14.5 trillion. the american people are demanding that we in congress provide real solutions to these serious problems. the cut, cap and balance act does such that. the debate is not whether we should make dep good on our current obligations. we must pay our bills. but the spending in washington is out of conol and it's got to stop. and we have to cap future spending and passing a balanced budget amendment is critical to doing that, because let's face it, historically congress has shown no will or the ability to stop its addiction to spending. right now back in my district in cincinnati, hard-working americans are making tough decisions and making sacrifices to pay their bills. they expect us to do the same. let's dot right thing and pass this critical bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gtleman from maryland.

mr. van hollen: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio. mr. jordan: yield two minutes to e gentlemanrom arizona arizona, mr. flake. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. flake: has been a fascinating debate. members on both sides of the aisle claim moral superiority to the debt that we have accumulated. there is plenty oflame to go around. when the republicans had the majority in both the house and the senate and republican in the white hse, we behaved badly. no child left behind, the prescription drug benefit, bloated farm bills, swollen highway bills, bridges to no where, pork everywhere. let's be honest, we were headed towards this fiscal cliff long before the president took the wheel. so here we are today, mr. speaker. it matters little who drove what shift, what matters is that we, both parties, are teatering on the fiscal cliff getting ready to drag the country into the

abyss. fortunately, the 2006 mid-term election sent us on a doe tour to the road todamascus and we are here with a cut, cap and balance plan that will put us back on sure financial footing. if the other side of the aisle has a plan that does not entail the same behavior, we should consider that plan. to date, we have seen no such an. i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this cut, cap and balance legislation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: i agree with a lot of what the gentleman has sa. the psident has put a plan on the table to reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years. it does it with 3,000 spending cuts to $1 in revenue. that approach was rejected by our colleagues. and i reserve the balance of our time. the gentleman reserves the

balance of his tim the gentleman from ohio. mr. jordan: you know why it was rejected? it's the same old game. exactly the same ol game. the cuts come in the out-years and taxes come now and here we go again. there is no specifics to it. i yield now -- mr. van hollen: would the gentleman yield? mr. jordan: i yield now to the gentleman from illinois one minute. -- three minutes, i'm sorry. >> i thank thegentleman for yielding and thank you, mr. speaker. i sit back and as we're watching the debate today, i have to take my hat off to the gentleman from maryland who i think hashe toughest job in the whole chamber, mr. speaker, and that is, he is basically today the lawyer for the status quo. mr. roskam: and that's a tough job. a tough argument to make. no matter how thoughtful the

arguments have been on this side of the aisle that there is an urgency -- mr. van hollen: would the gentleman yield? mr. roskam: i will at the end. no matter how urgent the argument is, no matter how jarring the unemployment figures are at 9.2%, no matter what the rating agencies are saying, the gentleman is saying, there is a better plan. but i would submit that there is no better plan. there is no more balanced plan than cut, cap and balance. most americans that are listening to this debate, they are hearing washington, d.c., saying hold the line, lash ourselves to the mass and we will get around the cape if we stick to t current urse. the current course is a failure. nobody can defend the status quo with a straight face.

this majority has come up and said ok, there is a pathway forward and the pathway forward is immediate, short-term and long-term. and i don't see what the argument is. i will be happy to yield to te gentleman. mr. van hollen: if what you mean by protecting the status quo is that i'm opposed to actually manipulating the constitution of the united states to make it harder to reduce special interest tax breaks, yeah, i don't think we should change the constitution. mr. roskam: i reclaim my time. mr. van hollen: i thought you said 30 seconds. mr. roskam: i thought within 30 seconds. and furthermore, they are doing it in an orderly basis, that is, amending the constitution forth rightly and directly. and think in closing, mr. speaker, my hat is off to the gentleman from maryland, who no

matter what the majority has come up with, always comes up with some argument that just defies logic, but most americans as they are listening to this debate are saying, cut it, cap it and balance it and do it now. d i yield back. the speaker pro tempore:the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i think what will defile the logic of the american people are why we are going to write into the constitution of the united states a provision that says a majority vote is needed to cut medicare, a majority vote is needed to cut social security, a majority vote is needed to cut education but you need 2/3 vote to cut oil subsidies, subsidies for corporate jets, that is something that defies logic. you would write into the constitution that says, en if

you balance the budget at 19% of g.d.p. or some other level so we can meet the needs of social security and medicare, you wouldn't be able to do that. you would constitutionally prohibit that kind of balanced budget, one that meets the needs of social security and medicare beneficiaries. that defies logic. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from ohio. mr. jordan: mr. speaker, what defies logic is a $14 trillion debt and the democrats un willingness to do, put a balanced budget in the constitution so politicians have to do what they do in their homes. the other route didn't work. what part of $14 trillion don't you understand? what part of balancing the budget don't you understand? mr. van hollen: i understand $14 trillion. the speaker pro tempore: the time is controlled by the

gentleman from ohio. the chair understanding that there are passionate arguments on both sides would ask all members to observe the decorum of the house and conduct debate accordingly. the gentlemafrom ohio. mr. jordan: i yield to the distinguished majority whip, the gentleman from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from is recognized. >> interesting to listen to this debate and that's healthy and that's why we are on this floor. mrs. mccarthy: defying logic, -- mr. carter: defying logic, interesting term. so you understand to pay for the obligation that this government has already promised, so let's think about defying logic. the economy is tough and i sat in this house and watch the other side of the aisle put together a stimulus bill and

their own people said they didn't know it would work. at the end of the day, defying logic is 270,000. defying logic, more people in america believe that elvis presley i alive. defying logic, 28 straight months of unemployment above 8%. defying logic is to continue this pattern, but today we have a debate. today we have a choice. today we can take a new path. i understand why so vigorously you fight this because it would be a change to america. it would change the direction. and one thing i would ask is, when will the assault on the american people stop? that would be defining the pattern of where we are going to go. i want to ask you e thing. we ask in this bill to cut where

you had government spending, discretionary spending gone up 84% in the last three years. to small business that would be quite odd they aren't able to do that. they are going to cap i so it won't grow out of control and then going to ask for a balanced budget where 49 states have that , because what i want to say today is a new path, not a path of repeating the mistakes but a path to a new future. and when you think of a balanced budget and question the path, you know, 16 years ago, we came one vote shy in the senate. passed this body with fewer people on this side. that meant people on the other side of the aisle voted for it. some of the people in your leadership who have vote for it. i want you to think for one moment to the american public and i want them to imagine, imagine had we gotten that one vote, the debate today would not have taken place. the debate wouldn't be about $14

trillion. the debate wouldn't be thate had to change the path. the debate would be about the future of this country. what do you think we would be debating, what investments we would make to continue to make this country strong? what ability we could grow with our businesses and it wouldn't be about unemployment. i want to hashingen back to a former president who said we can go to that shining city on the hill. my charge is for this body to join us on that climb. because this is the firsttep and when we get that, we will recharge that light and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speak. there are some things that we want to change and there are some things we don't want to change. ne of the things we don't want to change is the constituti of the united states of america.

and i think many of us think it is a corruption of the constitution to write in provisions that say you can only balance the budget the way t republicans want to balance the budget, you can only do it by capping things at 18%, even if that means deep cuts to social security, deep cuts to medicare. we think it's a corruption of the constitution to write io the founding document a provision that says it's easier to cut social curity and medicare than corporate tax breaks. that is in here. we keep hearing 49 of 50 states. 49 of 50 states do not write those kinds of provisions into their state cstitutions. very few do. and for good reason, they are bad ideas, bad ideas now and ill be bad ideas in the future, which would constrain the congress from balancing the budget in a way that reflects the will of the american people. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from ohio. mr. jordan: 38 of those 50 ates would have to agree to

this before it could be anded. so the gentleman can say we are going to write this in. the states are going to decide this. that's the other part of the equation. i would yield two minutes to the gentleman from south carolina. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. gowdy: the president says he wants to do a big deal. he says he wants to do something transformative. he was to do something that will echo in eternity and he's willing to risk his political career to get it done. history tells a very different story. in 2006, senator barack obama joined 47 senate democrats in voting no on raising the debt ceiling. this the first post partisan president casts a decidedly partisan vote in joining every

single one of his colleagues in saying no to raising the bt ceiling. calamitous on the dierent definition in 2006 was reneging on your debts. was the apocalypse not in 2006? in 2007, 2008 when again this goddy -- body voted on raising the debt ceiling. the president w is a senator from illinois was absent for both votes. fast forward to president obama. he's proposed a budget that raises this debt by trillions of dollars with no spending cuts. and then he famously invites our colleague, paul ryan, to the white house to lecture him on sensitivity and entitlement reform while offering absolutely no plan whatsoever on his own for entitlement form. and then he said he wanted a clean debt ceiling increase,

free from the nuisances of spending cuts and entitlement reform. and personal responsibility. how do you go from voting no on raising the debt ceiling to saying you want a cleaninease in the debt to now saying you want to do something transformative that exos -- echos in eternity? mr. speaker, the president says he has a plan. forget our skepticism. i'd like to see the plan. i prefer cut, cap, and balance, over punt, pass, and kick. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair would congratule both floor managers as far as 38 3/minutes on the majority side and the minority side. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from virginia, mr. moran. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman from virginia. mr. moran:hank you, mr.

chairman. mr. chairman, i -- all i have is a reference point what i observed over the last 20 years in this body. i remember when we were trying to pull out of the last recession in 1990. and george h.w. bush called the leaders of both political parties together. they came up with a comomise. they raised revee and they cut spending. and they started to pull us out of the deficit. and then the economy started rebounding. president clinton followed suit. and in fact he raised rates to 39.6%. we heard at the time all of these arguments to you can't do that. you can't do -- raise new revenue because it's going to cut jobs. and so on. the reality is, granted not one republican vote was cast to do that, but what happens? we know what happened? 20 million jobs were created. we had surpluses.

we had the strongest economy in modern history. we reduced welfare. we grew the middle class. homeownership increased. and we handed over a surplus, projected surps, $5.6 trillion. in fact, this year we would have paid off the public debt. you know what happened to those who paid at the highest rate of 39.6%? they brought home more after tax income than at any prior time in american history. it worked. and now your party comes in with this attitude we have been hearing about all day. you drastically cut taxes, you ensure the debt, and in fact just this spring you voted for a republican budget that increased the deficit by $8.8 trillion. from $14.3 to $23.1 trillion over the next 10 years. but now you don't want to pay for it. that's what happened during the bush administration. we can't pay for anything. we didn't pay for wars.

we didn't pay for expansion of medicare. that's why we are in the hole we are in. alan greenspan said, restore the clinton tax rate. every rublican voted to let the bush tax cuts expire in 2011. do it. be responsible. pay off ou debt. let's get pass the first world status. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: members are again reminded to address their marks to the chair and not to others in the second person. the gentleman from ohio. mr. jordan: i ask unanimous consent to yield the balance of controlling our time to the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. ryan, who will also take over the final 30 minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from wisconsin will now control 38 3/4 minutes. and the chair would recognize the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan. mr. ryan: thank you, mr.

speaker. at this time i'd like to yield one minute to the gentlelady from illinois, mrs. biggert. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from illinois. mrs. biggert: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in support of this bill. it's no secret that the $14.3 trillion debt poses an extraordinary threat to our financial future and extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. the cut, cap, and balance act would finally end the fiscal uncertainty and force the federal government to put the interest of the taxpayers first. our colleagues across the aisle claim that this goes too far by restricting fute borrowing. but the reality is that this bill is simply cap spending at the same sustainable rate as past generations. about 20% of g.d.p., a post-world war ii average. for too long government has spent the taxpayers into a debt they cannot afford. cut cap a balance wod -- cut, cap, and balance would show

our competitors, creditors, and american peopl we are wling to make tough choices need to restore confidence and growth in the united states. mr. speaker, it's time to cut the spending and give the american businesses the certainty and stability they need to crte jobs. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. e gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. ryan: i yield one minute to the gentleman from nnsylvania, mr. platte. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for one min. mr. platts: i rise today in

support of h.r. 2560. it is important for the president and congress to reach a final agreement on the debt ceiling that helps restore fiscal responsibility in washington, honors america's obligations, and puts our nation back on the path to prosperity. it is clear that our economy will continue to stggle until washinon demonsttes the ability to get our spending and our debt under control. and as the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff has stated, our national debt is the biggest threat to our national security. the cut, cap and balance bill before us address our nation's spending and debt challenges in a manner that stops delaying hard decisions. we immediately cut spender by over $100 billion. we cap spending in future years in less than 20% of g.d.p. and send a balanced budget amendment for states for ratification. at $14 trillion and counting, our national debt currently is quickly approaching 100% of g.d.p. the fedal government is borrowing 40 cents of every dollar it spends.

america cannot continue on this unsustainable fiscal path. the full faith and credit of the united states gernment depends on congress acting. i urge a yes vote and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield a minute to the gentleman from texas, mr. green. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. mr. green: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. green: i rise in opposition to the drastic cuts of social security and medicare and other crucial federal programs that this cut, cap, and balance act were forced on th american people. the cut, cap, and balance act takes our nation closer to default, holding the debt ceiling hostage until congress passes the constitutional amendment to limit spending to 18% of g.d.p. the last time it was below 18% of g.d.p. was 1966. even under ronald reagan the federal spending averag over 22% of g.d.p. there is almost no conceivable way to revert federal spending

back to the 1960 levels without sharp cuts in every program, including medicare and social security. in ord to reduce federal spending 18% of g.d.p., every federal program, including social security and medicare, would need to be cut 25%. faced with the need to increase the debt ceiling in 1987, president reagan called on congress to raise the ceiling and said failure to do so would threaten those who rely on social security and veterans benefs, create instability in the financial markets, and cause the federal deficitto soar. i agree with president reagan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlan from wisconsin is recognized. mr. rye yan: i'd like to yield -- mr. ryan: i'd like to yield one minute to the gentleman from virginia, mr. hurt. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hurt: today i rise in support of h.r. 2560. we are in a spending-driven debt crisis that continues to stall job creation, passes a crushing financial burden on to our children and affects all fifth district virginians. since president obama took office, our national debt has

increased by $3.7 trillion. raising our current total debt to an unacceptable $14 trillion. now after 2 1/2 years of reckless spending, the president is asking we raise the debt ceiling once again. but we have yet to see any concrete plan from this administration to help rein in the out-of-control government spending that has brought us to the brink of a debt crisis. so the house is once again leading and delivering on the message sent by the people of virginia's fifth district to change the culture in washington and end the government spending spree by putting forth a commonsense proposal that will cut, cap, and balance federal spending and force washington to live within its means. now is the time to put in place effective spending reforms to reduce our debt and deficits, return certainty to the marketplace, and preserve the american dream for our children and grandchildren. i thank the gentleman. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield one minute to the distinguished democratic leader,

ms. pelosi. the speaker pro tempore: leader pelosi is recognized for one minute. ms. pelosi: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i commend him for his tremendous leadership as our ranking democrat on the budget committee for bringing to that debate and that discussion at the table the values of the american people and the concerns that they have as they sit around their kitchen table. they are concerned that this saturday will mark the 200th day of the republicans attaining the majority in the house of representatives. and yet today another day goes by when we do not have a jobs bill on the floor. indeed, we should have a jobs bill. this isn't a jobs bill. we should be working together to

lower the deficit, to grow the economy, to create jobs, and we should be doing so in a balanced bipartisan way. instead, we have before us what is called the republican plan to cut, cap, and end medicare. this legislation is the republic budget that was voted on earlier this year all over again. wildly unpopular among the american people, the republican budget again ended medicare, made seniors pay more for less, while it gave tax breaks to big oil and corporations sending jobs overseas. made kids pay less for their education while it gave tax breaks to wealthiest people in our country. as our republican colleague has said, congressman jim jordan, chairman of the republican study committee, which is the source of this budget, he said on sunday, this legislation basically mirrors the budget proposal that the house passed

this year. indeed it does. for it is -- it ends medicare, making seniors pay more while giving tax breaks to big oil and corporations sending jobs overseas. furthermore, economists believe that the results of this legislation will be the result of -- the loss of 700,000 jobs. this legislation hms the middle class families, but don't take my word for it. nearly 250 national organizations oppose this legislation saying, quote, it would almost certainly necessitate massive cuts to vital programs like social security, medicare, medicaid, veterans benefits, and lead to even deeper cuts than the house passed budget. . mr. speaker, i heard the previous speaker say we have to

think about future generations as we go forward in this debate and indeed, i agree. for that reason, i call the young people to my office over and over again, most recently last week, a large group of college students, some just newly graduated, and i said, you know, your name is used at the table of the debt reduction, your name is used at the table that we owe this to future generations. i would likto know as a leader of the next generation, what do you think about what's going on at the debate table, the discussion table in the white house. what do you think of that, what values do you want me to bring from your generation to that table. with great wisdom, they talked about the fact that their education was central to their

success and to america's competitiveness now and in the future. they talked about jobs. they said, please don't have the cuts in the legislation deter job growth and growth of the economy. they said please don't harm medicare and medicaid, because that's very important to our amilies and sad for many of our families that enable us to go to college. we just wouldn't make it without that. they talked about -- they talked abo actually one of the things they talked about, we want to share in reducing the deficit. we believe that everyone has a responsibility to do so. but we want our voices to be heard and we are concerned with voter suppression now around the country that barriers will be thrown up that will hurt our

participation in the process. when i went to the white house, i spoke about that, but yesterday, i met with high school students, maybe well over 100 high school students. i asked them the same question and they had similar answers and they said tell them if they care about the future generations, they should care about our education, they should care about the budget deficit, should care about jobs, they should also care about the environment, the environment, because of that, the condition of the environment is important to us. going back to those college students, that day, i went into the white house and told my colleagues, the president and vice president and republican and democratic colleagues what our college students said about education and i listed to the discussion and i thought, who is going to tell the children, who is going to tell the children that at this table, the suggestion is made that young

people should spend $36 bllion more, $36 billion more for interest on their student loans so we can reduce the deficit, but not touch $37 billion, almost the same number, $37 billion in tax subsidies for big oil. who's going to tell the children that that is what the values are that are being proposed by the republicans at that table. $36 billion more charged to students, $37 billion as a gift to big oil, but don't touch that to reduce the deficit. it's stunning. it's stunning to me. as we use the name of the next generation and what we owe them and what we expect they come out of school or what they need in order to afford school, in some cases that increase in the

cost of interest payments will make it prohibitive, not more expensive, prohibitive for young people to go to school. one young man said to me yesterday, i just graduated from high school, top of my class. i had great scores and everything. but i can't afford to go to college. i can only go to the community college in my town because i can only afford to be close to home and go to a community college. so please, in whatever it is you do, don't hurt community colleges. but isn't -- and community clgs are wonderful and they do a great job for our country, the training of our workers and the rest -- i had a privilege of speaking at a commencement ceremony atan francisco community college, so i value

what they do. but this young man had no choice, had no choice because the cost of other education to him would be prohibitive and again, because of the economic situation, he had to stay close to home. so let's listen to these people whose names we use, the next generation, the young people. we cannot heap mountains of debt on to them. we shouldn't and we didn't. when president clinton was president, he took the deficit he inherited into a path of fiscal soundness, into -- four of the five last budgets were in surplus. $5.6 trillion trajectory into surplus only to be reversed by president bush with his tax cuts to the rich, giveaways the

pharmaceutical industry and a swing of $11 trillion, biggest swing in fcal situation in the history of our country. and that's the th we're on. i didn't hear anyone on the republican side say boo, boo when the president was ting us so dely into debt. and every time we stepped up to the plate and lifted the debt ceiling because that was the right thing to do. much has been said if we don't lift the debt ceiling what that means to our economy. we hear sounds from the tables and board rooms about what it will do to the stock market, the credit markets, what it will do to our reputation overseas and that's very important. but not only important is what is said around the board room table. what's important is what this means around the kitchen table for america's working families. american families could see an

increase in mortgages, car loans, credit cards and student loans. social security and veterans' checks could be held up. stock prices could fall with a direct hit on families' 401k's, pension and savings. it would be a job destroyer, job destroyer by heaping more economic uncertainty on america's families and the concerns they have that the education of their chilren, health of theiramilies, security of their retirement around that kitchen table. rather than making progress on the debt limit to prevent these widespread consequences for america's middle class, this legislation takes us backward. throwing up further roadblocks to increasing the debt limit. we still have time to come together in a bipartisan and balanced way for a grand bargain that would ensure our nation

meets its obligations while working toward a long-term plan to reduce the deficit, create jobs, grow the economy and strengthen the middle class. let us recognize that the best way to reduce the deficit is to get the american people back to work. let us do as theresident called upon us to do, outbuild, outeducate, outinnovate the rest of the world to win the future y creating jobs and together we can keep america number one. i see my distinguished friend from indiana is here and i heard his summation earlier, and i won't repeat it earlier but i'll give you my one-minute summation, this ends the medicare guarantee giving tax breaks to big oil and corporations, sending squobs overseas. i hope some of our republican colleagues will do before and

vote against. a majority of republicans voted against this budget plan the day it came to the floor the day of the ryan budget. do the right thing so th next generation and vote no and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tpore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: only ple that our budget mention oil is that we want to drill more of it in our country and what we called for is limiting loopholes to have tax rates and guarantee social security and with that, mr. speaker, i would like to flee minutes to the gentleman from texas, house republican conference chairman, mr. hensarling. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, this nation suffers from a

surplus of deficits. first, our seniors have a health care deficit, because in the last congress, democrats cut medicare by half a trillion dlars, hastening its bankruptcy d creating a new board called the ipab in order to ration the access in quality of health care. next they brought us a jobs deficit, millions are unemployed and remain unemployed, the highest duration of long-term unemployment since the great depression. next, mr. speaker, we have the financial deficit. after the president's trillion dollar stimulus program which has failed, $1.4 trillion take over of health care, after increase of base governmen 24% in two years, three -- $3

trillion-plus deficits in a row, we now have a debt crisis and the president says we need a balanced plan, want you republicans to raise taxeso pay for my spending. well, mr. president, one of the greatest impediments we have to job creation today is the threat of taxes to pay for your spending. every day i hear from small business people in my congressional district, washington seems to think they can tax its way out of our economic problem, which is not possible. we are not hiring or planning to grow for the next several years. we are concerned that our government will raise taxes or put other burdensome restrictions on us that we will not be profitable. the financial deficit is tied to our jobs' deficit.

the american people have a message for their government. it is time to quit spending money we do not have. it is time to quit borrowing 4 cents on the dollar -- 42 cents on the dollar, much of it from the chinese. today, house republicans bring to the floor the cut, cap and balance program. cut spending to at least the 2008 lels. who thought government was too small before president obama came into town. cap. since world war ii, spending has averaged 20% of our budget. every family has to budget. every small business has to balance their budget. 49 of the 50 states. but no our democrat colleagues say it is radical to balance the budget. what i say is, if we want jobs, hope and opportunity, we must

cut, cap and balance. i yield back the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. and i'll end where we started today which is to say that our republican colleagues are playing a very dangerous game with the economy and with jobs. what this legislation before us says is that unless we graft on to the constitution a preference for their way of addressing the budget deficit, unless we do that, they will prevent the united states from paying its bills with all the terrible economic consequences for american families. so let's see what it is that they are demanding in exchange for letting the economy go. it's the same old plan that we saw in the house before. it does end the medicare

guarantee. it slashes medicaid. it cuts education. and it protects special interest tax loopholes, but what makes this particularly egregious? what should i think upset every american is they are trying to engineer those changes through the constitution. we keep hearing this is just a plain old balanced budget amendment. 49 out of 50 states have it. not true. this would put into the constitution of the united states, embed in our constitution, a provision that makes it easier to cut medicare, social security, education. 50% vote. but if you want to cut a special interest tax loophole, i don't care whether it's oil and gas subsidy, corporate jet, you name it, that a lot of washington lobbyists work overtime to get inserted in our tax code which amounts to spending through the tax code, if you want to do that you need a 2/3 vote. they put another mechanism into the constitution.

they would make it unconstitutional to balance the budget if we are having expenditures at the rate of 19% or 20% of g.d.p. acourting to the provision that came out of their amendment. in other words, the american people cannot choose a level of expenditures that would allow us to meet our obligations under medicare and social security. since 1966 our federal expenditures have been above 18% of g.d.p. in other words, since we enacted medicare. so they want to prevent us by constitutional fiat from balancing the budget at a higher level of expenditures that would allow us -- let me make one last point on medicare because we heard about the democrats cut $500 billion. what we did was we eliminated the subsidy, 114% subsidy going to medicare advantage plans. we did do that. and you know what? republicans say what a terrible thing, but if you look at their

bunt, they assume that change. -- budget. they assume that change. they keep that change. what they do is what we did which is use the savings to close the prescription drug doughnut hole. the republican budget would needly reopen that doughnut hole. so they took the savings that they are complaining about, they didn't use any of it to close the doughnut hole. again the fundamental question is this. we all understand that we've got to reduce the deficit. we've got to bring the budget into balance. the question is, how we choose to do that. and why would we implant in the constitution a mechanism that stacks the deck in favor of choosing to cut medicare and social security and education over choosing to cut corporate tax loopholes or asking the folks at the very top to pay more? but they would do that to our

constitution. look, the founders made it difficult to change the constitution for good reason. and this i believe is a corruption of the constitutional process because it would place these mechanisms into our founding document that essentially graft the republican budget plan into that document. and that's what this vote is all about. and what they are saying is that unless 2/3 of the house and 2/3 of the senate adopt that kind of constitutional amendment, we are not going to pay our bills. bills which the speaker of the house and the majority leader and people on both sides of the aisle should pay because they are the consequence of decisions that were made by this body. and right or wrong, when you ring up the bill, you can't say you're not paying for it. and if we take the position that

we are not going to pay for it, the economy will suffer. interest rates will go up. that will hurt every american family and it will make it harder for us to reduce the deficit. so let's come together around a balanced plan. the president's put a proposal on the table. $4 trillion over 10 to 12 years. patterned after the bipartisan simpson-bowles commission, $3 in cuts. $1 in revenue. let's take a balanced approach. that's the way we did it the last time our budget was in surplus. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: all time for the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. ryan: mr. speaker, i yield myself the remainder of the time and i ask unanimous consent to address the house in the well. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman has seven minutes remaining.

mr. ryan: mr. speaker, here's our problem. we have a crushing burden of debt that is coming to hit our economy. this is where it all comes down to. we are driving our country and our economy off of a cliff. the reason is, is because we are spending so much more money than we have. we can't keep spending money we don't have. 42 cents out of every dollar coming out of washington is borrowed money. let's take a look at where it's coming from. we are borrowing it, 47% of it from other countries. china number one. mr. speaker, you can't have sovereignty, self-determination as a country if we are relying on other governments to cash flow half of our deficit.

this is where we are. here's the problem we have right now, mr. speaker. we have a leadership deficit. i keep hearing about the president's got a plan. the president's offering balance. the president hasn't offered a thing yet. nothing on paper. nothing in public. leading on reporters at press conferences is not leadership. giving speeches according to the bow is not -- c.b.o. is not budgeting. the president did inherit a tough problem. no two ways about it. what did he do with this problem? he drove us deeper into debt. $1 trillion of borrowed money for a stimulus that was promised to keep unemployment below 8% and went up to 10% and now it's alt 9.2%.

a stalled economy. a budget the president gave us that doubled the debt in five years and triples it in 10 years. that's not leadership. what has the other body done in the senate? our partners on the other side of the aisle. mr. speaker, it's been 811 days since they bothered trying to pass a budget. congress has gone for two years without a budget. what did we do? when we assumed the majority? we passed a budget. we wrote a budget. we did it in daylight not in the backroom. we drafted it. we brought it through the committee. we had amendments. we brought it to the floor. we debated it and we passed it. that is what we have done. and when you take a look at our problem, mr. speaker, you have a dress what is driving our debt. here is just the cold hard

facts. 10,000 people are retiring every day. the baby boomers are here and we are not ready for them. far fewer people are following them in to the work force. health care costs are going up four times the rate of inflation. the congressional budget office is telling us medicare goes bankrupt in nine years. medicaid is already bankrupting our states. these are the drivers of our debt. by the year 2025, three programs, social security, medicaid, and medicare plus our interest consume 100% of all federal revenues. by the end of this decade, 20% of our revenues go to just paying interest. this is unsustainable. so what does our budget do? what does the document that we passed that shows leadership on

this issue do? it saves these programs. for medicare, we say you owe the retired if you are retired. if you are about to retire we don't pull the rug out from under you. you organize your life around these programs so let's keep it as is. but in order to cash flow that commitment, in order to make good on that promissory note, you have to reform it for the next generation. and let's do it in a way that -- that looks like the commission that president clinton offered. a system that resembles the one we have as members of congress. where you get to choose the plans that meet our needs. we don't subsidize wealthy people as much. and we subsidize low-income and sick people a whole lot more. that's what a safety net is. we fix it and we save medicare. what does the other body do? what does the law do that the president does? raise half a trillion dollars from medicare, puts a new board in charge of price controlling

and rationing care to current seniors, and does nothing to save it from bankruptcy. these are the issues that got to be dealt with. mr. speaker, we keep hearing about balance. we keep hearing about the need to raise taxes as we cut spending $3 for one or something to that effect. the red line shows congressional budget office projections on spending. the green lines are taxes. basically what this says is there is no way you can tax your way out of this problem. we asked the congressional budget office if we tried to do that, have balance, raise taxes, the tax rates of the next generation would be this. the lowest income tax bracket, lower income people play which is 10% now goes to 25%. middle income taxpayers pay a 66% rate. and the top tax rate which would all those successful small businesses that create jobs pay would go to 88%.

that's according to the congressional budget office. that's the path we are on right now. . this is unsustainable. what is needed is leadership and the reason we're talking about this debt limit increase is because we've seen none, none from the president, none from the other body. and so if we're not going to have a budget process, how on earth are we going to get spending under control so we can solve this problem? our budget this cap and this cut -- our budget, this cap and this cut, gets the debt paid off. it put us on a path to prosperity. it closes loopholes to lower tax rates to grow jobs. it says that the genius of america is the individual, is the business, not our government. it maintains the american legacy of leaving the next generation better off which we know, without a shadow of a doubt, we are leaving the next generation

worse off. you know, in the good old days of 2007 we used to say that this debt was a threat to our children and our grandchildren. not so anymore. it is a threat to our economy today. pass cut, cap and balance, save this country, grow the economy and save the nation for our children and our grandch >> the house went on to pass the republican debt reduction bill by a vote of 234-190. it was largely along party lines. michelle bachmann and ron paul voted for it. the house is scheduled to work on temporary expansion of programs. next on c-span, today's "washington journal" live with your phone calls and tis