owed to individuals. to corporations that our friends say are a great friendship to them. banks, insurance companies. most importantly, pensions, mutual funds, state and local governments will be left holding the bag because today we want to do a few shenanigans. mr. speaker, let me tell you that the keyser foundation has indicated in my own state, $5.6 million texans are living in poverty. 2.2 million children, 17.4% struggle with security. not raising the debt sealing means the burt falls on people who get up to work. that's the true story of the american people. what else will happen? . 500 jobs will be lost, the gross domestic product will decrease, every mortgage will increase by $19,175. stocks will fall, the s&p dropping 603% and every 401k

holder would lose thousands of dollars. this is the story of the american people. i want to stand on their side, i want to acknowledge that together as republicans and democrats, rather than writing the fairy tale story you're seeing today can work together as we have done in the past, 1997, the balanced budget amendment that created the children's health insurance program, helping children across america to have health insurance or get rid of medicare part d, passed by the past administration and republican congress. medicare part d is one of the most devastating parts of their budget, causing them to pay three times more for their scription drugs. we can get rid of that as the affordable care act did. we would generate millions and millions of dollars. so fairy tales are suppose to end with a good story. can i have 30 seconds? mr. polis: i yield 30 seconds. ms. jackson lee: fairy tales are

supposed to end with a happily ever after. the true story of the american people they don't want us on the floor today talking about now paying their bills to them. they want us to create jobs torque bring down unemployment, give them payroll tax relief, and to give an extension for unemployment for those seeking jobs and don't want us to deny food stamps to young soldiers whose incomes don't allow them to provide for their families. they want us to get to work, here i am, i'm ready to work. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. mr. scott: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. sullivan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. sullivan: i rise in support of house joint resolution 98, a resolution to prevent president obama from raising the debt ceiling by $1. 2 trillion. this is a critical time for our nation, over 14 million americans are unemployed and our

record-setting level of debt is more than $15 trillion. the fact is, the oba uh -- the obama administration will not lead on this debt reduction issue. i believe it is critical we send the message that we will not return to the era of continuing to run up the american taxpayers' credit card and endless increases to our nation's debt limit. let's look at president obama's record. since assuming office in 2009, president obama has proposed consecutive budgets that offer more than $1 trillion in deficit spending. the most of any president in our nation's history. under the president's budget plans, in 2018, the united states will owe more interest on the debt than will be spent on all defense spending, meaning we will owe more money to our creditors than supporting our national defense. that is crazy. congress has a moral obligation to our children and

grandchildren to stop the outrageous spending and restore fiscal sanity in washington to ensure we don't leave them under a mountain of debt. right now, every american faces $200,000 in financial obligations to pay for our debt. this is unacceptable. this resolution of disapproval is a good place to start in getting our fiscal house in order and i urge my colleagues to support it. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. polis: i yield myself 30 seconds before further yielding. every republican that's spoken on this issue voted for a budget that included $5.1 trillion in deficit spending over a decade, more deficit spending than any decade in our country. they also as part of that budget voted to raise the debt ceiling by $8.8 trillion. they voted to do it, mr. speaker. they voted to raise the debt ceiling from $14.3 to $21

trillion in 2021. every republican in this body except for four and zero democrats voted to double the national debt over the next 10 years. i'm proud to yield two and a half minutes to the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two and a half minutes. mr. connolly: it's winter in washington but apparent our republican friends have returned thinking it's august at the beach. they've packed their neon colored flip-flops. last year this congress came together in a bipartisan fashion to avoid america's first ever default. the business community, economists, financial analysts warned of the economic calamity that a default would cause. passing this resolution today, in fact by a 2/3 vote in this body and the senate, would produce just such a catastrophic result. the budget control act we passed didn't appropriate one penny of new spending. it just provided for america to meet its previous obligations.

though the initial intransigence of some brought the nation to the brink and a first downgrade in the history of our nation, ultimately, 170 republicans finally agreed to do the right thing. today's vote is a direct repudiation of that vote. the debt limit increase in this resolution is the exact same one they supported as part of the budget control act only five months ago. today's vote is simply an opportunity for republicans to give themselves cover and flip-flop an say they're against what they in fact already voted for. make no mistake, mr. speaker. nothing republicans have proposed this year would have forestalled an increase in the debt ceiling. not the ryan budget, not the republican study committee budget, not even the balanced budget amendment. avoiding default was the difficult but responsible action last august and it remains the responsible action today. i urbling my colleagues to leave their flip-floppers at the beach

and do the responsible thing. put country ahead of politics today. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. mr. scott: i yield one minute to the gentleman from georgia, mr. graves. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. graves: i'll try not to follow up too much on the flip-flop comments, i do prefer crocs if anyone cares. i rise -- mr. opaw ma's spending spree in three short years accounts for almost 1/3 of our national debt, the most rapid increase in the debt of any u.s. president and more debt than the first 41 presidents combined. the nation's debt level has recently reached a disturbing milestone. the u.s. debt now -- is now as big as the entire u.s. economy. that's the value of all goods and service pross deuced here in the united states. it's another stark warning that america cannot continue spending

at the current pace. an alarm bell should be going off throughout the halls of congress because this problem is not going away. yet here we are again, poised to go down and continue down this road to ruin. the will to see the error of our ways and make significant spending cuts still doesn't exist here in washington. unless we start making the tough choices now, this nation will reach a point where we have no choice at all. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. polis: the republicans doth protest too much. if there's concern about the budget deficit, why did every republican who has spoken here today, every republican except for four, vote to double our national debt other e-- over the next 10 years? why has every republican here voted for a budget that included $5.1 trillion in deficit spending, more deficit spending than this country has ever had in a 10-day period, i certainly

hear complaints about president obama and others. the president can't spend a penny, a penny, without congressional approval. so if the republicans are concerned about the budget, why go on a christmas spending free while republicans voted to spend over $900 billion, every penny of it deficit spending this makes no sense, mr. speaker. let's address the budget deficit as president obama has charged taos do with the bowles simpson commission or take an -- a bipartisan approach to the deficit this nation shouldn't have a $5.1 trillion deficit as the republicans have voted on and passed this body should not spend enough money to double the national debt by 2021, which every republican except for four has voted for. let's get to work, mr. speaker. this is all fun and games but the country is burning while we continue to work to solve this issue an avoid the hard ones. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado

reserves. the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. mr. scott: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from illinois, mr. hultgren. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. hultgren: i rise in support of this important resolution of disapproval. i oppose raising the debt cellened -- cell -- ceiling and will continue to oppose raising the debt ceiling without a new approach to how washington works. we find ourselveses in this position because the president has come to congress telling us he wants to raise the nation's debt ceiling again. our nation's credit card is maxed out because of his administration's reckless spending. my home state of illinois is a perfect example of the truth that we cannot spend, borrow, and tax ourselves out of huge budget deficits and now illinois is the state in the worst financial shape of any other state. today's vote will not just show which of our -- which of our colleagues support more spending, it will reflect our

positions on the gater philosophical divide confronting us. are we for bigger government or smaller, more accountable, more effective government? today's vote will show the american people who wants to further grow the size of government, let it intrude further into the private sector and give more power to washington bureaucrats to meddle in the everyday lives of american citizens. and it will show those of us who believe a smaller government increase ours constituents' liberties. by supporting this resolution of disapproval, we are sending a message that we are standing for smaller government and greater individual freedom. we must not increase our debt ceiling without real structural change to how washington works. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. polis: i would like to ask my friend from south carolina if he has any remaining speakers? mr. scott: i have four or five. mr. polis: i'll reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina

has the floor. mr. scott: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from indiana, mr. dan burton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. burton: i thank the gentleman for yielding. this whole process amuses me because when we passed the budget control act, we in effect gave the president the ability to raise the debt ceiling by an additional $500 billion without us having any -- without us not having any control whatsoever. and this $1.2 trillion we're talking about raising this edebt ceiling today, we don't have any control over that as well. now, i voted against the budget control act and i voted against raising the debt ceiling or giving the president the authority to raise the tet ceiling by that first $500 billion an i'm going to vote against the $1.2 trillion increase today. but here's how it works. i don't think the american people understand it. we disapprove today and let's say the senate disapproves and it goes to the president and he

vetoes it. it comes back to us an we have to have a 2/3 majority vote to override it. this is not going to happen. we have in effect given the president of the united states the ability to raise the debt ceiling without us not having any control whatsoever. that's just wrong. we should never have passed that budget control act the way we did. this body should always have the ability to stop raising the debt ceiling. but when we passed the budget control act the way we did, we gave the president carte blanche and it's dead wrong. this president now has control that no president has had in history. he's make appointments without advice and consent of the united states senate. he's able to raise the debt ceiling without us being able to do a darn thing about it. it's just wrong. and this body made a big mistake when we put that provision in the budget control act and the american people need to know it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. polis: sometimes it seems

like we're arguing about different bills in this chamber. many of those who have spoken oo-- spoken on the other side have risen to attack government spending and yet they voted for a budget with a $5.1 trillion deficit over a 10-year period a bigger deficit than this nation has ever had. many of them also voted to spend $915 billion december 17 on their christmas shopping spree, all deficit spending, and now they're complaining about a deficit that their votes have caused. let me assure you of something, mr. speaker. this nation pays its bills. families across america pay their bills. when families spend too much on christmas gifts, the answer is not to not pay your credit card bill in january. the answer is to cut back on spending. that's what families across america know, that's what this congress needs to know, that's common sense. every republican in this body

except for four voted for a budget that called for specifically raising the debt ceiling from $14.3 trillion to $23.1 trillion. the house republican budget voted to double the national debt over the next 10 years. we can and we must do better, mr. speaker. let's get past these games and begin a real discussion about reining in the national deficit and starting to pay down our national debt. i reserve the plans of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado reserves. the gentleman from colorado has 12 minutes remaining. the gentleman from south carolina has 13 minutes remaining. the gentleman from south carolina. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield two minutes to the gentleman from south carolina, mr. mulvaney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two

minutes. mr. mulvaney: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to follow on to what my colleague said in his opening remarks by trying to get your heads around how big $1.2 trillion. is it's one of the things i struggled with, one of the things folks back home struggle with. if you're a family making $46,000 a year, just under the average household in the united states, this is the equivalent of borrowing an additional $14,000, which might not sound that much until you stop to realize that if you were that little family, making $46,000 a year, trying to borrow an additional $14,000, which is what we're doing, you owe $305,000 on the credit card bill. you try to borrow another $14,000. it raises a question in my mind, speaker a fairly straightforward, honest question -- does the president ever really intend to pay it back? i think it's a legitimate question to ask. if someone came to me and said, would you loan me an additional

$14,000 and i knew you owed $305,000, i think asking that person -- do you ever intend to pay it back? and the question is yes, then the question would be, well, when? because you offered us a budget last year, mr. president, that never balances ever. we heard a lot of nasty thing about mr. ryan's budget, the g.o.p. budget, at least it balances and goes to surplus and has a method to pay off the debt. the president has never offered us a budget that ever balances or produces a surplus to generate the money with which to repay the debt that he's asking us to take on today. the president's own words in 2006 have become somewhat famous back then when he was in the senate. he said the fact that we are here today debating today's debt limit is a leadership failure. america has a debt problem.

americans deserve better. mr. speaker, i ask the simple question. if the president would like to exercise some leadership, the opportunity exists for him to do so. can i have another 30 second? mr. scott: i yield 30 seconds. mr. mulvaney: in his lifetime would be great. in his children's lifetime would be ok. but send us a budget that balances sometime. send us a balance -- a budget that balances sometimes so at least maybe we can pretend that we will eventually pay off this money that he wants us to borrow today. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. polis: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. polis: mr. speaker, i want to quote from an article in "the hill" my friend and colleague, mr. mulvaney from south carolina, said that, this entire procedure, quote, is just a fig leaf for some republicans to say they are against more debt even though they essentially approved it,

end quote. that's what we know this to be. this money has been spent. it's out the door. my colleague, mr. mulvaney from south carolina, agrees and has put it into the record. even the budget from the republican study committee which the gentleman cited, calls for specifically raising the debt ceiling by $5.6 trillion. increasing the national debt by a third. that's not the answer. the president has led the way through the creation of the simpson-bowles commission and their hard, bipartisan work to come up with a way to lower the national debt. the paul ryan budget, all the budgets that the republicans brought before the house increase the deficit substantially. more so than any congress has in the history of this entire country. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado reserves. the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield three minutes to the gentleman from south carolina,

mr. trey gowdy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina, mr. groundy, is recognized for three minutes. mr. gowdy: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank my friend from south carolina, mr. tim scott, for his outstanding work on the rules committee. so here we are again, mr. speaker. less than six months removed from last summer's so-called debt crisis, on the verge of committing another act of generational embezzlement, we are on the verge of signing another $1 trillion of debt to our progeny because we can't muster the courage to make hard decisions. we are on the verge of $16 trillion in debt, mr. speaker, because we can't bring ourselves to say no. we're on the verge of $16 trillion of debt, mr. speaker, because we refused to have a serious conversation about the role of government juxtaposed with the role of the individual. and in times like this when leadership and moral courage, as my friend from south

carolina, nick mulvaney, so eloquently put it, when moral courage and leadership are needed, we get slogans more befitting of a student body president raise than a campaign to be the leader of the free world. this administration says it wants a balanced approach, but a balanced approach apparently doesn't include a balanced budget. this administration says it wants a grand bargain, a big transformative deal, but the details of such a deal would fit nicely on the backside of a postage stamp. and my personal favorite, mr. speaker, they want the, quote, rich pay their fair share. i have heard that several times this morning. they never seem to get to defining who the rich are, and they never seem to get around to defining fair, which may be the most subjective word in the

english language. so i would ask -- is it fair, is 34% not enough? you want a half, you want 2/3? mr. polis: will the gentleman yield? mr. gowdy: define who the rich are and what's fair. mr. polis: i'll be answer to answer the gentleman if the gentleman will yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado will suspend. the gentleman from south carolina may continue. mr. gowdy: thank you, mr. speaker. if sloganeering and class warfare were not insidious enough, this administration criticizes those who do have the moral courage to offer a way out. where is the president's entitlement reform plan? where is his tax reform plan? where is his regulatory reform plan? where is his litigation reform plan? mr. speaker, i have seen his re-election plan. where is the plan to pay down the debt, balance the budget and offer real opportunity to our fellow americans who want

it and need it? we had a town hall in south carolina, mr. speaker, over the christmas break and one of the people i work for gave me some good advice. he said, drop the trillions and billions and talk where real people can understand. and he was right. so, mr. speaker, a family makes $22,000 a year but the family's expenses are $38,000 a year. and all the while they carry $142,000 in credit card debt. do you think they really need an increase in their line of credit? do you think another job or more hours will make ends meet? mr. scott: 30 seconds. mr. gowdy: you don't go to the matinee instead of the 9:00 p.m. and order a cheaper appetizer when you are $142,000 in debt. you make dramatic, transformative change. we received a better, stronger, more vibrant country than the one our parents inherited and we have squandered that

heritage. we have a credit card. i hope the generations that come after us will have the courage the generations came before us had for we have been profiles in timidity and greed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. polis: the gentleman said what's rich and what's fair. what i and many others proposed people making over $1 million in income, who we are talking, but not people of a net worth of $2 million or $3 million or less, but people making over $1 million and the tax rate would go from 35% to 39.5%, a 4.5% increase. it's in the simpson-bowles package, the gang of six package. rather than bellyaching and complaining about having to do

what republicans themselves said they were going to do in the ryan budget and the republican study group budget, that's double the deficit, republicans committed to doubling the deficit, i didn't support that. i voted against those bills. but republicans promised to double the deficit. i opposed that. here they are now doing the spending that they did, their massive spending spree in december, their budget that doubles the size of the national deficit, and here they are bellyaching after spending all that money that they don't want to pay the bill. well, that's immature, mr. speaker. let's rein in the spending, not make good on the full faith and credit of the people. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina. mr. scott: i yield one minute to the gentleman from louisiana, mr. fleming. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for one minute. mr. fleming: i thank the gentleman and i thank the speaker. the reason why we're here today is because of the balanced budget act last year which was a flawed bill, one in which i voted against.

why? it sets spending limits way too high. it guts defense by $1 trillion. in a time when the world is becoming even more dangerous than ever. it cut funding to medicare providers in a time when patients out there need access to their physicians and hospitals. and it finally creates a sham, this resolution that we're debating today, which is just that, a sham. all the president has to do is veto our vote ofties approval -- disapproval and automatically goes into effect. we just basically hand to the president at a time when we crossed that threshold, $15 trillion in debt, more than our g.d.p., our gross domestic product, which puts us up there with greece. we have now handed the president a gift of another spending of $1.2 trillion which now brings him at increasing the national debt -- which

brings the president at a time when all presidents, all the way to george bush 43, bring us to $10.6 trillion, increasing that national debt by 70% just in one term under president bush. i urge my colleagues to vote for the disapproval, and i yield my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from colorado. mr. polis: finally, mr. speaker, we have some bipartisan agreement. the gentleman from louisiana called this vote a sham. my colleague from south carolina called this a fig leaf to disguise excess republican spending. i think we have agreement on those basic concepts. whether you call this a sham or a fig leaf, this bill, this process that the republicans have put before us doesn't do a thing to solve the deficit, doesn't do a thing to rein in the national debt. it only perpetuates this congress' addiction to spending, mr. speaker. by somehow pretending to say we're doing something by making

a fuss over whether we are going to make good on the full faith and credit of what we already spent rather than just not spending in the first place, mr. speaker, we're misleading the american public into thinking this congress is tackling the national debt and deficit when all we're doing, as my friend from louisiana said, is simply a sham. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado reserves. the gentleman from colorado is recognized. mr. scott: mr. speaker, we're prepared to close. mr. polis: i'm prepared to close as well. thank you. i yield myself -- i ask, mr. speaker, how much time remains? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado has 8 1/2 minutes remaining. the gentleman from south carolina has 5 1/2 minutes. mr. polis: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. polis: mr. speaker, americans are urging, both parties, republicans and democrats, to work together to solve the basic challenges that this country faces -- joblessness, a tax code that rewards those with

well-connected lobbyists rather than hardworking americans, and, yes, to solve the budget deficit and budget crisis and ensure that we don't leave a legacy of debt for our children. and yet, we will deal with none of these issues today, none of these issues in the two days the republican majority has scheduled us to work this week amidst the biggest national recession since the great depression. each time that president obama and democrats have sought consensus on these issues, the majority have vowed to radical elements within their party that insists on an agenda that is far outside the american mainstream and will lead to doubling the national debt over the next 10 years. time and time again we've seen the republicans choose gridlock over problem solving. we saw this most recently when the house republicans refused to allow a vote on the bipartisan compromise to extend the payroll tax break. you know, the american people are tired of political games. they want action rather than

rhetoric. they want progress rather than partisanship. and with today's move, the republicans are again playing the dangerous game of signaling to the world that america might not pay its debt, might not make good on the very money that the republicans voted to spend in december. at a time when standard & poor's has moved to downgrade nine european countries' ratings, the last thing our nation can afford is a risk of default. if we are further downgraded, mr. speaker, it would likely lead to an increase in the rate that we have to pay to finance our national debt. this would in fact increase the national debt more, even more than the republicans want to increase the national debt by 5.4 trillion dollars. yes, that very same paul ryan budget that ends medicare as we know it and has $5.1 trillion of deficit spending could have $10 trillion or $20 trillion of

deficit spending if the republicans succeed in jeopardizing our credit rating by playing games with the full faith and credit of the united states of america. like millions of responsible americans, our nation knows we must make good on our obligations. every minute that we waste debating this, i'll use what the other side has called it, debating this sham, the gentleman from louisiana, this fig leaf, the gentleman from south carolina, every minute we waste debating this underlying rule and bill is a minute that could have been spent enacting practical, substantial legislation to end the budget deficit torque right the fiscal course of this nation and put our country back on the road to economic recovery. i strongly urge a no vote on this erule and the underlying bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado yields back.

the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. hypocrisy is nothing new in the house of congress, unfortunately. my good friend from colorado talks about what we're doing on the right hand side. there's no question, however, that mr. polis himself voted for the democratic caucus budget proposed by mr. van hollen, which would have increased spending by $4.5 trillion more than the ryan budget. $4.5 trillion more than the ryan budget. there's only one way to reduce debt at that level of spending, and that's higher and higher taxes on the middle class. it's bad enough that in one bill, under the democrat-controlled house, they increased taxes on the middle class by $500 billion and at the same time raided social security, men and women on a fixed income, they raided social

security by $500 billion or half a trillion dollars. it's unfortunate that not only were they increasing taxes, but they specifically targeted the middle class, creating a new $3.-- a new 3.8% surtax on an investment income on folks who have a middle class income. it is very unfortunate that the president went a step further than even the democratic caucus budget. he increased spending by $6.2 trillion more than the ryan budget. so everything we hear on the left right now about the spending and the debt you need to frame it in the real conversation around what the left has already done. under the pelosi house $1.4 trillion annual deficit. in addition to that, we need to think to ourselves, ask the question, do we need $49

trillion of spending -- spending over the next 10 years as proposed by some on the left? can we afford taking our national debt from $16.3 trillion or $16.4 trillion with this credit card extension into the $27 billion range at the end of this decade? the answer is no. the hypocrisy, it's just business as usual from the left. mr. speaker, today's vote is very clear. you either stand for reducing spending here in washington, or you don't. it is a simple -- it is as simple as that. i yield back the balance of my time and move the previous question on the resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on ordering the previous question on the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the resolution passes. mr. polis: i request the yeas

and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 8 and clause 9 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on ordering the previous question will be followed by five-minute votes on adoption of h.res. 515 if ordered and approval of the journal, if ordered. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 238. the nays are 176 with one voting present. the previous question is ordered. the question is on adoption of the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the resolution is adopted.

without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. operate 8 of rule 20, the question is on combreg to the speaker's approval of the journal which the chair will put de novo. the question is on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. >> recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 292. the nays are 120 with one answering present. the journal stands approved. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to remove my name as a co-sponsor to h.r. 3622. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered.

the house will come to order. the house will come to order.

the house will come to order and members are advised to please take their conversations off the floor.

for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> madam speaker, i send to the desk a privileged concurrent resolution and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 96, resolved that the two houses of congress assemble in the hall of the house of representatives on tuesday, january 24, 2012, at 9:00 p.m. for the purpose of receiving such communication that the president of the united states shall be pleased to make to them. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the concurrent resolution is agreed to and the motion to

reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. reed: madam speaker, pursuant to house resolution 515 and as the designee of the majority leader, i have a motion at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: mr. reed of new york moves that the house proceed to consider the joint resolution, house joint resolution 98, relating to the disapproval of the president's exercise of authority to increase the debt limit as submitted under section 3101-a of title 31 united states code on january 12, 2012. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 3101-a-c-3 of title 31 united states code, the motion is not debatable. the question is on the motion and those in favor will signify by saying aye. those opposed say no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. the clerk will report the title of the joint resolution.

the clerk: house joint resolution 98, joint resolution relating to the disapproval of the president's exercise of authority to increase the debt limit as submitted under section 3101-a of title 31 united states code on january 12, 2012. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 3101-a-c-4 of title 31 united states code, the joint resolution is considered as read and the previous question is considered as ordered on the joint resolution to its passage without intervening motion except two hours of debate equally divided and controlled by the gentleman from new york, mr. reed, and a proponent and that is the gentleman from michigan, mr. levin, the opponent. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. the gentleman will suspend for one moment. while the house comes to order. the house will be in order. members are advised to please take their conversations from the floor.

the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of the resolution under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. reed: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today as a proud primary sponsor of the subject resolution that is before the desk. madam speaker, i'd like to start my conversation with a few numbers. 15.2 trillion dollars. that is the size of our national debt. we as a nation are borrowing at the rate of $58,000 per second. that is approximately $45,000 for each man, woman, and child in america. this type of debt is not

sustainable. madam speaker, this resolution is offered today to send a message to the nation and to the world -- >> madam speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is correct. the house is not in order. the house will be in order. members are advised to take their conversations from the floor. the gentleman is recognized. mr. reed: thank you, madam speaker. this resolution is submitted to send a message to the nation and to the world that this chamber is going to lead and not hide. we are going to deal with the issue of the national debt once and for all because it is time. the path that we are on is not sustainable. it is a path of bankruptcy, it is a path that will destroy the

american dream if we do not stand up to the plate and lead us out of this fiscal nightmare that we now find ourselves in. now, many people in this town and in this chamber and in the chamber on the other side of the capitol probably would like this issue to go away until after the election. the problem is is that the issue will not go away. and even though if we don't want to deal with it politically, we need to deal with it substantively. and my resolution that is before this chamber will send a message that the constant borrowing on the backs of our children, our grandchildren must come to an end. i quote the words of our own president when he was senator in the u.s. senate. the path that we are on is similar to the words he echoed and stated in his u.s. senate

chamber when he said this constant borrowing, this national debt is a complete failure of leadership in the white house. we need to lead. and that is what we are going to do. so i ask for support on this resolution from all of my colleagues to stand with us, make the hard decisions, deal with this issue to stop this insanity that is truly a threat to our very nation. and also it is a threat to any economic recovery that our nation hopes to enjoy in the short term. . because if we do not get this debt under control, small business america, entrepreneurs, the people that will put america back to work, will not have the confidence or the certainty to invest in the american market that are going to lead to real jobs and to

deal with the problem of our unemployment once and for all. so with that, madam speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: you know, there's a very basic fact. i've listened to the rhetoric. if house republicans prevailed on this bill, what would be the result? chaos. chaos. the house republicans have become the party of chaos. six months ago they took us to the brink of default. no one in this country liked what they saw or maybe a very few. not the american public at

large. surely not the markets. surely not the markets. but apparently house republicans did and you're at it again. here we are in the first full day in the house when we're in session this year debating a measure that will take us immediately back to the brink of default. house republicans have once again, relying on the votes of others to save them from themselves and to save this country from them. this is postering, posturing, not legislating. this is rhetoric, not real action, and we've seen this movie before. 174 house republicans voted for

the budget control act that set out to keep the government functioning and address our long-term debt, but many decided to turn tail and on september 14, 228 house republicans voted in favor of the disapproval resolution to end the president's authority to pay our bills. that's what's fiscally responsible, paying bills. basically they were for it before they were against it. it's a rerun of a bad movie. when the american people clearly want us to move forward, and unfortunately house republicans have turned to washington with the same confrontational tone they left when they nearly allowed the payroll tax and the unemployment insurance to

expire. and i want to emphasize that. the same confrontation, instead of a spirit of seeking common ground, essentially confrontation. and i think the american people have said to you, enough is more than enough. house republicans act as if we don't already have a deadline looming. one with vast implications for millions of american families, that's what we should be talking about. in six weeks the payroll tax cut expires for 160 million americans. federal unemployment insurance begins to end for more than three million people searching for work, and access to health care becomes endangered for 46 million seniors and the disabled. well, last month -- while last month's jobs numbers were

encouraging, the private sector gained nearly three million since the recovery began. but with 16 million americans looking for work, we need to do more. we should be doing everything possible, everything possible to ensure that our recovery doesn't falter and you're here supporting something if it prevailed that would deeply impact our economy and economic growth. so here we are in the third week of january, and now we have a conference committee on these issues charged with the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance that -- but that hasn't yet happened. not for lack of wanting on our part. we've been eager and wanting to begin. families and businesses that

have been planning for the year should not wait until the 11th hour for once again uncertainty. brinksmanship has had for republicans i'm afraid as demonstrated today become the rule. so i urge -- we should reject this cynical, this rigidly ideological attempt to take us back to the brink of default. if you prevailed, it wouldn't take us back to the brink. it would throw us over. the resolution fortunately is going nowhere. its only impact will simply divide and distract from addressing the real needs of the american people. so i assume, as happened once before, a majority and maybe a vast majority of the house republicans will come down here

and essentially contradict what they helped to pass. that contradiction isn't even good poll tickets -- politics and it's terrible policy. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: thank you, madam speaker. what i'd like to say is that time has passed since we passed the balanced budget control act. there has been no action on the debt. we have seen nothing out of the white house as to a plan to deal with this national crisis. and my colleague on the other side, i'll remind as i am a conferee on that conference committee to deal with the

payroll tax rate, to deal with the unemployment insurance, to deal with the doc fix, i was here through december, we were here last thursday, friday working on it. and i'm glad to see now the house democrats are here to do the work. we do need the senate to join in that conversation, and i my hope is that -- and my hope is that they will join in that conversation soon. we are capable men and women in this chamber, madam speaker. i am confident that we can walk and chew gum at the same time. we will deal with the payroll tax rate. we will deal with the issue of unemployment. we will deal with the issue of the doc fix, but we will not take our eye off of what is becoming one of the fundamental issues of our generation and that is our national debt and that's what this resolution speaks to and will constantly remind all of us that we need to be diligent on this issue to get it taken care of once and

for all. and with that i would like to yield to my colleague from colorado, mr. lamborn, for three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado is recognized for three minutes. mr. lamborn: i thank the gentleman for the time and for his work on this vital issue. i'm opposed to raising the debt ceiling limit. how in the world can we raise the debt ceiling if the senate will not work with us to pass a balanced budget. the senate has not passed one in three years. no one would walk into a bank and ask for a loan without a plan on how to spend that money and pay it back, so why is it ok for the federal government to operate that way? it's not. the latest increase to the debt ceiling limit allows president obama to borrow an additional $1.2 trillion, which brings our national debt to $16.4 trillion, and he will likely be back at the end of the year asking for another increase. to put that into perspective, after the revolutionary war

when we became a country in 1776 and after that, many wondered if the young democracy could withstand what many at the time considered a crushing debt. the nation had borrowed heavily to pay for the revolutionary war. the debt when the war was over was about $34 per american which in today's inflation adjusted dollars would be about $653. today's debt, by contrast, is nearly 68 times that size or $45,000 per american. it's bad enough to borrow money like there is no tomorrow, but to do so without even a budget in place is simply wrong. today, i have introduced a bill to stop this madness, the budget before borrowing act, h.r. 3778, is a straightforward, no gimmicks approach to spending money. it very simply says the nation cannot raise the debt ceiling limit unless the house and senate have agreed on a budget

resolution. this could only be waived with a vote of 2/3 of both members of the houses. to conclude, i am opposed to raising the debt ceiling limit, and i urge my colleagues to support this disapproval resolution. with our current debt load and lack of a budget, the president has no business asking to raise our nation's debt at this time. thank you, madam speaker, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from colorado yields back. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: it's now my privilege to yield one minute to the gentlewoman from florida, ms. wasserman schultz. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from florida is recognized for one minute. ms. wasserman schultz: thank you, madam speaker. i rise today in firm opposition to this resolution. a political stunt that prevents the increase in the debt limit that this congress has already approved. this is a dangerous distraction from our efforts to move the country forward, support continued economic growth and promote job creation. and it lies in the face of the

budget control act which 174 house republicans voted for last summer. in 2011 my colleagues across the aisle caused multiple self-inflicted economic crises. the republican majority simply has not learned that these kinds of empty partisan measures can cause immediate harm to our economy and hurt working families everywhere. this resolution is nothing but a deeply harmful and dangerous charade, dangerous for americans still struggling to find work, dangerous for our economy that is depending on our robust and focused recovery and dangerous for our responsibility as a legislature, tasked not with these grand charades of brinkmanships. we have already seen our credit downgraded and seen other countries face the worst of default. i urge my colleagues to reject this resolution and protect the full faith and credit of the united states of america. thank you. i yield back the balance of my

time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: madam speaker, i am happy to yield three minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. paul. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for three minutes. mr. paul: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized. mr. paul: madam chairman, we're here today to try to prevent the national debt from going up another $1.2 trillion. but in a way it's a formality because most everybody knows the national debt is going up $1.2 trillion. and this is sad because this process is a really very mixed effort to try to curtail spending. and this power to the president to ask for a debt increase and then we have to get 2/3 of the congress to prevent this from going up, this is a creature of congress. it's also a creature of a mental status here in the congress of overspending on just everything. and it would be nice if we could blame everything on the

current administration or even the past administration but this crisis has been building for a very long time and it's very bipartisan. there's been way too much cooperation in this congress because those who like spending cooperate and they keep spending it and for a long time we were able to get away with this because we were a very wealthy country. now we're nonproductive. the good jobs are overseas and yet the spending is escalating exponentially. we're really not facing up to the reality that the problem is spending. yes, we have to deal with the debt, but the debt is a consequence of too much spending. where do we spend too much money? in two places, overseas and domestically. we need to stop the spending. you know, it's really in my mind started about 40 years ago when there was a guarantee that you don't have to worry about debt because we always had somebody there to buy the debt. if we'd had a market rate of interest where you didn't have the federal reserve buying the debt, interest rates would go up and force us to live within

our means. as long as you have a federal reserve there with no linkage of anything of soundness, since 1971, the congress has been reckless and the deficits had continueed to grow and the crisis -- continued to grow and the crisis is an inevitable consequence. i believe we are in denial here in congress. if we had the vaguest idea of how serious this crisis is financially not only for us but for the world would cut spending because you can't solve the problem with debt by accumulating more debt. it's just impossible to do this. and one other thing i think we fail to do on both sides of the aisle is really cut spending overseas. it is considered that if you spend more money overseas you have more defense, and there's no truth to that. just spending over $1 trillion overseas doesn't necessarily give you more defense. and yet nobody's willing to cut. some of these automatically -- automatic cuts is supposed to be in line, they come out of the supercommittee, everybody's

squirming already. how are we going to prevent these cuts? and this pretense we might cut $1 trillion over the next 10 years is total pretense. we are in total denial that is cutting something. there is a proposed increase baseline budgeting of $10 trillion. we are going to cut $10 trillion over 10 years? that's over $1 trillion. our debt is going up $100 billion a month. it's a charade. the american people know it's a charade. they are tired of this. they've known about this. we need to make up our minds, are we going to live within the confines of the constitution, get out of this mess. . >> another 30 seconds. mr. paul: thank you. the crisis we face as i said is not just domestic because it is a worldwide crisis. and if we don't do something, we will be forced under very dire circumstances because we cannot bail out the world. we are prepared now through our

federal reserve to bail out all of europe. we have been downgraded. france is downgraded. greece is downgraded. we believe that all we have to do is spend more money and inflate the currency. believe me, we ought to face up to reality and live within our limits. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: it's now my privilege to yield three minutes to the very distinguished senior member of our committee, mr. charles rangel of new york. mr. rangel: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for three minutes. mr. rangel: i was awed in listening to my friend, congressman paul, he usually comes up with some far-fetched ideas that i have no idea what he's talking about, but the truth of the matter is that he is right. america is walking down a very serious economic path that could not only jeopardize what's left to our fiscal system, but good

or bad the whole world depends on our system. and i cannot believe that a group of americans, especially members of the congress, would say that the president of the united states is not authorized to pay off the debts that we already had. we certainly can find a lot of agreement as to how we got there . whether it's president obama or bush's tax cuts, or two wars that the congress never declared. hey, all you need is a mathematician to add it up, but we got it there. we owe them money. who is so less patriotic, who cares so little about our country that you would have in addition to the falsehoods they tell about us, saying and we don't pay our debts, either?

it's a question if you want to talk about what we do in the future as relates to spending, but i know the debate has to deal with people who don't pay taxes. i know the debate has to say that people are taking unfair advantage of a tax code with so many loopholes in it that the most conservative republican has to agree it's time for a reform. there's a broad area we can talk about and what we are going to do about wild, reckless spending. but you just don't do it by saying that i am so angry with the president. i am so politically involved in opposing him, that i will deny him the opportunity to do what every president has always done and that is to be able to tell the world that you can count on us to pay the money that we have borrowed. now, being a politician myself i know there's extreme things that we go through, but love of our

country has to be something that we believe in. and i don't know what republicans feel such a strong commitment to the tea party or whatever other people having parties on the other side, that they would say that they would stop america from paying its debts. i don't believe it. you don't believe it. you know this is not going to pass. but my god, i don't think we should be dictated about connection with what foreigners think about us. but they should be some pride in saying if we make mistakes, they are our mistakes not european mistakes, not foreign mistakes. if we borrow money and we don't like how much we borrow, that's our domestic problem. but for god's sake don't let us fall in such partisan position that we are going to say that the united states of america,

the leader of the free world, we know how to borrow. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: thank you, madam speaker. i'm now privileged and happy to yield to the gentleman from florida, mr. rooney, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for two minutes. mr. rooney: thank you, madam speaker. our national debt now stands at more than $15.2 trillion. that amount exceeds the entire u.s. economy. washington's reckless spending now burdens every child born in the u.s. with a $50,000 share of the national debt. if we don't do something about it now, we'll be the first generation in american history to leave our children worse -- a nation worse than we inherited. and our skyrocketing debt doesn't just affect our children and their future, it damages our economy and our unemployment rate today. it's a drag on the economy that

fuels uncertainty. it hurts our credit rating. it slows economic growth, and it prevents job creation. when president obama took office, he pledged to cut the deficit in half by 2012. after three years in office, has he yet to introduce a credible plan to get our deverses under control? no. -- deficits under control? no. instead under his watch the country has hit three of the highest deficits on record, and that's unacceptable. the national debt has grown by more than $4.6 trillion in his three years in office. we can't solve our debt problems until we address the root cause of this issue and that's overspending here in washington, d.c. in house we pass a budget that would put our country on the path to a balanced budget. the senate didn't pass a budget. they dew point take up our own -- our budget, they did nothing. we passed nearly $1 trillion in spending cuts and we are planning to do more this year. the senate, as i said, has not

written a budget in nearly 1,000 days. if your family was trying to get out of the red, you would sit down at the table, figure out how much you are making, how much you're spending, and where you should cut back. the senate refuses to do that. think about that for a second. how on earth are we supposed to get our fiscal house in order if the senate won't even write a budget? and why won't the senate do their job? one word. politics. it's no wonder we have a 12% approval rating. madam speaker, it's time to cut out the credit cards here in washington and stop spending money we don't have. the longer we wait the harder it will be to fix the mess that we are in. putting our country on a responsible fiscal path is the only way to restart the economy and ensure our children a prosperous future. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: it's now my privilege to yield three minutes to another distinguished member of our committee, mr. pascrell,

from the state of new jersey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for three minutes. mr. pascrell: thank you, madam speaker. the gentleman from michigan. listening to the debate you're not hearing the same thing you heard seven months ago, i'm told. but when you look away then you say, gee, didn't i hear this before? maybe that's true on both sides. but you know bruce bartlett, who is a former advisor to president reagan, and a treasury official in george bush's administration, wrote about the five myths of the debt. the five myths of not paying the debt. or not increasing the debt. and one of them i think bears witness today of what i have heard. the myth that it's worth risking default on the debt to prevent a tax increase given the weak economy. this is a republican saying

this. i'm just repeating the words. he says, while republicans' concerns about higher taxes are not unreasonable and they are not, most economists believe that any fiscal contraction at this time would be dangerous. in fact, they note that a large cut in spending in 1937 brought in another sharp recession. it's very easy to say that the president is the -- the purpose, is the reason why we had the plague and the tremendous deficit, but if the private sector wasn't spending money, then we would have had five million more people out of work. the government has the responsibility when folks can't do for themselves what we expect. that undermines the recovery of the country and that's what happened in the great depression. republicans respond that tax increases are especially harmful to growth. however, they made the same

argument in 1982 when president reagan requested the largest peacetime tax increase in american history, and again in 1993 when president bill clinton asked for a large tax increase for deficit reduction. in both cases conservative economists' predictions of economic disaster were completely wrong. and strong economic growth followed. i wasn't here in 1993, many of you were here in 1993. you remember what the dire consequences of those -- the clinton plan was. and what happened. we had the greatest boom in 50 years. just like the economists who told us we were heading to nirvana since 2001. and i don't want any part of nirvana if that's it. and none of us do. so, we are not talking here about helping the middle class, that's for sure.

we got bailouts for them, for the other side. we know what the results are. all of us know that. it's not a partisan issue, really. you're trying to say you want to protect people's taxes, and we want to say we got to pay our debts. but we are really not 180 degrees apart. i think we need to do both. and if we don't sit down together, we are not going to do both. i yield back, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields back. the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: madam speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from illinois, mr. manzullo. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized for one minute. mr. manzullo: thank you. madam speaker, any vote to raise the debt ceiling should be tied to restraints on spending. this is the voting card. america's most expensive credit card. during my time in congress i voted nine times against raising the debt limit because it was not tied to spending controls. this is another time to say no. last august we were hopeful that we could have gone beyond the $4

trillion mandate in the budget control act, but it did not happen. unfortunately the supercommittee can could not come to a consensus and we have been drifting ever since. we are now projected to add $2.1 trillion to the national debt since august with the president's most recent request. i voted over 700 times against $2.6 trillion in spending over the past five years. that's a good place to start to find the savings that we need to get serious on debt reduction. we need to vote yes on digs approving to raise the debt limit yet again so we can get to work to cut the spending. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i was looking over the vote from the first of august and it's interesting to see -- hear people coming forth who voted aye on august 1 and

now essentially want to repudiate that. i now yield three minutes to another very distinguished active member of our committee, james mcdermott, dr. mcdermott, from the state of washington, from the snowy state of washington. mr. mcdermott: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized for three minutes. mr. mcdermott: madam speaker, it's been more than a year since the tea party took over the house. 375 days, and all that time the republicans have not brought one bill to the floor to help the economy. not a single bill. today after a long vacation and on the only day of legislative business in the month of january, the republicans are yet again wasting the american people's time putting out press releases. we aren't voting to help americans get jobs or make

education better or investing in roads or bridges. no. instead the republicans have us voting on their top priority. to default on our country's debts. ain't that something? priority? today's vote is exactly why the public is disgusted with the congress. the hypocrisy of this vote boggles your mind. republicans wage unnecessary wars on our credit card? they cut taxes on the very rich. and blow up the deficit. and now they don't want to pay for the spending binge. . i got the republican study committee's email outlining their agenda for next year. i admit. i subscribed. we have 14 million people unemployed. we have huge competitive challenges with our other countries. there's lots of investing we need to do at home. but what's the republican program as they put it out over

the email? nothing. they didn't have one, not one new idea in that agenda. all the republicans want is more war, more deregulation on wall street, and more dirty air and no help of any kind whatsoever for the middle class. madam speaker, the republicans are wasting the americans' time. we need investment, not a republican default. they're spending their time in south carolina now selecting their next leader to lead into the same congress of no. this is the congress of no we're watching. they don't pay their debts, they don't have any ideas, they don't provide any jobs. it is simply the no congress. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: thank you, madam speaker. i'd just like to remind my colleagues on the other side of the aisle the last time we took

a vote on this issue back on the budget control act in august is a much different time than today. since august we've been waiting for a plan from the other side dealing with our national debt. we've been waiting for a plan from the white house to deal with our national debt. nothing has occurred. so, madam speaker, there is no repeediation of our vote from august. this this consistent with what the american people are telling us, that we need to get our act together in washington and i join my colleagues on the other side. my hand is open to work hand in hand to dole with these problems once and for all. i'm willing to sacrifice my political life to do what needs to be done for the american people. i just hope my friends and colleagues on the other side of the aisle will join in that same sentiment. let's put politics aside. let's deal with the substance of the day. let's deal with this underlying

national crisis that is represented in our national debt. you have many friends over here that are looking to reach out, hand to hand, join arm in arm to deal with this problem and deal with the economy of our nation once and for all. i just ask you to jump and join us rather than fight us. and with that i'm happy to yield to my colleague, mr. flake, for two minutes, i believe. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona is recognized for two minutes. mr. flake: i thank the gentleman for yielding. this vote has been called a charade. that is true, it is. let's face it. the president will veto it. the senate will sustain the veto. having said that, for years and years we raised the debt limit without a discussion. let alone a vote sometimes. it would just happen procedurally. that's wrong. at least this time we've had a discussion back in august. i didn't favor the budget agreement that we had there. i did not vote for it because i think if we're going to raise the debt ceiling then, boy, we

ought to have a plan to pay down the debt or actually deal with the deficit. but i think we have to admit that even if the senate had passed the house-passed budget, the so-called ryan budget, we would still have to raise the debt ceiling. i don't think anybody really disputes that. we are going to have to raise the debt ceiling again and again, but at least put together a plan to deal with our deficit and we haven't done that. now, in our candid moments on our side of the aisle, we were headed toward this fiscal cliff long before the present president took control of the wheel. he stand on the accelerator to get us here faster. the congress only decide to take action when we stand on the edge of the cliff. it could happen when we have a treasury auction and no one wants to buy our debt. it could happen sooner than when we want to realize. it behooves us now to put

together a plan to deal with our debt and deficit. that plan does not exist today. i think for that reason we should vote for this resolution and then put a plan to deal with it rather than just letting future generations inherit this debt. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield myself 15 seconds. mr. flake, the problem is if you prevail you'd create an abyss. you'd create an abyss. i now yield two minutes to a very distinguished gentleman from georgia, another active member of our committee, mr. lewis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for two minutes. mr. lewis: madam speaker, i want to thank mr. levin for yielding. here we go again, madam speaker . instead of working on legislation to help create jobs

, house republicans have gathered us here for political gains. this bill is not constructive. mr. speaker -- madam speaker, it is destructive. it is disruptive to the most important task we face, helping struggling america get back to work, get our economy moving again. we've been down this road before. we fought this so-called battle last year. the debt limit is america's credit card bill. and just because we don't like the banners doesn't mean we don't have to pay it. it's just that simple. when you get a balance on your credit card you pay it. we all do it. this exercises a waste of time and taxpayers' dollars. i urge all of my colleagues to

vote no on this bill. let's come together and work for the good of this nation and not partisan -- the time is always right to do right. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: i'd like to remind my colleague on the other side of the aisle, when you get a credit card bill that you can no longer afford, you do pay it but you cut it up and you stop the spending so you don't exacerbate the problem. and with that i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from georgia, mr. gingrey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for two minutes. goip madam speaker, i thank -- mr. gingrey: madam speaker, i thank the gentleman for yielding and i rise in support of this resolution of disapproval of increasing the debt ceiling another $1.2 trillion. you heard colleagues on both sides of the aisle, members of the ways and means committee, the distinguished former

chairman, mr. rangel, and others speak about why we have to raise the debt ceiling and that it's something that's been done over the years and certainly that's true and the nine years that i've been a member, this being my 10th year, i've seen it happen many times. a lot of times it's passed, as mr. flake said, procedurally and the public doesn't even know it. now, i rarely disagree with my friend from arizona, but i take a little bit of exception with what he said. he said the president has just stepped on the accelerator a bit. i would say $4.5 trillion in 3 1/2 years is not stepping on the accelerator just a bit, madam speaker. that's putting the pedal to the metal. and this has gotten so totally out of hand that it's got to stop. so this is not on our side a waste of time, as the gentleman from washington said. we are not just pandering to

the tea party. listen, we're paying attention to the conservatives in this country that first got my attention in 1964 and the conscience of a conservative and quit all this spending and get our fiscal house in order and we need to do that by cooperating on each side of the aisle. this resolution will fail. we understand that. the american people need to know there are members of this congress that are going to stand with them, whether you call them tea party or whatever, and try to den grade them. but questioner -- denigrate them. but we are going to stand here with them. we are going to take the time today. it may be the most important thing we do, to say we are not going to overspend and just automatically -- and then we're going to say we are going to cut over the next 10 years but we are going to borrow over the

next year $1.2 trillion. my colleague has yielded me a little bit of additional time. i am ready to wrap up. this is what we need to do. this is what the american public needs us to do. it's time for us to get together in a bipartisan way, solve this, solve medicare, solve social security. as former speaker newt gingrich said on the campaign trail just yesterday, it's time to take social security off budget and have it stand alone, not let the cock raise the trust fund -- not let congress raise the trust fund. we now owe $2.-- if we don't increase the debt ceiling then seniors won't get the social security checks, that's baloney, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: it's now my privilege to yield to another distinguished member of our committee, mr. neal, three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. neal: let me call attention to some of the statements that have been offered here. mr. reed, the reason you were

invited to this floor to manage the time as a freshman member of congress is very simple -- you weren't here for the reckless ride that the republican party took during the eight years of the bush administration. that's why you're here and the other freshmen have come to the floor, you weren't here for this tirade of spending. when you said you cut up the credit card, so we're going to cut up the credit card for the v.a. hospitals? after 35,000 men and women have been wounded, serving us honorably in iraq and afghanistan? now, look, i voted against the war in iraq and i voted against the bush tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. fact. not opinion. bill clinton says goodbye and there's a $5.7 trillion surplus. balanced budgets four times in five years. it's only happened five times since the end of world war ii.

mr. flake is one of the few republicans that will come to the house with a straight face and say -- let me tell you how we got here. he knows how we got here and mr. gingrey is a friend and he knows how we got here. you can't cut taxes by $2.3 trillion and fight two wars and honor the commitment we have to those men and women who have served us honorably in iraq and afghanistan. and while i was against the tax cuts and while i was against the war in iraq, i'm going to vote for those appropriations to take care of those veterans' hospitals. you don't cut up the credit cards when they come back. you use good judgment before you send them off. what happened here during those eight years with the prescription drug benefit? what happened during those eight years with weapons of mass destruction? what happened with tax cuts? and by the way, the corresponding argument on those tax cuts -- tax cuts pay for themselves. well, guess what, we're staring

at a $15 trillion deficit and debt because of those reckless fiscal practices that took place. for the republican party to make these arguments today about this issue, which, by the way, mr. flake is correct about again, it's but a charade. you meet your obligations, you pay your bill. that's what the credit card is about and not to pontificate in front of this chamber today about reckless spending when for eight years nobody had the courage on that side to stand up and say, enough is enough. and i thank the gentleman for yielding the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: madam speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from tennessee, mrs. blackburn. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from tennessee is recognized for two minutes. mrs. blackburn: i thank the gentleman for the time. every time i go back home to tennessee and as i hold town hall meetings, i do hear from

my constituents enough is enough, stop the madness, let's get the nation's fiscal house in order. that is what the american people are demanding that we do. and just so we all realize what the debt is -- you're talking $15.2 trillion. nearly $5 trillion or 1/3 of that debt has come onto the books in the past 3 1/2 years. that is the rate of acceleration by which this administration is pushing this nation to the brink. and that is why our constituents are saying stop it. it's the reason for this vote today. to pass a resolution of disapproval, to send our message to the president that, look, time is long past for you to bring forward a plan to deal with this debt. it is your responsibility to do so for this country, and it is

your responsibility to do so for future generations, to make certain that children and our grandchildren, like my two grandchildren, tonight have an increasing -- don't have an increasing share of this. this past year, our family's share of our national debt grew by $30,000. $30,000. it is time for us to realize that we have to stop the out of control spending, we have to freeze the spending, then we have to begin to cut and remove and eliminate items that are unnecessary to the budget. let's reiterate our commitment to getting back on the right track, getting our fiscal house in order. let's reiterate this commitment to the american people, that we have hit the high water mark in spending and we are going to

join together in a bipartisan fashion to make certain that we get the federal government's fiscal house in order. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. >> i now yield three minutes to another -- mr. levin: i now yield three minutes to the gentleman from the great state of oregon, mr. blumnary. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. blumenauer: i appreciate the gentleman's courtesy in letting me speak on this measure. what we are dealing with today is a smoke screen to ensure the self-inflaketted crisis of confidence that's been unfolding with our friends on the other side of the aisle over the course of this last year. everybody knew that we would honor our debts that had already been incurred. but they fogged the issue, created doubt, pushed to the

brink, and this charade today is a result of what was required to help them get off the ledge onto which they had climbed that risked damaging the credibility and credit worthiness of the united states. the issue should be how we spend money. we need to change how we do business. and i think with all due respect, there are things that we could be working on now to make some progress. there is an opportunity to reform our tax system that is complex and unfair. we're just finding out that mr. romney, with hundreds of millions of dollars, pays less in tax than probably the undocumented workers who worked in his yard.

there are opportunities to deal with carried interest, with unnecessary tax breaks that are permanent for oil and gas, while important emerging technologies like wind are in a state of limbo. and the public agrees that the most fortunate among us should be paying a little more. it's only fair. they can do it. it makes a difference. we could be working together on agricultural form to spend less money but target on farmers and ranchers, rather than large agribusiness. we should accelerate the health care reforms that started out bipartisan and relatively noncontroversial that actually would help us no longer spend almost twice as much as other developed countries for results that aren't as good.

instead of getting down to brass tacks, my republican friends are playing games like this measure. luckily, the game that they are playing today won't crash the global economy, but it will further erode confidence in congress and it delays the day that we work together on the elements that i just described, where we could get bipartisan support, change how we do business, redeuce the deficit and give the taxpayer more value for their dollars. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. >> thank you, madam speaker. i yield two minutes to the gentleman from louisiana, mr. scalise. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. scalise: thank you, madam chair, i thank the gentleman from new york for yielding. let's look at president obama's record after three years.

he's left a record of debt, despair and downgrades and here we are debating whether or not president obama is able to grab another $1.2 trillion that he adds to the debt of our nation that our children and grandchildren will have to pay. the reason we were downgraded is because president obama himself has still refused to put a plan forward to balance the federal budget. his budget that he pushed forth doubles the national debt in its first five years. then he becomes the first president in the history of our nation to have our debt rating, the debt rating of the united states, downgraded. you look at the despair. as americans are trying to get jobs. we're get regular ports today that president obama is going to reject the keystone pipeline. turning his pack on 20,000 american families who were looking for those good jobs. here in america. making us more dependent on middle eastern countries who don't like us. the canadians, who are good friends of ours, wanted to send

oil to america. that's oil we don't have to be buying from middle eastern countries. instead the president is going torque as we're hearing reports of today is going to turn his back on those 20,000 jobs. he's going to send that oil and those jobs to china. now how propost-rouse is that. as the president is trying to rack up more debt on the nation's credit card, at the same time, he's turning his back and running 20,000 more jobs out of this country. that's the record of this administration. that's what president obama has given us. you wonder why we've had over 8% up employment for almost every single month he's been president. we can't afford the obama economy. we need to reject this increase in the debt ceiling, stop spending money we don't have and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. yarmuth. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for

three minutes. mr. yarmuth: i thank my good friend. madam speaker, i understand that the republican majority will vote today against the president's request to raise the debt limit. to borrow a phrase from a former speaker of the house, can we please drop the pious baloney? less than six months ago, republicans voted for precisely what they are voting against today. this republican leadership created a national crisis and walked us to the brink of default. then they voted far bill to end the crisis, but slipped in a provision to allow them to attack the president for a decision they don't have the guts to stand by. this is not leadership and it certainly is not governing. it's an ideological game that's ventured well beyond the absurd. mr. flake, i think in a very important moment of candor, talked about the fact that the very budget that the republicans

passed this last year would in fact raise the national debt by more than $6 trillion over the next 10 years. you cannot square logically an opposition to raising the debt ceiling when you have voted for a budget that does exactly that. it raises the national debt. with all due respect to the gentleman from new york, when he says nothing has changed in the last seven months, nothing has changed in the last seven months. we agreed on something, we knew what the debt was going to be, the deficit, we agreed to accommodate it in this way. the only thing that's changed in the last seven months is that the republicans are now trying to renege on the agreement they made seven months ago. that's the only things that's -- thing that's changed. the american people have been loud and clear on what they need from this congress. responsible investments in

infrastructure, education, and job creation. they want everyone share in the sacrifice for our economic recovery, including billionaires and big oil companies. madam speaker, it's time to do the work the american people have asked us to do. they don't have time for more pious baloney. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky yields back. the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: thank you, madam speaker. i remind the gentleman that what we have done on our side of the aisle is at least we've put a plan in writing by adopting an aprove -- approving the budget. we're scrust looking, in the last seven months, we have been waiting for a plan from the white house of how are we going to get out of this national debt crisis in black and white? not political speeches. but in black and white. so we can take it back to the american people and have an open and honest debate as to where we're going to prioritize our spending and how we're going to get out of this hole. that's what we're looking for. that's what my colleague from

arizona, mr. flake, is talking about. we are at the point on this side of the aisle, ladies and gentlemen, to say we don't care who is at fault. i'm at the point, democrat, republican, we're at 15.-- we're at $15.2 trillion, whoever is responsible for it, i could care less. what i care about are my kids, my grandkids who aren't even born, aren't even on the face of this earth, of getting our act together in washington and getting a national plan put together that we can join arm in arm and stand with each other to deal with this issue. with that, madam speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from kansas, mr. huelskamp. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. huelskamp: thank you, madam chairman. i rise today in opposition to raising the debt limit again and again and again. last week i traveled across the first district of kansas to host seven town hall meetings and

kansans reit vated -- reiterated the same thing i heard on town halls last year. overspending, overregulation and yes, overtaxing must end now. kansans are not concerned about the next election like most in washington seem to be. they are worried about the next generation. between the first day this president took office and today, debt has grown by $4.6 trillion. in comparison, it took from george washington to bill clinton to build up that much debt. now the president wants another $1.2 trillion. unfortunately, the real battle to prohibit this $1.2 trillion mortgage on our children's future was lost five months ago when the house passed the budget control act. since the budget control act passed, the congress has failed to produce any cuts from the supercommittee. we failed to pass a balanced budget amendment. senator reid not only refuses to

pass but refuses to consider a budget. that doesn't paint the picture of the -- the culture of overspending in washington for the past half century has led us to where we are today. every president has refused to balance the budget. every member of congress who advocated for their special interest, every special interest who came to us, they are all to blame for where we stand today. when this debt limit is reached, every man, woman, and child in america will have their own debt to pay to washington of $50,000. this doesn't take into account the mountains of debt we face for future entitlement programs. this is not about us. this is about our children and grandchildren who will have to pay this back. unless and until washington can get its grip on reckless spending and borrowing, the future of our country will remain online. i yield back the balance of my

time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kansas yields back the balance of his time. the chair will advise the gentleman from new york he has 34 minutes remaining on his side, the gentleman from michigan has 35 1/2 minutes. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: it is my pleasure to yield five minutes to our distinguished whip, mr. hoyer from the great state of maryland. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding. madam speaker, according to a new poll by "the washington post" and abc news, 84% of americans disapprove of the way congress is doing its job. i don't know that the other 16% are paying attention pause we're not doing our job well. and this certainly is not doing our job well. the reason it's not doing our job well is because it is a pretense. a sham. this legislation is to pay bills that we've already incurred. whether as the gentleman said it was incurred with your jotes --

your votes or our votes, we have incurred those expensesful 69 -- those exes. this is about -- those expenses. this is about whether america will pay its bills. the previous gentleman said nobody has done anything about the debt new york point of fact, we did something about the debt. we put revenue at levels commensurate with our spending. and as a result, in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001, in 1997, we brought the debt -- the deficit down to $25 billion and for the next four years western had a surplus. now, a couple of those years were not real surpluses because we counted on social security revenue but two of those years were real surpluses. this is about whether we pay our bills that we had incurred.

not doing this would be irresponsible and would lead, i think, to further disrespect by the public and properly so. one of the reasons for this feeling by the public is that americans are tired of political games. this is a political game. this is a game that will say, see, i voted against debt. now, let me tell you how to vote against debt. when you cut taxes in 2001 and 2003, i agree with my friend, it's not about blame, it is about learning, however. when we cut tacks in 2001 and 2003, 2001 under george bush, we didn't pay for them. we pretended they would pay for themselves. they didn't. alan greenspan says they won't. we ought to learn from that. learning from that, we ought to say, yes, we'll pay our debts,

the president doesn't want this money. it's not for the president. it's for bills that we incurred in fighting two wars, in giving tax cuts, primarily to the wealthiest in america, to passing a scription drug program that frankly all of us now support, but we didn't pay for it. as a result, we got deeply into debt. we have to show courage, wisdom and hopefully intellectual honesty in getting to that. the american public are tired of seeing republicans spending time because of electoral positioning and they would be tired of us doing the same thing. that's what all-what this is. this is not our debt. we voted against it. but that's not responsible. it's not honest. and i think most of you know that. the resolution before us today is simply another waste of time. more than that, it undermines

competence here and around the world. some of that debt, of course, we owe to people around the world. it is the essence of political gamesmanship and does nothing to reduce the debt or create jobs, and we spent the whole day on it. this is the only full day we will spend in january debating any issue. americans know that we ought to pay our bills. they know we reached a deal in august that said both parties would work together to reduce our deficits in order to provide certainty to our businesses, certainty -- families around the dinner table. this would only provide more uncertainty at a time when our people need to see us working together on a big balanced deal to meet our fiscal challenges. my friend and i are both for that effort. i am very much for that effort.

but i don't pretend that not paying the bills that we incurred are going to solve that problem. the only thing that's going to solve that problem is we are going to ask everybody to contribute their fair share. yes, we are going to have to make some cuts and make some cuts that neither side will like and raise revenues that neither side will like. but i will tell my friend, who is waiting for his grandchildren, i have three grandchildren now and i have two great grandchildren, and he's right. they're the ones who are going to have to pay this bill. and i saw my young friend and new member from south carolina -- i can't call his name right this second -- can i have two minutes. mr. levin: i yield three minutes. mr. hoyer: i saw my young friend passionate about not passing this to his children. i could have given that speech. i voted against the a.m.t. without paying for it.

we paid for it when we set the a.m.t. i think it needs to be fixed and we'd pay for it. i would vote no on this resolution, and i strongly encourage my colleagues to do the same. why? america is disheartened because they do not believe we are honest in dealing with them. they believe we play political games. they believe that we are not addressing the issues they know are of importance and know do not have easy, simplistic answers. i hope that democrats who vote no will vote no joined by a large number of republicans, not because you like debt, not because any of us like that. and very frankly i voted for the clinton revenue increases in 1993. the prediction on your side of the aisle was it would destroy the economy, unemployment would spike and the deficit would explode. none of that happened.

you were wrong. all of us are wrong from time to time. dead wrong. as a matter of fact, we enjoyed the best economy i have seen in my adult life in the 1990's. and we have seen the worst recession in my life after pursuing the bush policies for eight years. yes, we were in charge for the last two but we couldn't change policies because the president had the veto and the majority votes to sustain that veto on this floor. so, ladies and gentlemen, let's be honest with the american people. we've all incurred a debt. we all spent the money. we drove on the roads. we were defended abroad. we invested in health care. research. we all incurred these debts. we know we need to solve it. we know that will be tough but honesty will make it easier. honesty between ourselves, honesty with the american people and honesty, integrity

and courage. i say around this country talk about, you know, greece has a real problem. they are 128%. i think we are at 100%. the problem with greece is they don't have the resources to solve their problem. america, the good news for us is we have the resources to solve our problems. if we have the courage and political will to do so. this vote is a small token of showing that we have the courage, the wisdom and the political will to do so. we need to pay our bills. vote no on this resolution. show the american people that we have courage, that we have wisdom and we can have the political will to make america the continuing strongest country on the face of the earth, and i yield back the

balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: thank you, madam speaker. i would like to say to mr. hoyer that i have a tremendous amount of respect for him as a member of this body, and i have joined him to support the go big effort. and what i would say is by this resolution, look at what we have done on our side of the aisle. we have brought this conversation out of the back rooms. we have brought the ideas and proposals that we heard from mr. blumenauer from oregon, i believe, who talked about comprehensive tax reform, agricultural reform on the floor of this house in front of the american people in an open and honest manner. and what we have done on our side of the aisle is to stress that these conversations will no longer happen behind closed doors, but they will happen on the floor of this chamber. and i'm confident, i am

confident that when we come together, like we are, like the foundation that we are setting in our conversations that we are going to solve this problem. but until that solution is enacted, i will get up every day as a member of this house to champion the cause of getting the fiscal house of washington, d.c., in order, to get our reckless spending under control and get this economy going. and with that -- mr. hoyer: will my friend yield? mr. reed: i'd yield. mr. hoyer: i want to thank him for his participation in addressing this issue and frankly in my opinion he was one of the 100 signatories saying, let's say get a big deal. we have to get a handle on this debt. i want to thank him. but i want to assure him as well -- i have been here just a little longer than he has -- this debate has been going on for some period of time. this is no new debate. with all due respect, it's been on this floor, i've been

raising this issue for some 20 years, very frankly. others have as well on both sides of the aisle. the debate has been going on, but as i said, we need to summon the courage and political will to not just debate it but to address it and address it effectively and i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. reed: thank you. madam speaker, with this i'd like to yield two minutes to the gentleman from mississippi, mr. palazzo. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from mississippi is recognized for two minutes. mr. palazzo: thank you, madam speaker. i want to thank the gentleman for my time. it's a new year and we have a new chance to tackle some new problems in this session of the 112th congress. but real problems need real solutions. we saw what was possible when the house came together last year to pass conservative job-creating bills and a plan to cut $6.2 trillion in government spending and reduce deficits by $4.2 trillion over the next decade. we also saw how little got done when democrats in the senate and the obama administration consistently ignored the wishes

of the american people. this administration has said it will continue to wage its 2012 campaign against this congress. so instead of working with us and encouraging the senate to consider the numerous jobs bills we have passed in the house, the president has chosen once again to try to divide us and the american people. make no mistake, the issue of spending will be as important in this second session of congress as it was in the first. it remains so because our economy has not stabilized. government is still too large and too many people are still looking for work. yes, the president inherited a bad economy, but his destructive policies have made it much worse. i support this resolution of disapproval of the president's debt limit increase because shouldering future generations is not following. i say if you're ready to work together on some very real solutions to real problems in 2012, so are we. we've been ready. america deserves and demands better than the short-term

drive the car off the cliff mentality our president has given us over this past year, and we in the house will continue to bring forth real leadership and real solutions to the real problems facing us for this generation and for those to come. before i yield one of my colleagues talked about the path to prosperity, the republican budget, he said, yes, it includes simple flies the tax code, repeal the government takeover of health care and address the number one driver of our deficit and that's medicare. we call that plan the path to prosperity. the president and democrats only alternative has been a path to despair. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield myself seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: mr. reed, mr. hoyer mentioned this, you know, on ways and means for years once the republicans came to the majority, we protested they

weren't paying for anything. so this isn't a new issue. it isn't a new issue. i now yield five minutes to the ranking member of the budget committee and a distinguished former member of the ways and means committee, the gentleman from maryland, mr. van hollen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for five minutes. mr. van hollen: thank you, madam speaker. and i thank my colleague, mr. levin. you know, day after day, month after month we hear members of congress, republicans and democrats alike, come to the floor of this house and say we've got to do more on jobs, we've got to make sure that we get this fragile economy moving again. unfortunately, while we say those things in this body, we haven't yet taken up the president's jobs initiative that he presented to this congress last september. we've taken little bits and pieces here. we've had two months now on the

payroll tax cut. i hope that's good news. i hope we can get the rest of it. but the rest of it has being absolutely ignored. these people said they want to focus on job creation and get the economy moving again. and what's incredible about today is we have our republican colleagues advocating a course of action which if we took them seriously would wreak absolute havoc in the economy. it would destroy jobs throughout the economy. that's not just me saying it. that's republican economists, independent economists, democratic economists. if the united states for the first time in its history refused to pay its debts, if the united states for the first time in its history refused to make good on the full faith and credit of the united states, the economy would fall to pieces. millions of people will lose their jobs. you know, if we want to be

taken seriously, we have to be serious about the consequences of our actions. and if we take the course of action being presented, we'd have a fiasco on our hands. look, the american people, i think, understand full well what's going on here, but i do think it's important to make clear what the debt ceiling does. you raise the debt ceiling in order to cover obligations already made. it would be as if if we don't lift the debt ceiling it's like we woke up one morning and said, we won't pay our mortgage. or if you went out and paid good and services with a credit card say, we are not going to pay the credit card. you know what happens? you lose your house if you do that. the credit card company will come after you. if the united states was to renege on the full faith and credit of its obligations it would be a disaster in the international economy. and yet that is apparently the

course of action being advocated by our republican colleagues today. now, what makes this really political theater is people know that more responsible members of congress and certainly the president of the united states is not going to let that happen. they are not going to let that reckless outcome to happen. and that's why in so many ways this is unfortunately just political theater and it's one of the things, frankly, that contributes to the american people's low view of the congress, this kind of political game playing. another thing that contributes to that is members of congress refusal to take responsibility for their own actions. last year, we had the republican budget on the house, there are major differences between the republican budgets and democratic budgets but the reality is, the republican budget, overwhelmingly voted for

by our republican colleagues, would require us to lift the debt ceiling of the united states. the very debt ceiling our republican colleagues are now telling us they don't want to increase. it would require us, it would have added $7 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years. how is it that people can come down and vote for a budget that says we're going to ask the united states to take on these additional obligations and then vote for a motion or resolution that refuses to take responsibility for those very actions? and i think that's why the american people are understandably losing much of the confidence, certainly in this house of representatives. now obviously, we have big challenges with respect to the deficit. let's get together and solve them.

as my colleague, mr. hoyer, said, in order to do that we have to come together in the spirit of compromise. we have before the country a number of approaches. we've had a number of bipartisan commissions. we have simpson-bowles, rive ledge-demin chee. -- domenici. they have a framework for solving the issue. all the frameworks say we have to make tough decisions on this making cuts but we also have to deal with the revenue side of the equation. the major obstacle to dealing with the revenue side of the equation is we have one person who say you can't close a loophole. mr. levin: i yield the gentleman an additional two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> we have our colleagues --

mr. van hollen: we have our colleagues on the other side taking a pledge to the grover nor vist organization as opposed to the pledge we take to support the united states, and under that pledge if you close a tax loophole for the purposes of deficit reduction, you violated the pledge. if you say, you know what, gas prices are doing well, oil companies are doing just great, we don't think they need a taxpayer subsidy, you can't get rid of -- rid of that if you're going to use that money for deficit reduction. it's a violation of the pledge. let's get serious about deficit reduction. let's take a balanced approach. we have a bipartisan model, at least a framework, in simpson-bowles. but let's be serious about that. the reason this process on the floor of the house today is not serious is because everybody recognizes the united states can't afford to default on its

full faith and credit. everybody, that is, except for the folks who are apparently going to vote to say we can't raid the debt ceiling. that we are not going to take responsible for paying for obligations already due and owing. budgets already passed. what kind of message is that to our children? you've got to pay for your debts, but you know what, you don't really have to, wink, wink, nod, nod, go ahead and buy those things on your credit card and then decide the next day you're not going to pay for them. what a terrible message that is. let's take responsibility, colleagues, for our actions. let's not play political games. and most of all, let's not follow the advice that our republican colleagues today are recommending, which would undoubtedly, if taken seriously, result in economic chaos and a huge loss of jobs.

thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: i'm happy to yield to the gentlelady from new york, ms. buerkle. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. buerkle: thank you, madam speaker and to my colleague from new york. we prepare our remarks to come down here and speak but as i listen to my colleagues across the aisle, i have to comment on a couple of things today. first and foremost, this is not a democrat or republican issue. the debt this nation faces is not partisan, it's an american issue. we need to join together and to figure out a path forward and to hear my colleagues oy across the aisle demagoguing, we heard them demagogue our republican budget. i challenge the senate so put forth a budget and let's put a spending plan in place. this debate about the debt ceiling is critical to this country because we can't get the senate to the table to debate a

budget system of we've got to somehow get their comments out and get to the american people how very important it is to stop the spending. the united states of america doesn't have a taxing problem. we have a spending problem. and until and unless we get our spending under control, we cannot move forward as a nation. it isn't about taxing the american people anymore. they are taxed enough. we need a fair and flatter tax, income tax. we need to revise our tax code. most importantly, we need to stop the spending. this past week, our president came out, madam speaker, and he talked to us about consolidating departments within the federal government. about decreasing government. making it more efficient. and yet he comes to us and he asks us to increase the debt ceiling. that's talking out of both sides of your mouth, madam speaker. this president, i believe, thinks government has the answers and he wants to give the

bureaucrats a blank check to move forward and to spend this country into oblivion. i came here as the mother of six children and the grandmother of 12 because i believe the best thing we can do for this country is to get our spending under control. stop spending money that we don't have so that the country that we give to our kids and our grandchildren is a better place with more opportunity and the american dream. i yield back. thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i now yield three minutes to the active gentleman, the very active gentleman, from vermont, mr. welch. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. welch: thank you, i thank the gentleman. the course of action that is being proposed by the republican majority is two things. one, it's reckless and irresponsible, and two, it's cynical and very political.

first of all, why is it reckless and irresponsible? it is because this country has never seriously considered defaulting on its obligations, saying no to paying its bills. what great country would ever seriously suggest to its citizens that it will stiff its creditors with all the economic chaos that would ensue? also, the reason that we have to raise the debt ceiling is not so we have permission to spend more money. it's to meet obligations that have been incurred. many of those obligations, incidentally, are for expenditures i opposed but you supported. the war in iraq. the extension of the bush tax cuts. medicare scription drug part d that was never paid for. the extension of the bush tax cuts a year ago december. when it was going to add $800 billion to the 10-year deficit but even on the in order to

accommodate that, you wouldn't raise the debt ceiling. so that's the irresponsible part of this proposal. obligations incurred are obligations that must be paid. i was against the iraq war and didn't want to spend that money. had i been here, i would have voted against the bush tax cuts because i thought it was bad policy. but as a member of congress, those were congressional obligations, i believe that we and i have an obligation to stand behind them. but secondly, the reason i believe this is cynical and political, is two things. first, these budget requirements are ones that were incurred in many cases at the urgency -- at the advocacy of our republican majority. secondly this process we're now doing is one that was designed to allow people who wanted to stand up and vote no against extending the debt ceiling the

opportunity to -- the opportunity to do so so they could chame they were against it even though it was designed as well to guarantee that the debt ceiling would be raised. just putting the full burden of making that happen on the president of the united states. i'm glad that he's willing to bear that responsibility, but i question whether the american people are fooled by a congressional maneuver whereby the majority is saying that we want to say no, that we're against raising the debt ceiling, even though we guaranteed the process by which it will happen. i thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: i'm pleased to yield two minns to the gentleman from tennessee, mr. desjarlais. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. desjarlais: madam speaker, our nation is $15 trillion in debt. what does that really mean? it means that every american's share of the debt is roughly

$48,000. it means that our debt is more than our nation's yearly gross domestic product. it means we must borrow 40 cents on every dollar we spend. and it means that china can purchase a new f-35 joint fighter every day with the interest we pay them. while these facts alone should cause concern, the truly frightening patient is that there is no plan in place to prevent our debt continuing to grow. increasing the debt limit by another $1.2 trillion will mean by the end of 2012, our national debt will be in excess of $16 trillion. but worse than that, raising the debt limit sends the message to job creators that we are still not serious about making the necessary spending cuts and reforms to pay down this unsustainable debt. my constituents have given me a clear message, make the federal government live within its

means. that will require us to prioritize our spending and make tough spending decisions. but there's no other choice. it is simply impossible to continue to run yearly trillion dollar deficits, yet that is exactly what some in washington want to continue to do. there's absolutely no doubt that if we don't change this course, this reckless spending bing will ruin our economy and bankrupt our nation. that is not fair to our future generations. we have an opportunity here today to say enough is enough. we can be the congress that acts to put this great nation back on the right track. i urge my colleagues to join me in voting in favor of this disapproval resolution. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: i am pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from florida, mr. ross. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two

minutes. mr. ross: thank you, madam speaker. i thank my colleague for yielding. today i rise against the debt ceiling and i rise in favor of reality. madam speaker, my freshman colleagues and i arrived in washington, d.c. from various backgrounds. many, like me, own their own businesses. others include auto dealers, funeral home director, dentists, doctors, a pilot a football player, a roofing contractor and others. the point is, madam speaker, people who lived an worked in the real world came in as freshmen, as my colleagues. many in that same group have been told we just don't understand how washington works. the fact is, washington doesn't work. only in washington is slowing the rate of growth and spending called a cut. only in job creators called a myth but bailouts are called a stimulus. madam speaker, the sad reality is that washington doesn't work, but what is more saddening is

that it can. our founders in their enduring wisdom crafted a system of government with checks and balances. just because we have a president that is willing to spend our way into further debt does not mean that this branch of government has to go along with it. we have the ability right here, right now torque stop repeating the fiscal insanity that has led taos trillions in debts and deficits. the fact that we're even talking about raising the debt limit without any realistic, credible plan to pay off our debts shows just how ingrained in our thinking this irresponsible spending has become. the fact that this president wants to spend more in g.d.p. than we match in rev thues or tax rates is a travesty to these people, our children and grandchildren. the fact that our friends across

the capitol can't pass a budget for more than 1,000 days is unacceptable. the fact that we are printing money to buy our own debt makes sense only if you've got your economics degree by passing go and checking $200. madam speaker, the entire government has a choice. we can make a government work for the betterment of the american people. mr. reed: i yield an additional minute to the gentleman from florida. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ross: we can make washington work for the betterment of the american people. will we live in the real world, prioritize spending and go without? or will we continue to play in congressional candy land, the place where some say the sky is blue and others say the sky is red and in at the last minute a deal is declared saying it's purple and it's called progress. madam speaker, the sky is blue. at this time, i ask congress and the president to join the rest of the world world -- real world, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: how many more speakers do you have, mr. reed?

mr. reed: we have three or four. mr. levin: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york has 23 1/2 minutes remaining and the gentleman from michigan has 17 1/4. the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: madam speaker, at this time i'm happy to yield three minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. fitzpatrick. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for three minutes. mr. fitzpatrick: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, i am here to state the obvious, that the federal government still spends too much and it borrows too much. president obama has asked the congress to raise the debt limit by $1.2 trillion. let's put this number into perspective. there are 83 million families in the united states. so what the president is really asking is for every hardworking american family to mortgage an additional $14,450. while middle-class americans are struggling, the president has requested to pile more and more debt on top of hardworking taxpayers.

americans are tired of hoping that their lawmakers will come together and find commonsense solutions to a very serious problem facing our nation. our national debt stands at over $15 trillion. our outstanding debt totals 100% of our gross domestic product. our credit rating has been downgraded. medicare will be bankrupt in nine years and social security faces insolvency. the time for hope has past. we must act. america simply cannot wait. we got into this mess because of a decade of budget tricks, accounting gimmicks and empty promises. we did not get into this situation overnight, and we certainly cannot get out of it overnight. but the fact is we need a commonsense budget and a federal government that is efficient and effective, not one that wastes money of hardworking taxpayers. if we do nothing, american prosperity will drown in debt as we are currently on an unsustainable path of $1 trillion per year deficits.

but if we make the hard decisions today, we can avoid the unacceptable consequences that we will surely face. we're all in this together, and we must find a solution together. america never backs down from a challenge. we can and we will make the right decisions today so we can restore the american dream and give our children and our grandchildren a future full of opportunity. therefore, i support the resolution and call on the president to work with the house and the senate to put in place a budget that guarantees a more stable and secure future for america. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: let me reserve so i don't have to do this each time until, mr. reed, you finish and i'll close and you close. mr. reed: thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: i am pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from illinois, mr. kinzinger.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. kinzinger: i am a military pilot. i've been overseas and executed this nation's wars and i'll tell you one of the things i've seen firsthand is the biggest threat to our national security is our national debt. this debt ceiling increase is a symptom of overspending that has consumed washington for far too long. president obama's request for $1.2 trillion increase in the debt limit points to the serious fiscal challenges we have found ourselves in due to decades of irresponsible and reckless spending. for decades, members of congress who continue to serve voted simply to raise the debt ceiling without ever offering a plan to stop the bleeding. it wasn't until the new house majority arrived that my freshman class when we turned the focus of the conversation from cutting -- from how much more to spend to how much more we can cut and we turned the

conversation to how to cut spending in washington, d.c. we demanded that washington stop doing business as usual and include spending cuts greater than the amounts raised. in june i told president obama head on in the weekly address that under no circumstances will republicans support irresponsible legislation which increases the federal government's credit limit without any spending cuts or budgetary reforms. it's high time we cut up the government's credit cards and draw a hard line to stop the government from overspending which is hampering our economy's ability to grow and thrive. currently every man, woman and child have a share of the public debt that exceeds $46,000 apiece. unemployment rates are through the roof, and the irresponsible spending habits of prior congresses and administrations have racked up trillions in national debt. the culture of washington must be reformed from the ground up. the future of our nation depends on it, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan continues to reserve. the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: thank you, madam speaker. at this time in time i'd yield two minutes to the gentleman from nevada, mr. apple day. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from -- amodei. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from nevada is recognized for two minutes. mr. amodei: i want to thank the gentleman from the empire state. i hope this congress has had a very good learning experience, especially those new to this body, essentially saying that you new people need to learn how we do things here in washington. well, as the newest member of how we do things here in washington for about 122 days, i can assure you that the people who gave me this job know how we do things here and they're tired of it. they understand that washington has a fatal spending problem. they understand that the answer to every question is not more federal spending. that is the problem, more

federal spending. i find it interesting to hear my colleagues from both sides of the aisle talk about, we need to pay our bills. we need to talk about what we incur as bills before we fake more money from others. this is not a problem that we got here by by ourselves in a partisan matter. it was in fact a bipartisan problem, but to treat the solution as one that requires only one side solution or the other, get us to this point that people talking about wreaking havoc on the economy and we've had our credit downgraded because what is happening here. this is not whether we'll pay our bills in the future or not. this is the courage of talking about the problem is spending. yes, there are loopholes and yes, there are others who may be able to pay more, but why on earth would you ask them to pay more into this system of

spending that we have created which is in no way accountable to any of those folks who are paying? so i can tell you this, for those folks that are new and perhaps need to understand how things are done here in washington, the people who gave me this job understand very well how things are done here in washington and they're tired of it. and you know what, they're right. i yield back. thank you, madam speaker. i thank my colleague from the empire state. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: mr. reed, are you ready to close? mr. reed: i'm ready to close. mr. levin: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: and it will take me just, i think, 30 seconds. maybe a minute. you know, in a few words what the republicans in the house are doing, they're playing with fire. and that's reckless. they know that others will put out the fire.

and we'll vote, many of us, to do that today. and if we don't succeed, the senate will do so. this, i think, is worse than a charade because it really assumes that the agenda of this congress should essentially be a kind of a play thing. a number of people who came to speak for this resolution voted in august for the resolution that brings us here today, including, i think, mr. reed. so i think what's changed is not our responsibility but the ability of thinking to have it both ways, to vote yes on the

resolution knowing that as it goes to the senate this potential damage to the economy will be saved. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan yields back. the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: thank you, madam speaker. and i thank my colleague on the other side of the aisle, mr. levin, for engaging in this debate today. it's so important, in my opinion, for the future of this nation, the future of the world , in the sense we need to get this issue under control once and for all. the national debt is a serious threat to our very existence as an american nation. you don't have to take my word for it. you can take the word for the former joint chief of staff, admiral mullen, when asked by the president what is the biggest threat to our national security and admiral mullen

responded, not a military threat but the national debt, a fiscal threat is what jeopardizes us most in regards to our national security. when i hear that type of opinion and advice coming out of our military leaders, i'm very concerned. and it should send a message across the nation that this debt needs to be addressed. but it doesn't necessarily just need to be addressed for the purposes of the threat it represents to our national security but also the threat that it represents to the economic recovery that we're trying to kindle in this city, across america. the national debt represents a threat to that american recovery when it comes to putting our men and women back to work because it is the cancer that is causing concern

across all of small business america, all across the private sector. when they express that they don't have the confidence or certainty that washington will take care of the problems that threaten us most. so it's time that we come up with a hard plan. now, my colleagues during this debate referenced the house budget as the plan that was adopted here that somehow by voting for this resolution we contradict ourselves because we voted for that house budget because it called for an increase in the debt ceiling. but i would remind my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, that budget only passed this house. the senate has yet to enact a budget. it will be soon 1,000 days that the senate of the united states of america has not passed a budget. so if we don't have a bicameral, a u.s. house and a

u.s. senate committed budget that we can rely upon to solve this issue, how can we only rely on the house budget to see us through? and so this resolution today sends a message to the senate, the nation that the house of representatives will remain committed to finding a solution on this issue. and the second threat that it represents to our american recovery and putting men and women back to work is if our interest rates in the private sector upon which they are key upon the national debt and the interest rates that are charged for our borrowing costs as a governmental entity, the interest rates in the private sector increase. you are not going to have the capital to invest in small business america or in the private sector that is going to lead us out of this economic turmoil that we find ourselves

in because they won't be able to afford that capital that will build the next plant, that will build the next assembly line or build the next retail operation that will put people back to work. so the bottom line is this debt touches everything across america, and what we're doing with this resolution is saying we are going to deal with it and we are going to continue to deal with it until we get a plan in place from the white house, from the u.s. senate and from the u.s. house that deals with it once and for all and brings certainty and confidence back to the american market. because, madam speaker, it is time to lead this nation, not hide. it is time to put our ideas in writing, debate them with the american people in an open and honest fashion, and once and for all, even be willing to sacrifice our political lives

to do what's right for the american people. i'm committed to doing that if it means that we will save my children's generation and the generations yet to come. that's what needs to be done. and i think my colleagues on the other side of the aisle know that. we know it on our side of the aisle, and our hand is open to work in a bipartisan fashion, and i'm glad that i heard many comments today on the other side of the aisle that are committed to that commitment also. and i am confident that when we join hands, when we come together, we will solve this issue and we will solve the economic problems we face as a nation because together, the history of our nation has shown that we can overcome any obstacle in america. any threat to our existence.

once we unite, not divide, and put forth a common sense solution to our problems. with that, madam speaker, i ask all my colleagues to support this resolution and with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. all time for debate has ordered. the question is ordered. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the ayes have it, third reading. the clerk: resolution relating to the disapproval of the president's exercise of authority to increase the debt limit as submitted under section 3101-a of tite 381 of the united states code on january 31, 2012. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on passage of the joint resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the joint resolution is passed. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? mr. levin: i request the yeas

and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are order. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 39 and the nays are -- 239 and the nays are 176, there are two present and the joint resolution is passed. for what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska rise? for what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska rise? mr. terry: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today it adjourn to meet at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow and further when the house adjourns on that day it adjourn to meet at noon on monday, january 23, 2012, for morning

hour and debate -- for debate and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the house will come to order. the house will be in order. members are advised to take their conversations off the floor.

for what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska rise? mr. terry: unanimous consent to speak out of order, to have my name removed from a bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. terry: i ask unanimous consent to remove my name from the stop online privacy act 3261. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the chair will now entertain requests for one opinion minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas rise? the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. the house will come to order.

the house will be in order. members are advised to take their conversations off the floor. the house will be in order. the gentleman from arkansas is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker. permanent structural reforms are needed in washington. the nation's debt is now greater than the value of the entire u.s. economy. nonpartisan economists have noted that a debt to g.d.p. ratio above 90% results in a reduction of economic growth. that means that the obama administration's own economic model could be preventing the creation of nearly one million jobs. over the last two weeks i've talked to many of my constituents in arkansas' first district and nearly every person i spoke with told me that we must get our nation's debt under control. the federal government has a spending addiction that is paralyzing our economy. we cannot keep spending money that we simply don't have. we must start living within our means and we must stop growing our nation's debt. fundamental change must come to washington to force this and

future congresses to live within our means. both republicans and democrats are to blame for the poor fiscal health we find ourselves in and whether the change of a balanced budget amendment or some other measure, both parties m must take the steps to prove that this congress understands that our government cannot continue on its current path. mr. crawford: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota rise? >> request permission to address the house, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in regards to our most pressing threat to our national security. our staggering and ever-increasing national debt. mr. cravaack: the message for my constituents in minnesota's eighth congressional district is loud and clear. we cannot continue to saddle the soaring debt onto the backs of our children and our grandchildren. this is irresponsible and quite frankly unacceptable. mr. speaker, this is an epidemic and a reason that i jumped into this fight.

our national debt will increase to over $23 trillion in the next 10 years. currently our debt is now over $15.2 trillion. 47% of that debt is foreign-owned. 30% is owned by china. it is past time to alter course, mr. speaker. this generation will be the first generation of this great nation to leave our children less off. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: thank you. the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentleman is recognized. >> more jobs, mr. speaker, that remain ours priority in this congress. mr. thompson: the national debt

is now greater than the value of the entire u.s. my. -- economy. despite almost $1 trillion in stimulus spending, we have had 30 months of national unemployment averages greater than 8%. these are the facts, yet some are calling for more deficit spending and tax increases. that's plain wrong. the best way to reduce our debt and deficit is to get americans back to work. the house has passed more than 30 jobs bills, most of which the senate has refused to consider. next week will mark 1,000 days since the senate has passed a budget. today the house again has taken steps to disapprove of further raising the debt ceiling. failure do reduce a budget will only serb to speed up our downward spiral. there is no way around it, without dealing with the debt, this country's economic outlook will remain unclear. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota rise?

>> to address the house for one minute and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to honor the life of reverend bernard riser who passed away late last year at the age of 87. ordained in the catholic church in 1979 -- in 197 -- he grew his parish to one of the largest in the state. though he was well known in the community of coon rapids, his work extended far beyond its borders. he traveled to haiti where he helped improve the lives of the less fortunate and last week he was honored for his charity work. though he will be missed, his memory does live on in the community in the live he is touched at epiphany and in haiti. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? >> request permission to address the house and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> there are three things we need to do, we need to roll back job killing regulations, you don't have to work for worker safety at the expense of the job. there is a balance, government agencies need to work with the entrepreneur and the employer and job creator, not against him or her. we can find a balance. number two, you need to drill your own oil. for us to suggest and believe that the people in the northeast are more environmentally friendly or sensitive than we are is ridiculous. we have to get our head out of the mideast sand and bring it back home to america. if gas fell $1 a gallon, it would be a huge economic boon to our country. number three, we need tax simplification. ask any audience how many of you fill out your own tax return,

and then ask, how many of you pay to fill out your own taxes and inevitably you'll find an 80-20 split. it is ridiculous when 80% of the people in america have to pay an accountant or lawyer to fill out their taxes. we need tax simplification. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman -- the gentlelady from north carolina rise? >> request permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: apologies and without objection, the gentlelady is recognized. ms. foxx: apology accepted, thank you very much, mr. speaker. the headlines remind us about the trying economic times but in north carolina there are stories of people coming together to help one another through difficult situations without the help of government. in kernersville two local businesses have played a crucial roll in -- role in making sure the less fortunate are fed. over the holiday, designer's

attic and frittle and company paired up to bring thousands of meals to the needy. designer's attic decorated frittle and company's holiday house, which was open for tours for the public. they collected donations instead of admission money. congratulations to the food people in these two companies for giving back to the community in such a creative and effective manner. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leaves of absence requested for ms. berkley of nevada on january 17 and january 18, and mr. reyes of texas for today.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. it's a privilege to be speaking on the floor this evening. here we have been talking for some time about the huge deficit spending that's going on.

in fact, republicans have promised to make massive cuts and the old story that used to be told about the fellow texan, sam rayburn, about a young freshman democrat coming up and saying, talking about how difficult things were here in the house, and that he as -- as a democrat it's obvious the republicans are our enemy, they're trying to stop us from doing what we need to and boy, the media is not helping and speaker rayburn stopped him, reportedly, and said, son, the republicans are not your enemy. the media is not your enemy. at the other end of the hall, the senate, now they're your enemy. i thought that was a strange story when i heard that about

speaker rayburn, but the longer i've been here, the more we see, so many great bills that have come out of the house in the last year have gone down the hall and are languishing for lack of action and so when i read that our friend down the hall, leader reid, was lambasting republicans for do-nothing status, it was remarkable to me that they could have so many house bills sitting down there waiting to do something and yet doing nothing with them. now, we have been trying to get bills passed into law that would make substantial cuts. it still, as our friend from east texas, bo pilgrim, used to say, a mind-boggling thing, to have seen this president come in

in 2009 with speaker pelosi in charge of the house and leader reid in charge of the senate and to know that we had been just vilified as majority republicans in the house in 2006 for exceeding the amount of income coming in by $160 billion. vilified. and yet when president obama became the president and leader reid and speaker pelosi were in charge, we ran a deficit of 10 times that much. in one year. incredible. now, one thing that should not have ever happened is to have our national security out on the table as a bargaining chip in the debt ceiling negotiations.

but it was, we were told, that, gee, neither side is going to allow those kind of cuts to occur to our national security. and lo and behold, being in afghanistan, seing the new year come in, with our military men and women in some remote operating areas, went with senator inhofe from oklahoma and joe barton from texas, being in remote areas, it was amazing to say, we're being told amounts that we're going to be cut because of the sequestration coming. talking with some of our texas national guard folks, i've been told over the last couple of weeks, we're already being told about moneys that are being cut. these are people that are trying

to protect and defend our country. i went to deployment ceremony of a unit leaving from lufkin, texas, being deployed as guards, and they're hearing, as they're being deployed, about cuts to the amount of money they will have to protect them while they're protecting us. absolutely outrageous. you know, as we talk about doing what's best for america, and as we hear from people around the world that think of the united states as the great satan, one would think, especially if they study history, that the last thing we would want to do is to hurt our national security, yet

that is where we're going. it seems also clear that those negotiating from the republican side during the deficit -- debt ceiling bill made an assumption that turned out to be false that democrats in the senate would never allow sequestration of $100 billion, $200 billion, $300 billion from medicare. that was a bad assumption because the same democratic leadership in the senate passed obamacare, which brought about $500 billion in cuts to medicare. of course they would be willing to allow sequestration because this time they would be able to blame republicans for also being

part of what caused the cuts. cuts to medicare and cuts to our national security. not a good idea. not a good idea. well, national review on line has an article in the last couple of days with some great information and we have taken that information and put it in chart form from the article and double checked and apparently these are accurate numbers. these numbers, if anybody cares to contest them, actually come from president obama's own office of management and budget. it turns out that as this president and his administration has complained about not having money, not having the ability to

make cuts, having to make draconian cuts to medicare and to our national defense, his administration has been sitting on money, hundreds of billions of dollars of money, that they haven't spent from 2010 and 2011. they're complaining about not being able to cut $5 billion or $10 billion when it turns out they're sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars that have not been obligated, have not been spent, from 2010 and 2011. so let's take a look at the money that this administration has not been willing to cut even though it's unobligated, it's

unspent, it's been appropriated, they have the ability to spend it or save it, or spend it for something else, and yet this administration just can't seem to want to cut loose from this money to reduce the deficit, to cut down on the money we borrow from china, to cut down on the deficit spending, the reduction in spending for the military, reduction in spending for medicare, how about that? turns out they're sitting on all this money, the department of the treasury under the direction of secretary tim geithner, hopefully he'll be ok getting his tax return in this year, he is sitting on $226 billion that was appropriated and yet it is sitting there, unobligated, unspent.

yet timothy geithner has told us, you know, there's just no money to do what he felt like needs to be done. he was out there this summer saying, we've got to raise taxes because this poor gentleman was not going to be able to cut loose as we find out of the $226 billion he's got sitting in change. and that is not even including the 1 -- $125 billion that he still has in tarp assets or money and then it's estimated by some, maybe about $50 billion in additional assets. so around $175 billion remaining from tarp, $226 billion sitting there appropriated. i guess that means we've already borrowed 42 cents of every dollar from the chinese.

so we're sitting on it. then department of defense, and since we've got $78 billion that the defense department has unobligated, un-- has been appropriated, but unspent, why couldn't we use some of that $78 billion to help eliminate some of the cuts that are being suggested, in fact, being demanded of defense? you've got department of transportation with $45 billion in unobligated, unspent money from 2010 and 2011. you've got $40 billion from the department of health and human services sitting there, unobligated, unspent, from 2010 and 2011.

department of housing and urban development, $23.8 billion sitting there. department of education, $19 billion. and the thought comes, what if we did away with the department of education and all that money that comes pouring in to washington every year, some of it borrowed, and that gets held here in washington and gets funded to administrators and bureaucrats who have nothing to do with actually teaching anything? how about if we just turned that right around and sent it right back to those states and said, we're taking our grimy fingers off of that money, we're not going to keep any of it because we think it is that important

that it go for education? and how about if we, by doing that, therefore encourage every state as i believe newt gingrich suggested to then let go so many of the administrators in each state capital that are not involved in any kind of teaching, just involved in dictation? the local school boards. and of course for every bureaucrat that we have to have right now in washington, they have to have at least one in every state capital and because they've got to carry out the assignments from washington and then for every one in the state capitol you've got to have bureaucrats at each local school district to carry out those assignments. i was shocked to go online and see that one of the best school districts in east texas was

saying that they were proud to note that right at half of all their school district employees were actually teachers. so when i went to look at that a little further, you go back to before president jimmy carter created the department of education. that number was closer to 75% in texas. now it's around auto% in texas. but before there was a federal department of education, about 75% of all texas education employees were just wonderful school teachers. like my mother, like my sister, like my wife was.

now, that's getting teachers -- that's getting people in the education system where they can do some good. so you got the department of education sitting on $19 billion . you go online and look up how many school districts there are in america and divide them into $19 billion, you'd have school districts that were not having to fire teachers right now, that would do a world of good. but we got bureaucrats in washington that think it's more important that they sit there with a slush fund, $19 billion, unobligated, unspent funds from 2010-2011. got the department of labor, they've got $18 billion sitting there from 2010 and 2011. and we acknowledge it is important for them to sit on a slush fund because they have so many things they have to do, like they have to run to states

like south carolina and tell them, you can't have a new bowling -- boeing plant in your state because we're trying to help unions in washington, even though not one single union worker in washington was going to lose their job or be adversely affected. we're going to rush in and be not a referee, we're going to be a player referee and we're going to dictate like used to be done by cesars, kings, czars, emperors, pharaohs. they thought they had the authority to come into south carolina and play pharaoh and say, nope, you're not going to have these jobs. well, once the unions finally got satisfied then, isn't it amazing that the nlrb combacked off some? i think -- backed off some?

i think we've seen nlrb as something we can do away with and one of our colleagues in the house has a bill that will do just that. i think it's time to do that. department of agriculture, $14 billion sitting unspent, unobligated from 2010-2011. department of state, they don't have quite as much money sitting there as some of these other departments. but they still have $8.7 billion sitting unobligated, unspent from last two years. department of homeland security, $7.2 billion. now they may want to use some of that to go buy some more of these machines from our friend, secretary chertoff, what a waste of money those were. then you've got the department of the interior at $6.7 billion

sitting unspent, unobligated in their coughers. department of energy -- coffers. department of energy, the department of energy that was set up by president carter with the purpose of getting us off of dependence on foreign oil and every year the department of energy has existed one thing has been consistent and we've got to give them credit for this. one ha thing has been very consistent from the department of energy, every year they've existed we become more dependent on foreign oil. so, if you're in the private sector and you went all these years, 32 years working on 33 years or so with a department in

your business that got further and further from its original goal, you'd probably cancel that department, get rid of it. disband it. not here in government. not only are they not doing what would help america by getting us off dependence on foreign oil, they are actually working in conjunction with the department of interior to make us more dependent on foreign oil. and to limit the amount of production here in the united states. just today the president of the united states has had the incredible nerve to step up and say there are thousands and thousands and thousands of americans who i am going to

deprive of the opportunity to have a good union job. and there are thousands and thousands and thousands of more -- more of americans who would be suppliers for those people who would be working on the keystone pipeline. everything from private suppliers to people that work in steel plants, that would be providing the pipe, would be providing the materials that would be used, that would be building the heavy equipment that would be used. all of those thousands and thousands and thousands of ripple jobs that would be coming, this president today is saying, i am not going to allow you to have that kind of job. we're going to keep pushing the president, might as well have

said, to make sure you can get unemployment for 99 the -- 99 weeks and we can keep you from reaching your god-given potential of actually producing -- there was a great deal of satisfaction for doing something productive, seeing the products of your hands. that's why as my wife would tell you, i actually enjoy getting out in the backyard on weekends, kind of tough during the winter, but actually getting out there and doing things so that when i finish i can see i've done something productive. because we come up here and we pass some good legislation in the house, it never becomes law. we passed things and encourage the president to get the senate to help us pass off on things so people could become productive and they could get their own jobs and become productive and they wouldn't need to become so dependent on the federal

government. it gets pretty frustrating. but you've got a department of energy sitting there, $5.6 billion unobligated, unspent from the last two years. department of veterans affairs. you would think that with all of the veterans who need assistance , who need help, who have problems, both psychologically, physically, that some of that $5.2 billion that's been sitting there for the last couple of years, it could have been used to help our veterans, you would think. our veterans need help. president bush right before he left office had asked a retired military arm j general to do an

assessment of the v.a. and do recommendations. he had some good recommendations. unfortunately they've not been carried out. by this administration. but one of the things he told me personally, privately, he said, the problem with the veterans administration is they're supposed to be an assistance organization and instead they think they're an adversarial organization. should be assisting our veterans. and yet so often every time a veteran comes through the door needing help, they look at them as if they're a thief coming in to steal something. our veterans deserve better than that. there are some v.a. clinics, v.a. places i know in lovekin. i keep asking our veterans, even though i did four years in the army, i'm not entitled to this characters but i want to make characters but i want to make sure