[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 63 (Monday, April 17, 2023)] [House] [Pages H1755-H1757] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Date: 2023-04-17
Chamber: HOUSE
Mr. ROSENDALE: I thank Representative Biggs, my good friend from Arizona, for yielding. Mr. Speaker, President Joe Biden wants to raise the national debt by more than $3 trillion over the next 2 years. Washington is bleeding American taxpayers dry with their addiction to spending, with no end in sight to this endless financial disaster. The U.S. already has roughly $31.6 trillion in debt, with no concrete plan to pay it back. Most folks cannot even fathom how much money that truly is. Congress can avoid raising the debt ceiling almost indefinitely by returning spending to pre-COVID levels and practicing fiscal responsibility. On March 28, my colleagues and I proposed targeted cuts to nondefense discretionary spending that would reduce the deficit by $100 billion over the next year and reduce the total spending by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. I am proud to cosponsor over 500 bills that were introduced by Representative   Andy Biggs to achieve this. These are concrete, commonsense proposals to eliminate woke and wasteful spending from our Federal Government. We must rescind unspent COVID-19 money and stop funding the radical left's wish list, like the IRS expansion, wasteful green energy projects, and student loan bailout. Congress can still pass a strong budget that protects Social Security and Medicare benefits without having to raise the debt ceiling at all. Yet, Democrat leaders have yet to respond to this proposal, and the President has made it clear that he is unwilling to work with any Republicans. Biden's proposed budget of $6.8 trillion represents a nearly 32 percent increase in spending since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, my fellow colleagues, the pandemic is over. The Federal Government was big in 2019. The American people were taxed enough already in 2019. When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed, it lowered Federal taxes for all Americans and led to the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years. It has generated nearly $1 trillion a year more in Federal revenue. It is inappropriate for the President to ask the American people for even more of their hard-earned money when there is still over $100 billion in unspent COVID relief money lying on the table. There are too many wasteful organizations and woke government programs that do almost nothing for the American people while costing them billions each year in increased spending and increased regulatory burdens. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office produces a long list of Federal departments, programs, and agenciesthat are no longer authorized, but many of these programs still receive funding. This is just one example of the countless ways that Congress could address our spending addiction. Mr. Speaker, our deficit is getting worse every year. Congress has failed in its duty to provide sound stewardship of the American finances, and we are all facing the consequences of this failure.  {time}  2130  Worse yet, the consequences of our decisions will fall on the future generations of Americans. We all need to come together and find a solution to this problem and shrink Washington and grow America.