Date: 2014-02-06
Speaker: TOM COBURN (republican)
Chamber: S

They released a comprehensive blueprint for what our alternative might look like. At some point there has to be a resolution because policies are being canceled. The costs for people with coverage are going up. and it is hurting the economy. It is turning fulltime work into parttime work. At some pointI dont know when it is. Maybe it will be sometime after the November election. I am just guessing. At some point we will have to confront this reality and deal with it in order to protect our constituents. the people we are privileged to represent. The alternative to the governments takeover and the Presidents command and controlone -sixth of our economyunder ObamaCare is that the government gets to choose. and under our alternative you get to choose. I wish to highlight a few more of the findings in the Congressional Budget Office report. Last March the President told ABC News that "for the next 10 years [Americas national debt] is going to be in a sustainable place." I am afraid the President is falling in a trap because we are living in a surreal time when interest rates are so low because of what the Federal Reserve is doing that. yes. the interest we have to pay on our debt is not as much as it would be if it went back up to historical normsA or 5 percent. By the way. somebody is going to have to pay that back someday. These young people who are sitting here and listening will be the ones left holding the bag. as well as people such as my two daughters who are working in Austin. TX. Somebody is going to have to pay that money back. For the President to say our debt is sustainable for the next 10 years ignores the fact that we have a moral obligation to deal with it today so as not to dampen the aspiration of these young people by saddling them with a bunch of debt they didnt charge up. The fact is our debt is highly contingent on three factors: the economic growth of our economyhow fast our economy is growing. inflation is the second one. and interest rates. which I alluded to. According to the Congressional Budget Office. if Americas real economic growth rate were just onetenth of a percentage lower than it projects currently each year over the next decade. our cumulative debtthe annual difference between what we collect in taxes and what the Federal Government spends over the next 10 yearswould go up by $311 billion. That is with a "b." Likewise. if annual inflation was 1 percentage point above what the Congressional Budget Office projects. our cumulative deficitin other words. the difference between what we bring in. in tax dollars and what the Federal Government spends projected over 10 yearswould be $762 billion higher. That is just inflation. Just minor changes in the growth rate or in inflation can have dramatic consequences in terms of the debt. Yes. you dont have to just pay the principle back. you have to pay the interest on that debt. As I said. interest rates are at historic lows because of the quantitative socalled easing that the Federal Reserve is doingchurning out dollars. Of course it has been a boon to the stock market and the top 1 percent of our economy. Working people are finding their wages have been stagnant for the last 5 years. If interest rates were to rise 1 percentage point above the current Congressional Budget Office baseline each year. our cumulative deficits or our debt would go up $1.5 trillionthat is with a "t". not a "b"-$1.5 trillion. So these numbers confirm that despite the shortterm deficit reduction produced by the Budget Control Actwe have seen some bending of the spending curve under the Budget Control Act. and. of course. those caps have been lifted as a result of the budget negotiations between Senator MURRAY and Congressman RYANAmerica is still dangerously vulnerable to a fiscal shock. We experienced one of those back in 2008. and we are still vulnerable to a fiscal shock. if things change in terms of growth. inflation. and interest rates. Any one of those could have a dramatic impact. making things much more difficult and much worse. To quote the Congressional Budget Office once again: Over the next decade. debt held by the public will be significantly greater relative to GDP than at any time since just after World War II. Coming out of a world war. we can understand why the debt was high. but debt held by the public will be significantly greater relative to the economy than at any time since that time. and we havent had a comparable world war that would justify this huge runup of debt. They went on to say: With debt so large. Federal spending on interest payments alone will increase substantially as interest rates rise to more typical levels. I mentioned that. Going on. they say: Moreover. because Federal borrowing generally reduces national savings. the capital stock and wages will be smaller than if the debt was lower. That is what they call the "crowding out effect." So if the Federal Government is borrowing all of this money. it makes it harder and more expensive for the private sector to do the borrowing they need. and there is a crowdingout effect and a depressing effect on economic growth. Americas massive debt is already hurting our economy. It is exacerbating the already difficult situation that people are experiencing when they are looking for work and they cant find work. and the problem will get worse. not better. as time goes by because we have seen the difference inflation. growth. and interest rates can have. which can allow this to spiral out of control. That doesnt even address the other concerns many of us have about the unsustainability of Medicare and Social Security. These are sacred promises we made to our seniors. that those programs would be there for them once they reach a qualifying age. and they will not be. on the current track. These young people. I doubt any of them believe Social Security or Medicare will be there for them. We have a way to deal with that today if we will simply take advantage of that opportunity. I wish to note that every single Member of the Republican caucus has cosponsored a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. I hear it from Members of my own party who have said: You guys werent all that great when you were in charge. you guys spent money we didnt have. and that is true. We were pikers by comparison. because back in 1997. the debt was $5.3 trillion-$5.3 trillion in 1997. That was the last time we had a vote in the Senate on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. and we came within one vote of passing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. But today the debt is $17 trillionplus-$17.2 trillion. The President says our debt is on a sustainable path. It is not true. It is whistling past the graveyard and it is endangering our prosperity and our opportunity. not only for the younger generation but for people today who want to find work and want to provide for their families and pursue their version of the American dream. We cant defy the laws of fiscal gravity forever. and we cant expect to keep piling up debt without damaging our economy. I expect next week Senator SANDERS of Vermont will bring a bill to the floor ostensibly to help our veteranssomething we all supportbut which is unpaid for and would add roughly $25 billionat least $25 billionto the national debt. We just cant keep doing this day after day after day without enormous risk. I see my colleague from New Hampshire on the floor. so I will close with this thought: Here are the sad facts since President Obama took office in January of 2009admittedly coming off of a fiscal crisis at a very bad place for our economy. This is his record over the last 5 years: The number of longterm unemployed has increased by close to 1.2 million peopleincreasedand the labor force participation rate I mentioned a moment ago has fallen by 2.9 percent. There are 2.9 percent fewer Americans actually looking for work today than there were in January of Here is another sad statistic: Since January 2009. the average amount of time the unemployed have been without a job has nearly doubled. People have doubled the time they have been out of work. looking for work. since January 2009. rising from 19.8 weeks to 37 weeks. The number of people on food stamps has increased by 48.3 percent. reaching 37.4 million people in October. In 2008. the total cost of the Food Stamp Programsomething we all support as a safety net program for the most vulnerablebut we spent $37 billion in 2008. and now it has more than doubled to almost $80 billion. This is under President Obamas 5 years in office. The number of people receiving Social Security disability has increased from 7.4 million people to 8.9 million. Meanwhile. the total number of Social Security disability beneficiaries. including spouses and children of disabled workers receiving benefits. has increased from 9.3 million to roughly 11 million. This is not the way it is supposed to be. I know everyone who is out of a job wants a job and the dignity and the selfrespect that comes with it. Certainly we need to protect people who are at risk of falling through the safety net. but more than anything we need to give them the opportunity to get back to work and to provide for their family. put food on the table. We cant be content with the status quo. with huge amounts of money being spent on disability. huge amounts of money being spent on food stamps. and huge amounts of money being paid to people who cant even find a job. We have to get our economy growing again so these folks can lift themselves up and get back in the workforce and provide for their families and pursue their dreams. I yield the floor.