Date: 2007-02-07
Speaker: DAVID DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Tennessee

Thank you. Mr. CAMPBELL. Thank you for your leadership and bringing this important debate. And thank you. Mr. Speaker. for allowing me to rise. One of my favorite people in Washington all through history was President Ronald Reagan. Most of us know that the anniversary of his birth was just this week. 96 years ago President Reagan was .born. And he once said. we dont have a $1 trillion debt because we havent taxed enough. We have a $1 trillion debt because we spend too much. And I think that is important for this Congress to understand. I think that is a commonsense approach that the people of America can understand. It is about spending. It is not about taxing. We overspend. we dont overtax. I think that is very important. As a matter of fact. if we continue on the pace that we have today. our revenues are outpacing us. and we continue to do that. we have our revenues outpace our spending over the next 5 years. President Bushs budget will be balanced by the year 2012. and we can do that without raising taxes. Now. to me. that is an exciting prospeot to be able to balance the budget without raising taxes. And we do that at the same time maintaining the successful probusiness economic policies that we put in place. I think that is very important. And it is not just Republicans saying that. It is the Congressional Budget Office. It has actually given us data to support the data that we have in front of us. Just last week. the CBO supported the fact that tax cuts of 2003 helped boost the Federal revenues by 68 percent. Cut taxes. bring in more revenue. allow people across America and from the First District of Tennessee to keep more money in their pockets. As they do that. they spend it -back in their districts. It circulates through the economy. It helps the Federal Government. You do it by keeping taxes low. not overtaxing. And we need to do that at the same time we keep fiscal restraint in place. Our economy has actually grown through 21 straight quarters. That is a good thing. We dont want to go back on that. We want to make sure that we stand strong. keep our tax cuts in place. keep our economy humming along and see that we could go from 21 straight quarters to 22 to 23 to. 24. In the period between 2004 and 2006. Federal tax revenues rose by the largest margin in 40 years. You do it by keeping taxes low. not by raising them. Another exciting fact about our economy. the deficit has been cut in half 2 years ahead of schedule. And we did it by keeping taxes low. I think that is what the people of northeast Tennessee. good commonsense. hardworking people. want to have happen. Keep our taxes low. Let us keep the money in our district. Let us provide for our families. And as we do that. the economy will grow. As the economy grows. we take care of the Federal Government. I think we need to look at government much like we look at a family sitting around a family table back in east Tennessee. People do have tight budgets. Unlike the Federal Government. though. people back in east Tennessee have to make tough decisions. When they have a tough budget. they cant say. well. I will just go out and raise my taxes and have somebody send me some more money so I can spend more. What they do in east Tennessee and across America is they have to make decisions about. well. I cant spend as much as I used to. And if we continue to do the right things. they will have that money back home. The President. once again. in his budget is calling for making the 2001 and the 2003 tax relief provisions permanent. The administration projects total revenue growth to grow 5.4 percent per year if we keep those tax cuts in place. Tax cuts are critical to maintaining our present healthy economy. We simply have a choice. We have a.choice of a -bigger economy or bigger government. That is the choice we have. And I certainly hope that my colleagues here on the House floor will understand how important it is to allow people back home to keep more of their money and keep government small and allow families to take care of themselves. To reach the goal of a balanced budget. we need to hold the line on spending. We need to reduce earmarks. And I think we need to pass line item vetoes to crack down on worthless pork barrel spending. I dont think the Congress has done a good enough job on that. I .know there was a bill passed just last week and said there was no earmarks. Well. reading through the data. I am from east Tennessee. and I didnt realize we had a rainforest in Iowa. That is interesting for me to know. I didnt study that back in school in east Tennessee. Maybe someone else can explain that to me when they get up to speak. But that is an earmark that was in the resolution that passed last week. We are being disingenuous with the American people. And the American people are smart. They will catch on to H1326what is going on. They will not be fooled. Another thing that I heard before I came over. I was sitting in my office. and I heard the other side speaking. And they talked about the Medicare cuts and what we are doing to health care. The reality is. under President Bushs budget. Medicare will grow 5.6 percent. Now. back in east Tennessee. that is not a cut. That is a growth of 5.6 percent in Medicare. So please. do not be fooled. Do not be fooled. There is not a rainforest in Iowa. and Medicare is not being cut. I think if people continue to use common sense. they will support the Congress. They want the Congress to do the right thing. It goes right back to what Ronald Reagan said. We dont have a $1 trillion debt because we havent taxed enough. We have a $1 trillion debt because we spend too much. And I ask my colleagues to make sure we dont spend too much in this Congress. Thank you for allowing me to take part.