Date: 2011-08-01
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

I am upset. and we should not do this anymore. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to express my views on "The Budget Control Act of 2011." which. is a final hour compromise on raising our debtceiling. This plan differs from the previous debtceiling bills introduced by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Those measures attempted to resolve our budget ceiling crisis on the backs of seniors. children. and the working poor. Those measures demanded sharp cuts to domestic programs that ask average Americans to make lifealtering sacrifices while not asking Americas wealthiest individuals and most profitable corporations to contribute their fair share. Todays compromise has arrived just in time to prevent our country from risking the financial collapse of our great nation. Yet. this bill is not perfect In less than 24 hours our nations clock would have run out to raise our debt limit. This final hour compromise will allow our nation to continue to operate and prevent our country from failing to meet our financial obligations. I have steadfastly stood before this body demanding a raise to our debt limit. I have spoken on the behalf of the average American by making it clear that we should not wait until the last minute. As a country. we have been held hostage by a small fringe group of people. who were narrowly elected. In many ways this plan feels like we have been given a ransom note and now at the last minute we have limited choices. none of which are appetizing. I believe this election was not a mandate to overthrow the American government. It was a mandate to find real solutions and not temporary fixes. Waiting to the final hour. waiting to the last minute. has placed our country in a terrible dilemma. We have not been given the adequate amount of time to review this plan. I will do what is right for my constituents. So that we may live to fight another day and let there be no mistake. we will fight another day. I believe that it is time that we all have come together to find a compromise. however. this bill does not have a perfect solution and there are areas in which I have strong reservation. This is a two phased plan. The first part of the plan includes approximately $1.2 trillion of deficit reduction through the establishment of tenyear discretionary caps. In the first two years. there would be a firewall separating security and nonsecurity spending. Total discretionary spending in Fiscal Year 2012 and 2013 will be limited to $1.043 trillion and $1.047 trillion. respectively. about $7 billion and $3 billion below Fiscal Year 2011. The security savings would represent roughly $5 billion of the total $10 billion in reductions over this two year period. The plan provides for debt ceiling increases in two stages. The President may request a $900 billion increase now. of which $400 billion is immediately available. This $900 billion is subject to a resolution of disapproval in both the House and Senate. The disapproval measure would be subject to Presidential Veto. Once the debt comes within $100 billion of the debt ceiling. the President may ask for at least an additional $1.2 trillion. which could rise to $1.5 trillion if a Balanced Budget Amendment is sent to the states or the Joint Committee process described below enacts more than $1.5 trillion in savings. This increase is also subject to a resolution of disapproval. I must emphasize that I particularly have strong concerns about the formation of a Joint Committee. As I believe we should not hand over the power of these decisions of this magnitude to a handful of Members of Congress. A Joint Committee that will be given the duty of finding ways to achieve $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction. I hope there will be structure and reason when these decisions are made. but again this is just a hope. We should have been able as a body to come to this decision. and because we are at the last minute. this measure is a stop gap way to find further consensus. This Committee will be a joint. bipartisan committee. made up of 12 members. with 6 from each Chamber of Congress. equally divided between Democrats and Republicans. This Committee has been charged with finding major cuts in a short time frame with little oversight. There is the challenge where will they find $1.5 trillion in future deficit before we cut our turkeys on Thanksgiving. I will continue to sound the alarm if programs that impact the lives and welfare of the poorest among us are cut by drastic amounts. If the Committee is successful and achieves cuts of at least $1.5 trillion. then the debt ceiling will be raised by $1.5 trillion. If the committees bill is enacted and produces between $1.2 trillion and $1.5 trillion. the debt ceiling limit will be raised dollar for dollar. This plan at the very least attempting to do something that I have been calling for from the very beginning. for now. protects Social Security and Medicaid. but leaves Medicare and other programs that serve the most in need amongst us. Another portion of the agreement will provide additional time for Congress to conduct its due diligence prior to considering an amendment to the Constitution. As unlike other bills that have come before this body this plan is not contingent upon the passage of the balanced budget amendment. The amendment can now be properly considered and a vote on the measure will occur by the end of the year. which will allot about four months of additional review. In the end. it appears that cooler heads have appeared and instead of political rhetoric we have come together to protect our nation. We must continue to work together to save the American people and do whats right for our nation. Instead of injecting ideological spending cuts into the traditionally nonpolitical business of raising the debt ceiling. we must work quickly to pass a bill that makes good on our debt obligations and restores confidence in American credit. Before us is an example of acting in unison to resolve our conflicts. This is the reason the American people placed us in these positions to ensure that we act in their best interest. They have been calling for a resolution and what is before us today represents a long and at times lively debate on how best to serve the citizens of this fine country. Today. we are working under one flag and one nation. we are working in unison to ensure that every American can benefit from this debtlimit increase. There are times in which we are 50 states. and times when we exist as a single. united. Nation. One single state did not defend the Nation after the attacks on Pearl Harbor. One state. on its own. did not end segregation and establish Civil Rights. There are times when the stakes are too high. when we simply must unite as states and act as one. We must continue to work under one flag and one Nation to protect our economy and to our people. We should not have waited until the final hour to come to this conclusion. I along with many colleagues demanded that we protect the interest of our Nation. Namely. reading the President to utilize his rights under the Constitution to raise the debt limit through executive order if Congress remained grid locked. We need to change the tone here in Congress. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said it best when he stated before the House Committee on Financial Services. "We really dont want to just cut. cut. cut." Chairman Bernanke further stated "You need to be a little bit cautious about sharp cuts in the very near term because of the potential impact on the recovery. That doesnt at all precludein fact. I believe its entirely consistent witha longerterm program that will bring our budget into a sustainable position." The plan before the House today offers the compromise that the American people want. demand and need. I will continue to fight to for Medicare. Medicaid. Social Security. and other programs that protect the interests of the American people. In my lifetime. I have never seen such a concerted effort to ransom the American economy in order to extort the American public. Finally. we arrive at a conclusion that will not result in the poorest among us bearing the majority of the costs. I support this bill and future efforts to increase the debt limit and to resolve our differences over budgetary revenue and spending issues. I will only support bills that increase jobs for average Americans. We must work together to ensure their economic security and ability to provide for their families while constraining the ability of Congress to deal effectively with Americas economic. fiscal. and job creation troubles. My home state of Texas ranks 43rd in education. and last (50th) in the Nation in people over 25 who only have a high school education. This bill will protect the hopes and dreams of people who are striving to improve those numbers. I have fought wholeheartedly to safeguard Pell grants and I will continue this fight. Some groups have estimated there will be a shortfall of more than $1 billion in fiscal year 2012. but again with the last minute nature of this bill. this remains unclear. There is yet another attack on students by eliminating Direct Loan Repayment incentives on all loans disbursed on or after July 1. 2012. The elimination of both of these provisions will increase the cost of loan repayment and thus the cost of college attendance. The inschool interest exemption for neither graduate nor professional students and the prohibition of financial incentives to students who repay their loans on a timely basis. We should not increase the cost of education for students. The founders of our Nation understood the importance of advancing our Nation. For decades. we have provided free education to all minor residence of the United States from kindergarten through high school. After. having provided free education to all students until the 12th grade I recognize that financial disparities prevent many aspiring students from attaining a higher education. I believe that the plan is a temporary solution to a long term problem. It removes. for the moment. the entire burden of resolving our debt crisis off the backs of seniors. the middle class and our Nations most vulnerable citizens. The bill will not immediately result in dramatic reductions in safety net programs for vulnerable Americans. such as food stamps and unemployment and disability insurance. Any major cuts to these programs would be and should be unacceptable. and each is avoidable if corporations and the wealthy are required to shoulder their fair share of this burden. There has been a theme this Congress of focusing on cutting both programs that benefit the public good and programs that provide assistance to those who are most in need. while ignoring the need to focus on job creation and economic recovery. This bill places us between a rock and a hard place as we fight to get back on the right track. We should be focused on paying our Nations bills and resolving our differences. I represent the 18th Congressional District in Houston. Texas. In my District. more than 190.000 people live below the poverty line. We cannot make draconian cuts to vital social services at a time when the Census Bureau places the number of Americans living in poverty at the highest rate in over 50 years. Finally. we must come to a place where as a body we recognize that cuts to social programs do not reflect that we are still in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. There continues to be persistent unemployment. When any measure comes before this body. the first questions that must be asked is who will it help and who will it hurt. A raise in the debtceiling must include assistance to small businesses which are the true job creators in our country. It must include Pell Grants that will aid students who will join the workforce of the future. by receiving an advanced education today. Just 6 months ago there were members of the Republican Party who would not sit down with us to discuss these matters and now here we are in the final hour. I have worked diligently to ensure that something was done to protect our Nation. I ask my colleagues to look at the facts and consider what will happen to the hardworking Americans who rely on these benefits. Think of programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Access Program. SNAP. that fed 3.9 million residents of Texas in April 2011. or the Women. Infants. and Children. WIC. Program that provides nutritious food to more than 990.000 mothers and children in my home state. These programs are needed across our nation. According to the 2010 Federal poverty threshold. determined by the U.S. Census. a family of four is considered impoverished if they are living on less than $22.314 per year. In 2009. there were 43.6 million Americans living in poverty nationwide. Children represent a disproportionate amount of the United States poor population. In 2008. there were 15.45 million impoverished children in the Nation. 20.7 percent of Americas youth. Further. the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that there are currently 5.6 million Texans living in poverty. 2.2 million of them children. and that 17.4 percent of households in the state struggle with food insecurity. Childhood hunger continues to be a real and persistent problem in the Houston/Harris County area. The number of people participating in the Food Stamp Program in Texas has increased by 82 percent since 2000. However. only 60 percent of those eligible for food stamps in Texas participate in the program. In Harris County. only 75 percent of children approved to receive free lunch participated. and only 39 percent of children approved to receive free breakfast took advantage of the benefit. Participation numbers are similarly low for those students approved to receive reducedprice lunch and breakfast. During summer months. participation in these federal nutrition programs drops significantly. In Texas the summer participation rate was only 8.1 percent of low income children. In 2008. when the recession first hit. 22.9 percent of Texas children were living in poverty. the fifth worst rate in the Nation. As a result of the economic downturn that began in late 2008 in Texas. and parents losing their jobs. the child poverty rate increased to 24.4 percent in 2009. That is 163.000 more children falling into poverty. or 1.6 million Texas children overall. Many people assume that Texas was not hit as hard by the recession as other states because our unemployment rate is still below the national average. While our unemployment rate is low compared to the U.S. (8.2 versus 9.8 percent. respectively. in November 2010). it is still nearly double where it stood in November 2007 (4.4 percent). In fact. Texas unemployment rate has been around 8 percent for the last 16 months. which is extremely high given Texas recent history. Nearly one in three Texas children has no parent with a fulltime. yearround job. making them particularly vulnerable. When a household falls into poverty. children are exposed to increased parental distress. inadequate childcare arrangements. and poor nutrition. In past recessions. it took many years for employment and incomes to rebound. and lowincome families rebound more slowly than others. Public benefits such as health care or nutrition assistance help families bridge the gaps in difficult economic times and are critical in reducing the effects of a recession. Cutting these supports will hurt child and family wellbeing and damage the Texas economy by taking money out of the private economy for critical local businesses such as grocery stores and medical providers. Programs like Women. Infants and Children. WIC. are targeted to help lowincome pregnant women. new mothers. infants. and young children to eat well and stay healthy. These programs ensure that poverty will not be a reason that a baby does not receive adequate nutrition. WIC provides nutrition education. nutritious foods. referrals to health and human services. breastfeeding support. and immunizations (at some clinics). More than 802.000 Texas children ages 04 (40 percent) received support through WIC. When you look at infants alone. 67 percent received WIC supplements. compared to only 35 percent of children aged 14. The program has grown by more than 176.000 kids between 2000 and 2009. with an increase of 66.000 children from 2007 to 2009 alone. The dramatic rise in applications for SNAP initially overwhelmed the already beleaguered state workers who enroll families in these federal benefits. In November of 2009. 43 percent of SNAP applications were not being processed within the federally mandated 30day time period. leaving hundreds of thousands of families each month waiting for food assistance. More than 2.8 million Texas children participate in the school lunch program. and close to half of them also receive breakfast. More than $1.3 billion of federal funding is used to support these programs during the school year. Many counties in Texas also run summer nutrition programs so that kids who depend on school lunches have access to good nutrition when school is closed for the summer. During the recession. more families needed greater assistance with basic expenses. SNAP (formerly Food Stamps) provided benefits to over 3 million Texans. more than half of which are children (ages 017). In January 2011. more than 2 million Texas children received assistance from SNAP. an increase of nearly 700.000 kids since January 2008. Furthermore. because of added funds from the ARRA. monthly benefits rose 13.6 percent. giving added assistance to families at a time when they needed it most. Perhaps my friends on the other side of the aisle are content to conclude that life simply is not fair. equality is not accessible to everyone. and the less advantaged among us are condemned to remain as they are. but I do not accept that. That kind of complacency is not fitting for America. Texas has the unfortunate distinction of leading the Nation as the highest percentage of residents uninsured. More than 5.8 million Texansincluding 1.5 million childrenlack health insurance. Texas uninsured rates. 1.5 to 2 times the national average. create significant problems in the financing and delivery of health care to all Texans. One in every four Texans lacks health insurance coverage. and that number is one in every three in large cities like Houston and Dallas. According to the Gallup poll. an average of 26.8 percent of Texas residents was uninsured. Currently. one in four residents within the state of Texas is uninsured and would be in financial stress in case of a major medical emergency. The percentage of uninsured is extremely high and has become one of the greatest challenges faced by the Texas Department of Insurance and Department of Health. Heres an idea that wouldnt cost Texas a dime but would save millions of dollars every year: Remove all barriers restraining nurses from practicing to the full extent of their education and training. No state needs primary care providers more than Texas. which has a severe shortage. Texas ranks last in access to health care and in the percentage of residents without health insurance. Of Texas 254 counties. 188 are designated by the Federal Government as having acute shortages of primary care physicians. Of that number. 16 counties have one and 23 have zero. If every nurse practitioner and family doctor were deployed. we still couldnt meet the need. Texans are desperate for health care. I have worked tirelessly with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to gain bipartisan support for successful passage of an amendment to the landmark healthcare reform bill that made sure no hospital is forced to shut its doors or turn away Medicare or Medicaid patients. Existing physicianowned hospitals employ approximately 51.700 individuals. have over 27.000 physicians on staff. pay approximately $2.421.579.312 in payroll taxes and $512.889.516 in other federal taxes. and have approximately $1.9 billion in trade payables. With approximately 50 physicianowned hospitals. Texas leads the Nation in the number of physicianowned hospitals. The Texas economy could lose more than $2.3 billion and more than 22.000 jobs without these important hospitals. American families spend almost twice as much on health carethrough premiums. paycheck deductions and outofpocket expensesas families in any other country. In exchange. we receive quality specialty care in many areas. Yet on the whole. Americans do not get much better care than countries that spend far less. Americans do not live as long as people in Canada. Japan. and most of Western Europe. This should clearly indicate that health care reform was needed. The landmark bill signed by President Obama will provide coverage to millions of people who currently lack it. Protecting Medicare represents the basic values of fairness and respect for our seniors. including the 2.9 million Texans who received Medicare in 2010. Any cuts to Medicaid would be just as damaging. Harris County has one of the highest Medicaid enrollment records in Texas. Limits and cuts to Medicaid funds would significantly hurt the citizens of Texass 18th District. Harris County averages between 500.000 and 600.000 Medicaid recipients monthly. thousands of people who may not have access to healthcare should Congress sacrifice Medicaid to cut spending. Yes. we must take steps to balance the budget and reduce the national debt. but not at the expense of vital social programs. It is unconscionable that in our nation of vast resources. my Republican colleagues would ever consider fighting to pass a budget that cuts funding for essential social programs. Poverty impacts far too many Americans and social safety nets provide these individuals with vital assistance. As we continue to discuss the long term necessity of increasing out debt ceiling. I have heard the concerns of many of my constituents and the American people regarding the size of our national debt and the care with which taxpayer money is spent. I. too. am concerned about these issues. for to burden future generations of Americans with tremendous amounts of debt should not be a way to avoid our fiscal responsibilities to the American people. However. the task of resolving our debt ceiling crisis must take precedence over other concerns. including political ideology. The game is up. and the American people understand that increasing the debt ceiling has nothing to do with any new spending and everything to do with paying off the obligations that we have already agreed to and promised to pay. Prior to the existence of the debt ceiling. Congress had to approve borrowing each time the Federal Government wished to borrow money in order to carry out its functions. With the onset of World War I. more flexibility was needed to expand the governments capability to borrow money expeditiously in order to meet the rapidly changing requirements of funding a major war in the modern era. To address this need. the first debt ceiling was established in 1917. allowing the Federal Government to borrow money to meet its obligations without prior Congressional approval. so long as in the aggregate. the amount borrowed did not eclipse a specified limit. Since the debt limit was first put in place. Congress has increased it over 100 times. in fact. it was raised 10 times within the past decade. Congress last came together and raised the debt ceiling in February 2010. Today. the debt ceiling currently stands at $14.3 trillion dollars. In reality. that limit has already been eclipsed. but due to accounting procedures by Treasury Secretary Geithner. the debt limit can be artificially avoided until We must be clear on what this issue means for our country. America has earned a reputation as the worlds most trusted borrower. United States Treasury bonds have traditionally been one of the safest investments another country or investor could make. For investors around the world. purchasing a U.S. Treasury bond meant that they held something virtually as safe as cash. backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. If we allow the United States to default on its debt obligations. the financial crisis that began in 2008 would pale in comparison. according to economic experts. The ensuing economic catastrophe would not only place the U.S. economy in a tailspin. but the world economy as well. The fact that Congress. a body that typically has its fair share of political battles. has never played political chicken when it came to raising the debt ceiling should give us all pause. and is a testament to the seriousness with which we must approach this issue. However. this time around. my Republican colleagues have created an impasse based upon an ideological commitment to spending cuts. While I understand and share the concern of my Republican colleagues with respect to deficit spending. and will continue to work with them in order to find reductions. now is not the time to put ideology over pragmatism. The reality is that. on August 3. the United States will begin to default on its debt obligations if the debt ceiling is not raised. This unnecessarily places the American public and the economy between a rock and a hard place. Either Congress sides completely with the radical agenda of the Tea Party. which in the irresponsibly pulls the chair out from under the average American while polishing the throne of the wealthiest. This detour into a spending debate is as unnecessary as it is perilous. as increasing the debt ceiling does not obligate the undertaking of any new spending by the Federal Government. Rather. raising the debt limit simply allows the government to pay existing legal obligations promised to debt holders that were already agreed to by Presidents and Congresses. both past and present. If the United States defaults on its obligations on August 3. the stock market will react violently to the news that for the first time in history. America is unable to keep its promises to pay. Not once in American history has the countrys full faith and credit been called into question. Once America defaults. investors who purchase U.S. bonds and finance our government will be less likely to lend to America in the future. Just as a person who defaults on a loan will find it harder to convince banks to lend them money in the future. a country that defaults on its debt obligations will find it harder to convince investors to lend money to a government that did not pay. Showing the world that the United States does not pay its debts makes the purchasing of that debt less desirable because it requires the assumption of more risk on the part of the investors. The opponents of this bill are putting the country at serious risk of losing its status as the worlds economic superpower. Our allies will lose faith in our ability to manage global economic affairs. Our status in the world will be diminished. which will undermine our leverage on the world stage that allows us to command the respect and compliance of other nations when it comes to decisionmaking. This bill will allow America to compete with a surging China. Furthermore. any investors that do continue to purchase U.S. Treasury bonds will demand much higher interest rates in order to cover the increased risk. Once a default occurs. investors figure that the chance of the United States defaulting again is much greater. and will require the government to pay higher rates of interest in order to make the loan worth the risk for investors to take on. Imagine the impact on our stock market if we do not pay our debts. As we have seen throughout the recent financial crisis. a bad stock market hurts not only big businesses and large investors on Wall Street. but small businesses and small investors as well. Families with investments tied to the stock market. such as 401(k)s. pension plans. and savings. will once again see the value of their investments drop. The American people are tired of the uncertainty of the value of their retirement accounts. We must not allow another wild fluctuation to occur due to default and add to the uncertainty still lingering the minds of citizens. Increasing the debt ceiling is the responsible thing to do. Congress has already debated and approved the debt that an increased ceiling makes room for. However. my Republican colleagues have chose to use this as an opportunity to hold the American people hostage to their extreme agenda. They live in a world that is not the world that the American people live in. In their world. they believe that taxes are always too high. even on people making over a billion a year in a struggling economy. that any increase in revenue is fundamentally wrong. even if it comes from large corporations who use tax loopholes at the expense of our jobcreating small businesses. that investing anything in our economic future above tax revenues is impermissible. even in the midst of an economic downturn. and that tax cuts for the wealthy are always the nations top priority. even at the expense of people that depend on Social Security. Medicare. Medicaid. and Veterans benefits to survive. These beliefs place them on the fringe of American society. and yet due to the nature our political process. they have held up the entire government and placed our economy on the precipice of a turbulent second recession. If Congress cannot find a resolution then Congress will open the possibility that the President may invoke the Fourteenth Amendment to United States Constitution. Section Four. which states "the validity of the public debt of the United States . . . shall not be questioned." The argument must be made that if Congress will not resolve our nations pending default then the President to protect the interests of our nation must act. We should act. however. so the vulnerable are protected. The President would have to consider his powers under the Fourteenth Amendment which may grant him the authority to raise the debt ceiling. through executive order if Congress fails to act by the August 2. 2011 deadline. If the President has to use his presidential authority. he should to avoid a collapsebut Republicans should cease the hostagetakingand adults have to stand up for America and vote to pay Americas bills. For those reasons. I urge my colleagues to consider the constituents in their home districts who need the protection of an America that pays the bills. I urge my Republican colleagues to return to the world in which the vast majority of Americans live in. a world in which our shared destiny is determined by reasonable minds and good faith efforts to compromise. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that defaulting could "throw the financial system into chaos". and "destroy the trust and confidence that global investors have in Treasury securities as being the safest liquid assets in the world".