Date: 2007-02-06
Speaker: DAVID DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Tennessee

Thank you. Ms. Foxx. I appreciate your leadership and your friendship just across the mountain in North Carolina from Tennessee. And thank you. Mr. Speaker. for allowing me to speak today. It is an interesting time in America. things are going well in the economy. It is going well because Americans are working hard. I grew .up in an era of politics looking back at Ronald Reagan. who was a great President. And as we all know. his birthday is today. If you go back 96 years ago was the date of his birth. And one of his quotes was. We dont have a trillion dollar debt because we havent taxed enough. we have a trillion dollar debt because we spend too much. And I think that is a good starting point as we look towards our economy and how we run this Congress and how we work for the people across America. Revenues are coming in at a record pace. If we continue the pace that we are at now. we will actually be able to balance our budget by the year 2012 without raising taxes. and I think that is exactly what the American people would like to see. I think they want us to hold the line on spending. I think they want a progrowth economy. and they want a good. sound financial policy. If you look at the Congressional Budget Office. the CBO. which is nonpartisan. it confirmed just last week that tax cuts of 2003 have helped boost our Federal revenues by 68 percent. That is good news. There are other signals that keeping taxes low. coupled with fiscal restraint and economic growth. help move us forward and help us balance our budget. and we can do that and take care of that deficit that we have. If you look at some other statistics that are vitally important. our economy has grown for 21 straight quarters. That is rather impressive. And in the period between 2004 and 2006. Federal tax revenues rose the largest margin in nearly 40 years. not because we had raised taxes. but because we had lowered taxes. In addition to that. the deficit has been cut in half 2 years early. or ahead of schedule. That is good news for Americans. I think that is the type of leadership that America is looking for. If you look at the way you balance a budget. like a small business does back in east Tennessee. or a family sitting around the kitchen table. and they have a small budget. their budget is tight. they are trying to decide what they need to do. they have to decide. do you cut what you spend or do you bring in additional revenue. And most people understand. as they sit around their kitchen table. you have to hold the line on spending. you cant spend more than you make. unlike government. I am excited about a good starting point that we see from the President in his budget. It calls for making the 20012003 tax relief provisions permanent. I think that is exactly what the American people want. And if we do that. the administration projects total revenue to grow an average of 5.4 percent per year. The way we maintain this healthy economy that we have today is keep tax cuts permanent. that is what the American people want us to do. We really have a simple choice. Mr. Speaker: we have the choice between a bigger economy or bigger government. And I really believe that if we look forward. what the American people want is us to hold the line on spending. hold the line on increasing the taxes and allow the economy to work the way it has worked in the past and the way it is working today. We also need to work very hard to make sure that we hold the line not only on spending. but we need to take a good strong look in a bipartisan way at reducing earmarks. I think we need to pass the line item veto. And if we do that. it will allow the President to have better control of how tax dollars are spent. I would also like to see a biennial budget process where we can actually sit back and let this House and this Congress take a breathing period from every other year and to find out if what we are doing works. And back in Tennessee. as State legislature. I was a State representative for 8 years. we had a balanced budget amendment in our constitution. We couldnt spend more than we brought in. And I signed on as a cosponsor to House Joint Resolution 1. which calls for a balanced budget amendment right here at the Federal level. I think that is exactly what the American people are looking for. And. again. going back to what Ronad Reagan had to say. just to reiterate. President Reagan said: "We dont have a trillion dollar debt because we havent taxed enough. we have a trillion dollar debt because we spend too much." And if we can remember that in this body and over in the Senate and we pass a good balanced budget that would take care of the deficit without raising taxes. I think the American -people would be very pleased.