Date: 1993-09-14
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. for some time now. the American people have been telling us that they want a smaller Government. one that spends less. Why is the Congress not listening? This bill goes before us and goes against the grain of what the American people are saying and what many of us have been trying to achieve. a balanced Federal budget. Instead of cutting bureaucracy. this measure on the RTC. wasting taxpayer dollars for an additional 18 months. instead of cutting spending. this bill increases spending and appropriates billions of dollars which are completely unneeded. as the gentleman from Florida said. The GAO states the RTC only needs $11.9 billion. but the Committee on Banking. Finance and Urban Affairs is trying to give them 18.3 billion taxpayer hardearned dollars. The American people ought to be appalled. Let us go over this chart. I want to give Members a brief history of what has happened during the requested funding of the RTC. The first number that Members see up there. $28 billion. down from some 40odd billion earlier. is the amount the administration said they needed in March. As Members will quickly learn. they had no real idea what the RTC really needed. I The second number that Members see. which again was blocked out. $25 billion is the revised number after the GAO found $5 billion in cash they did not know they had. Maybe if we give them some more time. they can find $10 or $15 billion more. and we will not need any. Maybe they can pay the taxpayers. The third numbers my colleagues see. $18.3 billion. that is what the Democratcontrolled Committee on Banking. Finance and Urban Affairs decided the RTC needed. another figure pulled out of the air. Finally. $11.9 billion is the latest GAO funding estimate. but the Congress still wants to give them $18 billion. I think we need to take a look at what the RTC has on hand and determine what they really need. They have $7 billion In cash on hand. cash. That is more than the amount that we appropriated to help the Midwest flood victims. They have a $5 billion credit line. as the gentleman from Florida said. And finally. not on here. but they have got $79.1 billion in assets that they can sell to finance the RTC operations. Seventyone are currently at the RTC. costing $12 billion to close. by their estimate. 39 are probable to fail. still. costing $5 billion to close. And 52 are possible to fall. costing $2 billion to close. If we added that all up. it is $19 billion. They have got 10 or 12 that they can put their hands on in cash and almost $80 billionin assets they can sell. easily covering that and the insurance fund. The 39 probable to fail have $39 billion in assets. but they only have $871 million. million. not billion. in unperforming loans. Why do these thrifts. who made $81 million In profit in the first quar4ter of this year. why do they need $5 billion to resolve them? The 52 possible to fail have a median capital ration of 3.5 percent. The statutory minimum is 3. It sounds like to me we have got a fairly sound industry. The dollars are there to protect the depositors and fully fund the insurance fund. They do not need one red cent from this Congress or the taxpayer. I cannot figure out why we are even talking about this measure at this time. In addition to the RTC funding mishap. we are extending the life of this irresponsible agency by 18 months. including contracting quotas and extending a statute of limitations retroactive. Retroactive. that word seems to be popping up everywhere. If Members will recall. we have retroactive taxes. We have got retroactive statutes with the RTC. It sounds like every issue is going to be retroactive with this Congress. Can this Congress ever get its act together? We need to protect the American taxpayer. I challenge my colleagues to do what is right. Show the American people they are listening to them by voting against this wasteful bill. Do not appropriate any more taxpayer money for this bureaucratic nightmare. Vote for America. vote against this RTC funding.