Scalise: Republicans Address Debt Ceiling Crisis as Biden Stays on the Sidelines
Press Release
Prior to today's vote on H.R. 2811, the Limit, Save, Grow Act, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise spoke on the House Floor to slam the Biden Administration for tax-and-spend policies that are driving inflation and crushing the financial wellbeing of American families. As President Biden remains absent from debt ceiling negotiations, Leader Scalise underscored the fiscally responsible solution, proposed by House Republicans, to address the looming debt crisis.
Click here or on the image above to view the speech.
Leader Scalise's remarks:
"I thank my friend from Texas, not only a leader but the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, Mr. Arrington, for bringing this bill to the Floor because Mr. Speaker, we all know our nation is at a crossroads. It's a very fragile time for the American people. They're looking at inflation that's going through the roof, decades high, paying more for everything. And they know why that happened.
"They're paying more for everything when they go to the grocery store, the gas pump, anywhere else, because Washington has spent trillions of dollars that this country doesn't have. Over the last two years, President Biden has maxed out the nation's credit card. That's what the debt ceiling is. That's what this debate is about. And so, as the President has maxed out the nation's credit card, Americans know what that means. They have credit cards. They work hard not to max theirs out. They all know that we're going to make the minimum payment on those cards, but if somebody maxed out the credit card like President Biden did, the first thing you do is not give them another credit card to max out, as President Biden has asked and demanded. He said, just give him more money -- to keep spending money that we don't have -- to rack up more inflation on hardworking families.
"Mr. Speaker, that would be irresponsible. And yet that's what the President has asked for.
"What House Republicans have done is come together and say, "There's a better way.' Sure, we need to address the debt ceiling, but we also need to address -- at the same time -- the problems that have brought us to this moment. It's not by accident that the nation's credit card got maxed out. This is how bad the problem is, because we can talk trillions all day long, and the numbers get so big that people just tune it out.
"Let's talk some basic numbers. For every 100 dollars that the federal government takes in, the federal government is spending 129 dollars. Now if a family did that, it wouldn't last long before they would go under. Before they would lose their house. Before they would go bankrupt. 100 dollars coming in, and 129 dollars going out.
"That's the spending problem in Washington, and President Biden said he wants to spend another 129 with 100 still coming in. Most families would look at that and say,"It's irresponsible to do that,' and we agree as House Republicans. Now you would think the President has acknowledged this finally and said, "Okay, why don't we sit down at the table and figure this out? We do not need a debt crisis in this nation.' But instead of sitting down to negotiate, which is what anybody responsible would do -- Speaker McCarthy has said, "Mr. President, let's sit down.' They did it once over two months ago. The President himself in fact, days later said, "You know what, we ought to do it again.'
"The problem is the President then went into hiding. The President will not sit down and meet with the Speaker to negotiate how to solve this problem, because the President wants to run the clock out and create a debt crisis. That is the height of irresponsibility, Mr. Speaker, and if the President is going to shirk his responsibility, and try to hide, and just wait until the clock strikes midnight, House Republicans are not going to sit on the sidelines. We're going to lead and present a solution. That's what this bill is. That's what Mr. Arrington's legislation does, Mr. Speaker. It says, "As we deal with the debt ceiling, let's also deal with the spending problem that got us here.'
"And how do we do it? I think reading the bill would be real[ly] important. We'll send an extra copy down to the White House so that they can actually see some of the basic things we're talking about. And these are things that families get. Right now in America, if you talk to any small business owner, they're all looking for workers. You would think we have full employment, everybody that wants to work and that's capable of working is working. Unfortunately, that's not the case. President Biden put in place -- over the last few years -- different changes to welfare so that people that are fully able-bodied, that aren't even -- they're not turning down work -- they're not even looking for work, some of them are making over 35,000 dollars a year to sit at home. That is costing taxpayers over 100 billion dollars.
"What we say is, frankly, a question a lot of people have asked over the years. I'm just going to read it to you as the voters of the state of Wisconsin had presented to them just a few weeks ago, Mr. Speaker: "Shall able-bodied, childless adults be required to look for work in order to receive taxpayer funded welfare benefits?' Pretty straightforward question. In fact, 79.5 percent of Wisconsin voters just a few weeks ago said, "Yes, they should look for work before they get taxpayer benefits.'
"Should a single mom -- who's working two jobs -- have to pay for somebody who's sitting at home who just chooses not to work? Look, this is America. If you want to sit at home and not work, that's your prerogative, but should you be asking a hardworking taxpayer to pay for you -- 35,000 or more a year -- to sit at home when everybody's looking for workers? And so we say, "Let's just put those basic work requirements back in place,' just like the voters of Wisconsin said a few weeks ago.
"Now you would think [to] the White House, that's some kind of far reaching idea. Most people get this, but this isn't just about saving taxpayer money. It saves a lot of taxpayer money to do this. You know what else it does, Mr. Speaker? Our bill strengthens Social Security because, when President Biden is set sending tens of billions of dollars every month to pay people not to work, not only are they not working, not only are they eating up all kinds of money that our children are ultimately going to have to pay back, [but] they are also taking money out of Social Security because they're not paying into it. By putting these basic work requirements back in place -- there [are] millions of people that are sitting on the sidelines that will finally get back into the workplace.
"Finally have an opportunity at the American Dream again.
"Finally be able to lift their standard of living up.
"But you know what else they're going to be doing, Mr. Speaker? They're going to be paying into Social Security. They will be paying into Medicare. That will add tens of billions of dollars to strengthen Social Security and Medicare. Why would President Biden be against that? We claw back some of the unspent COVID money. President Biden himself said the COVID emergency is over, yet there [are] tens of billions of dollars out there being spent on things -- that have nothing to do with COVID -- all under the name of the pandemic.
"Why not save that money for taxpayers? In addition to saving taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, we also put in pro-growth policies in this bill. Things like the Lower Energy Costs Act. You talk to families about the things that are angering them that are coming out of Washington, clearly inflation -- the cost of everything going up -- is the biggest item.
"The biggest item driving inflation is President Biden's anti-American energy policies. Families today are paying 50 percent more when they go fill up their cars at the pump. Fifty percent more than the day President Biden took office. There's no reason for that. Instead of President Biden getting on Air Force One and going and begging Saudi princes to produce more energy, or begging Putin to produce more energy, we can make it here in America cleaner than anywhere else in the world, actually lowering carbon emissions. And yet, President Biden keeps saying, "No' to American energy. He says, "Yes' to foreign oil, but "No' to American oil. That doesn't pass the smell test. And in our bill, we actually fix that and allow Americans to produce more energy here [and] to produce more critical minerals.
"Why should we be relying on China for computer chips? Over 90 percent of solar panels in the world are made in China. Why not make more of those things here? Car batteries. They talk about electric cars all day, yet over 90 percent of the car batteries are made in China because they won't let America access our minerals here, so we become dependent on foreign countries. I'm tired of being dependent on countries like China, because President Biden's gotten the policies wrong over and over again. Let's fix this.
"We do fix these problems in this bill, and if President Biden's got a better idea, it's long past time he puts those ideas on the table. This is not a problem you run and hide from. In fact, when you asked to be president United States -- you're the Commander-in-chief -- you are the leader of the free world, Mr. Speaker. This is not a job where you run and hide from the tough things. These are the moments where you step up, you rise to the moment. The American people are calling for us all to do that. And if some people want to sit and hide and hope that the clock strikes midnight, and they can just force some bad deal on the taxpayers of America.
"Well, you know, that's what they're sick about Washington over. Time and time again, when Washington doesn't answer the needs of hardworking families who are struggling, and just waits until the midnight hour to jam a bad deal down the throats of people. Let's not wait until that midnight hour. We are standing up and leading and it's long past time that President Biden gets off the sidelines and does his job too, and gets to the negotiating table with Speaker McCarthy so we can solve this problem and put America on a stronger financial footing that will benefit all Americans. It's time to end this madness.
"Let's pass this legislation. Let's start this conversation that families have been having for a long time. It's long past time Washington gets into the middle of this conversation too. Let's pass this bill. Let's solve this problem."
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