Fiscal Policy

Floor Speech

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, nearly every day we see scenes playing out in countries around the world where their financial security is in ruins. This is the last thing we want to experience in our great country, and that is why we need to reform our fiscal policy and the way we have done business. There is too much at stake not to take action.

The International Monetary Fund urged us to address our soaring budget deficits, and credit rating agencies Moody's and S&P may be forced to downgrade our government's AAA rating.

So what is the majority doing to address this fiscal crisis? Absolutely nothing. It has been nearly 790 days without the majority in this Chamber proposing a budget, and it appears the majority isn't anxious to work on one. The majority-led Budget Committee has failed to meet this year to begin working on a resolution. We can't even have an open debate in this Chamber about the budget. Instead of voting to start the debate on budget measures last month, the majority squashed all proposals, including the President's own plan. This is failure to govern at the most basic level and the American people deserve better. We need a budget that puts us on the path to fiscal discipline.

Every week we hear warnings of why this must be done. Last week the Congressional Budget Office issued the starkest warning yet of the danger posed by our spending problems. Our Nation's debt will exceed the size of the U.S. economy by 2021 and will double the size of our Nation's GDP within 25 years. This is not the way I want to leave this country for my kids, my grandkids, and the people of Arkansas.

In his State of the Union Address, President Obama pushed for a conversation that will put us on the path to fiscal responsibility but, so far, he has been absent from the discussions. Only today, 36 days before the deadline given by Secretary Geithner to raise the legal limit on Federal borrowing, is he beginning to take leadership in negotiating for spending limitations.

Our debt is slowing the economic recovery. The simple truth is higher debt leads to slower economic growth. We have seen this with the failed stimulus, but in the past week the Senate-led majority is once again proposing this flawed strategy. This failed policy of borrowing, spending, and taxing is just what the CBO is warning us to avoid. It hasn't worked in the past and it won't work in the future.

What we need are debt reduction measures in the form of spending cuts. The CBO's last report shows that spending is the primary cause of our fiscal crisis and supports spending cuts rather than tax increases to reverse this trend. I urge President Obama to take tax hikes off the table. Let's get to work reining in the reckless spending and putting our Nation back on a fiscally responsible path.

If American families ran their household budgets the way Washington runs its budget, the utilities would be shut off and the collection agencies would be knocking on their doors. The American people are now knocking on the doors of the Capitol demanding the government limit its spending.

We must rein in our spending to protect programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security for current recipients and for future generations. In order to achieve this, we must reform the manner in which we budget and allocate Federal dollars. We need a mechanism to cap spending and force the government to spend within its means.

We must act now to move our country off the brink of financial collapse, and we must make tough decisions because that is what the American people deserve and expect of us.

Mr. President, I note the absence of a quorum.

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