Stimulating the Economy
Floor Speech
STIMULATING THE ECONOMY -- (House of Representatives - March 25, 2009)
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Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I want to commend Dr. GINGREY, because we have been proposing all along some method of trying to develop a market for these toxic assets so that the taxpayers don't have to bail out Wall Street by giving money to the individuals that have created this mess through their own greed, through seeking their own end and putting the bill on the backs of the taxpayers, in fact, the people who can least afford to have that burden put on them, and that is small business in this country.
I want to remind the Speaker, as well as those here in the House and those listening, that Republicans offered an alternative to the TARP bill that was presented in the last Congress. Secretary of Treasury Hank Paulson was totally wrong. A lot of us on the Republican side voted against it, there were some Democrats even that voted against it. And we had an alternative, an alternative that would not have created this huge debt on the backs of the small businesses and the taxpayers of this country, and we need to find solutions.
We have proposed suspending capital gains tax. That would bring in a tremendous influx of cash offshore that is just sitting there. It would bring in a tremendous influx of cash into the financial system that would be placed in banks so that they would have money to capitalize loans. And, it would help stop some of the problems that we have with frozen credit markets in this country.
We have proposed suspending the mark-to-market accounting that the Federal regulators are still requiring the banks to go by, which is continuing to freeze up assets so that banks cannot lend out money to people with good credit. It makes absolutely no sense. We need to suspend mark-to-market and find some other means of accounting that makes sense, that doesn't just totally torpedo the capital assets of all these financial institutions.
Republicans have presented these plans. Unfortunately, the leadership, last year President Bush and under the directions of Hank Paulson, wouldn't even listen to us. They wouldn't consider those things. And it is one of the big mistakes I think that the last administration made. But, more importantly, we see the same kind of policy coming on right now today through Secretary of Treasury, as well as this current administration, as well as the leadership here in this House. And we as Republicans presented proposal after proposal after proposal, and the leadership here in this House and in the Senate have been obstructionist. They will not listen to any other alternative but their own steamroller of socialism that is being shoved down the throats of the American public. And it is going to strangle the American economy. It is going to choke the American people economically.
So I commend Dr. GINGREY for a proposal of creating a market for these so-called toxic assets. They have value as you, Judge CARTER, and Dr. GINGREY were just discussing, and I applaud that.
We can solve an economic problem, and we can do it in the private sector, without increasing the debt of the Federal Government; because the Federal Government is borrowing too much, it is taxing too much, and it is spending too much, and we have got to stop it. I believe very firmly that if we don't have these alternatives considered, that it is going to strangle the American economy, it is going to lengthen the recession, it is going to deepen the recession, and maybe even push us into a frank depression. And we have got to stop it; not only for the good of small business, which is the engine that creates jobs and is the economic engine that pulls along the train of economic prosperity here in America, but also for the people who are going to be most disserved by this philosophy that the leadership in this House and the Senate are proposing, and that is, it is going to hurt the people on limited incomes, it is going to hurt the people that are on the lower end of the economic ladder here. We need to help them up the ladder by giving them good jobs, good-paying jobs. And the policies that have been proposed by this administration, particularly this new budget, are going to hurt the people that our colleagues on the other side supposedly want to help the most. But it is going to hurt those poor people. It is going to help to put those people in more economic straits, dire straits, where they are going to be struggling even more.
So I do congratulate Dr. GINGREY for bringing us another proposal, one that makes sense economically, one that makes sense to get us out of this economic downturn that we are suffering under.
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Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I appreciate the gentleman for yielding.
You made a couple points that I would like to point out to the folks who are listening to us tonight, is that we have a proposal by the Democratic leadership, by Secretary Geithner and by the administration, that is going to continue to borrow and borrow and borrow. And who are they borrowing from? Short term, they are borrowing from China and other foreign entities; but long term, they are borrowing from our children and grandchildren.
But, Judge CARTER, you made an excellent point, a good commonsense point that people all over this country do when they have economic problems, and that is that they tighten their belt and stop spending. And that is exactly what the Federal Government needs to do. We need to live on a balanced budget, just like the American people do every day. Unfortunately, there is not much common sense around here in the Federal Government, and we just see this policy of borrowing and borrowing and borrowing. We are borrowing way too much. And all it is going to do is just continue us into a deeper and deeper hole, because you cannot borrow and spend yourself to prosperity. And I think that is a great point that you just made.
And these assets, these so-called toxic assets have value, they have real value. They are not zero that the mark-to-marketing accounting rules require banks to mark them down to just because they don't have a market today.
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Mr. BROUN of Georgia. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
We were just speaking a few moments ago about many alternatives that have been presented to this House that would be in the private sector that wouldn't borrow from our grandchildren, and our good friend, Mr. Gohmert, with his Federal tax holiday, has provided us with a plan that would stimulate the economy and help hardworking Americans without growing the size of government.
My friend from Texas serves as a constant reminder that we are spending the people's money and that policies like those supported by Secretary Geithner are just the most recent examples of policies from this administration that are not for the people, of the people, or by the people.
Mr. Gohmert's plan is especially necessary as Secretary Geithner attempts to increase his power while moving away from the dollar, now that he is apparently open to moving the world economy towards an IMF-controlled currency system. Maybe he was at IMF too long and he is embracing a world currency based on IMF. I believe that the Secretary of the Treasury needs reminding that we are part of a government that is directed by the Constitution of the United States.
In fact, Congresswoman Bachmann just yesterday asked him where in the Constitution is the authority that he is wanting to claim and expand his powers? He couldn't answer that because there is none there.
And that document, the Constitution, does not provide for any evolutionary changes in the Secretary's power without explicit Congressional approval, and, by extension, approval from the people of the United States.
Right now, neither has granted such approval.
This expansion of the powers of the Treasury Department is a cause of great concern and should be of great concern to every American. I was concerned when former Secretary Henry Paulson first started us down this path towards nationalization and government-run industries. And I'm even more concerned as I stand before the American public today and before this House today.
There are many good and justified actions that Congress can take to get us back on the path to economic prosperity, like a Federal tax holiday of Mr. Gohmert's. But these recent developments, spearheaded by Secretary Geithner, are not only ill-advised, but they do not begin to fall into the realm of constitutional duties or authority.
I hope and pray that there is economic success in America's near future. But I believe that any gains to be made will come in spite of the actions of Treasury Secretary Geithner and not because of them.
It is my sincerest hope that people all over this great Nation will contact their friends, contact their family and contract their elected representatives to tell them to prevent the unconstitutional extension of the Secretary's power.
I'm pleased that Mr. Gohmert has led the charge today to discuss these commonsense plans to restore power back to the people of this country, and I wish that congressional leaders would spend much more time considering our, the Republicans', commonsense alternatives that return power to the people instead of promoting the Treasury's grab for more and more power, particularly in view of the fact that it is unconstitutional and they have no constitutional authority to do that. I am very concerned about the Secretary's grab for power, nationalization of banks, nationalization of all businesses, such as they want to control AIG and others.
We have got to stop it. We have a steamroller of socialism going on here. That steamroller of socialism is being shoved down the throats of the American people. It is going to strangle the American economy. It is going to choke the American people economically. That steamroller of socialism is being driven by NANCY PELOSI, HARRY REID and the President of the United States. And that steamroller needs a speed bump. It needs a stop sign.
And Mr. Gohmert's plan is an excellent plan. In fact, I'm a cosponsor of your bill. And I applaud this ingenious way of helping to stimulate the economy. And I'm also, should be a cosponsor of Judge Carter's bill, for the Rangel rule. I love it. I think it's a commonsense way of saying that everybody should be treated equal under the law. That's what the Constitution calls for. Everybody should be treated equal under the law. And if Mr. Rangel, Mr. Geithner, and others have the ability to do that, every American in this country should have the ability to write ``Rangel rule'' on the bottom of their tax form. And I love it. I think it's something that just puts a microscopic focus on the problem we have in this country today. The powerful, the elite, want to live in a way that all the other people in this country cannot, and it's wrong. It's absolutely wrong. And we must stop it. And I congratulate you, Judge Carter.
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Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Thank you, Judge CARTER. I appreciate your yielding.
You brought up a whole lot of very, very good points here. The American people should not trust this budget that's being presented because all it's going to do, in my opinion, is deepen the depression or recession, and probably put us into a recession.
I believe very firmly that if there is corruption, people should go to jail. If there are people who we cannot trust, as Congressman Gohmert was talking about, if an IRS agent can't be trusted, they're fired. The American people need to be firing people who can't be trusted.
And we, as Republicans, are presenting a lot of things that the American people can trust in that look to the private sector, and will solve this economic problem. I applaud Congressman Gohmert's plan of a 2-month tax holiday. That's the reason I very strongly endorsed his bill. In fact, I presented my own bill, or actually it was an amendment to that stimulus or nonstimulus, ``porkulus'' bill that we had here. My idea was if the Democratic majority was so bent on spending $835 billion, let's just divide it amongst the American people who are taxpayers, legal resident taxpayers in this country, and bail them out, instead of bailing out Wall Street. And if you divide that out, per legal resident taxpayer, we would have sent every single legal resident taxpayer in this country right at $9,000. A couple would have got almost $18,000.
But the Democratic majority would not consider my amendment, one which makes sense and one which does not borrow from our grandchildren and put them in hock the way we see with this new budget coming forth on this floor next week.
So I applaud you, Judge CARTER, for bringing out these issues of trust. I know the American people did not trust Republicans, and they took us out of the majority in 2006. I was not here then. In 2008, they actually took more Republicans out of office.
We have, I think, presented many things to the American people that they can look at, and they can trust the Republicans to bring forth ideas and to stand firm on good ethics. On the trust of the American people, we are presenting solutions after solutions that make sense economically and that do not borrow from our grandchildren, and hopefully, the American people will trust us.
I just applaud what you are doing, Judge CARTER. I yield back.
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