Credit Default

Floor Speech

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, the Republican majority has once again proven its complete irresponsibility by putting our economy at risk in handling our Nation's finances. A little over a decade ago, there were projected surpluses as far as the eye could see. The Nation had achieved a firm financial footing. That was before the George Bush administration and the Republicans took us on a spending spree, paying out trillions in huge tax cuts, skewed to--guess who?--the top 2 percent, the wealthy, whose investment decision then killed jobs in our country. The last month that George Bush was in office, we lost over 700,000 jobs just in that month. The Bush Administration plunged the Nation during that decade into two wars they refused to pay for.

History tells the story.

Then came the big economic collapse of 2008 during the Bush Administration that included a loss in Federal revenues, which followed the largest economic downturn since the Great Depression, due to George Bush's capitulation to Wall Street abuse. Now, Republicans claim to care about the Federal deficit?

Well, yes, revenues have shrunk by about $400 billion a year because of the financial crisis they created we're trying to dig ourselves out of. Spread out over 10 years, that covers the, roughly, $4 trillion we're trying to eke out of this sick economy to pay down our debt. But it's a very delicate balance we're attempting because there are 14 million Americans out of work and up to 24 million who are working part time, who want to work full time, or others who have completely given up and dropped out. We can't hurt them more.

Fewer jobs mean lower revenues at all levels. It means lower profits to many companies, and it certainly means lower revenues into the Federal Treasury because there are more people who are on unemployment: more people who rely on government assistance, more people who rely on public health because their private insurance has dried up. How many people now can't afford to pay their COBRA? Millions who are not earning paychecks are not able to pay their contributions to Social Security and Medicare. So it's a vicious cycle.

In any time of economic downturn, national economic policy must act like a fulcrum on a teeter-totter. It has to level impacts on people so they can reposition. The government has to at the Federal level help prop up the American people until they can find their footing again. It doesn't take a mental giant to figure that out. Unemployment is the major cause of the deficit that we are bearing now; yet we hear almost no discussion about jobs and how to create jobs, to get rid of unemployment, as the reemployed and lift the economy--healing the Republic. Rather than talking about how to create jobs and how unemployment causes lost revenues and kills more jobs, all we're hearing is take more flesh off the bones of families and communities. House Republicans have placed the entire economy at risk now to satisfy the ideological wishes of a few.

The American public sees what's happening. Importantly, they're feeling directly what is not happening. Nobody is being fooled. I've heard from thousands of people back home in northern Ohio who are concerned that the Republican leadership is playing politics--playing with fire--during a time when our economic recovery is very, very fragile. Putting our Nation's credit rating at risk is totally irresponsible and will cause more economic harm. I had somebody tell me yesterday he's trying to renegotiate his home loan, and the mortgage company wanted to raise the interest rate a quarter percent because of the market uncertainty all of this is causing.

Since World War I, our country has always received a AAA status from credit rating agencies because, until now, we have always put the Nation first--not any political party first, but the Nation first. To force America to default for the first time in history would hurt our Republic and every working family, and it would hurt those who are out of work even more. It would mean higher interest rates on cars, on home loans, on credit cards, on student loans. It would mean fewer jobs and less growth.

Instability, uncertainty, creates a downdraft on the recovery. Congress should be focusing on economic recovery and creating jobs if we want to close that deficit gap. You balance budgets by full employment economies. We surpassed the debt limit over 2 months ago, and come August 2, the Treasury will simply not be able to pay all the bills that are currently due.

Yes, it's long overdue to reach a compromise. Instead, Speaker Boehner has walked away from the negotiating table and has chosen to roll out a hasty bill that hasn't gone through the normal committee process. Apparently, many in his own party reject it. This isn't leadership for America at a time when she needs it. It may be capitulation to Grover Norquist and his lobby, but our responsibility is far greater.

Mr. Speaker, the way that you balance budgets is to put people to work and grow the economy. I support a balanced, bipartisan solution to reduce our deficit, create jobs and grow our economy, to expand our middle class and protect Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid beneficiaries. The solution to deficits is robust job growth and full economic recovery. Let's spend two months putting that initiative forward!

Source