Surface Transportation Act
Floor Speech
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. AYOTTE. I thank my colleague from South Dakota as well as my colleague from Alabama, the ranking member of the Budget Committee. I was deeply troubled this morning, because I asked Mr. Zients about the President's budget and my concern that under the trajectory of the President's budget we would be reaching $26 trillion of debt in the next 10 years, and I was shocked when he described the President's budget as a milestone, as leadership. This to me is not leadership. If it is a milestone for anything, this budget is a milestone for bankruptcy and what we see happening in Europe and other areas of the world that we don't want to happen to our country.
When I think about it--I am the mother of two children--how could we possibly ask our children to pay back $26 trillion in debt? It is outrageous.
I was surprised that Mr. Zients couldn't answer a basic question such as how much debt has been added under this President. As the Senator from South Dakota mentioned, it is close to $5 trillion in debt.
Also our entitlement programs. I know my grandparents are relying on Medicare and Social Security. I asked Mr. Zients--the Medicare trustees have said that Medicare is going bankrupt in 2024. We know Medicare is a huge driver of our unsustainable debt and that if we don't act to preserve these programs, then the people who are relying on them are going to be put in a horrible position very soon--2024 is coming very quickly. I asked Mr. Zients the question: What is the President's plan to preserve Medicare? What I got was a completely insufficient answer. That is because in this budget there is no plan to preserve Medicare for my grandparents and for everyone who is relying on Medicare right now.
When I reviewed the President's budget, it reminded me of a discussion I have had with my kids recently. In the last couple of weeks we have been talking about Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who comes out and looks at his shadow to see if we are going to have more winter. Well, Punxsutawney has already come out of his hole, but in Washington it is Groundhog Day all over again when it comes to the President's budget, because every year this President has been in office, his proposed budgets have left us with trillion-dollar deficits, increased gross debt as a percentage of the share of our economy, continued massive spending, racking up enormous debt to where we will reach $26 trillion in 10 years. There is no plan to reform Social Security and Medicare, to preserve these programs, and they are mandatory spending and, as Senator Thune mentioned, the largest driver of our debt, and massive tax increases. It is staggering when we think about a budget that offers close to the largest--if not the largest--tax increase in the history of our country, yet still runs a $1.3 trillion deficit this year and at least a $900 billion deficit in 2013. It is the worst of all worlds. We are going to increase taxes on small businesses in this country that we are asking to generate revenue and create jobs, yet we are still going to run trillion-dollar deficits.
This is a very irresponsible budget. We cannot afford a campaign document. We need a budget for this country. Because when I think about where we are, when I think about what is happening in other countries around the world--in Europe--and the future of our country, and not only all of us here today, but what we will be passing on to my children and your children because they can't repay $26 trillion in debt--how is that going to happen? And how fair is that? They didn't incur this debt. We did. We have a responsibility to address this now.
I have been deeply disappointed by this President and his failure of leadership on this issue. Think about it: My colleague Senator Gregg served on the President's fiscal commission. The President convenes a fiscal commission and ignores his own fiscal commission. In fact, since that time, we have incurred $1.5 trillion of debt since the fiscal commission issued a report. Last year the President's budget came up for a vote in this body. It was so fiscally irresponsible that not one Member of this Chamber, from either party or the Independents, voted for the budget. That says it all. Yet, again, we have a similar budget being proposed by this President. That is why I say, unfortunately, it is Groundhog Day in Washington all over again.
It is unfortunate, because the American people have seen this over and over again, and they are very tired because they understand at home they have to balance their budgets. They understand that at home, they are making the difficult calls that need to be made to prioritize. Yet, here in Washington, with this President's budget and the trajectory our country is on because of the failure of leadership, we are in a position where we are hurting our country, and I am very concerned about what we are passing on to the next generation. I hope my colleagues on the Senate Budget Committee will actually do the work that needs to be done and put together a responsible budget for this country, because it has been over 1,000 days since the Democratic-controlled Senate has actually done the work that needs to be done for this country. If the President is not going to do it, then I hope that in this body, the Senate, we will put together a responsible budget that gets our fiscal house in order for the future of our country.
I hope this Acting Budget Director, Mr. Zients, the next time he comes before the Senate Budget Committee, will answer the questions he is asked. This is simple math. When Senator Sessions asked him whether we are spending more money, one would hope to get a straight answer. That is the least the American people deserve. I am hoping that is what they will receive going forward.
I wish to ask my colleague, Senator Sessions, the ranking member of the Budget Committee, what his impression of the President's budget is in terms of where it leaves our country going forward and what he hopes the Senate Budget Committee will do to address this fiscal crisis.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Source