Reclaiming Our Fiscal Future
Floor Speech
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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, our country is facing a crisis of our own making. Republicans and Democrats alike have contributed to the rampant spending in Washington over the last several decades. But it is time for someone to stand up and say enough is enough.
I am here tonight with some of the greatest minds in Congress to talk about our floor-ready plan to tackle wasteful spending and restore fiscal responsibility to the Federal Government.
In December, Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks asked me to lead the Budget Task Force for the 117th Congress, and I gladly accepted. I put together a team of incredible fiscal conservatives to help repair our fiscal year 2022 budget.
I thank these intelligent, hardworking colleagues for rising to the occasion, working diligently to meet our ambitious goals, and putting together a fine product that will serve all Americans. They are Chairman Jim Banks, Roger Williams, Trent Kelly, Ralph Norman, Ron Estes, Michael Cloud, Ben Cline, Byron Donalds, and Bob Good. Thank you, gentlemen.
In addition to my task force members, I would like to thank a man who is integral to the work of the task force and is a huge reason for the success of this final budget, Richard Stern.
When I said yes to drafting the budget for fiscal year 2022, I committed to creating a thorough, floor-ready budget that reflects the conservative values that gave us the greatest economy in the history of the world before the pandemic. I believe, as do my colleagues, that the pro-growth policies of the Trump administration are proven tactics to grow the economy and give Americans more control of their own money.
Everyone in Washington seems to forget that we have no money of our own. Everything we appropriate in this Chamber, every dollar, comes from the American taxpayers. None of it belongs to us.
In the last year, we spent $7.6 trillion, largely due to an unprecedented global pandemic. The Biden administration has shown no sign of slowing down and is starting to alarm more than just conservatives. It is our responsibility to hold this administration accountable and prove to the American people that there is someone left on Capitol Hill who cares about our debts.
We need to return to federalism, where the Federal Government, the State, and the individual have their own distinct roles.
In order to combat aggressive spending, we need an aggressive plan. That brings us to this year's budget, aptly named ``Reclaiming Our Fiscal Future.''
President Trump's budget proposal to Congress would have balanced in 15 years. That was our starting point, and we knew we were capable of balancing in less than 10.
Madam Speaker, I am proud to say that our budget will balance in just 5 years. Many of you would ask how that is even possible. There are two parts to that answer. The first part is due to changes in inflation and interest costs following the COVID-19 pandemic. The second is due to pro-growth policies like the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
When we give Americans more control of their own money, the result is market growth, wage growth, consumer confidence, and, yes, increased revenues for the Federal Government.
We are making provisions from the Tax Cuts and Job Cuts Act permanent, reducing the tax burden by $1.9 trillion, almost $16,000 per household.
We are shielding the middle class from capital gains taxes, eliminating the death taxes, and repealing market-distorting tax carve- outs.
Our budget is the most pro-life budget ever introduced, with 17 pieces of pro-life legislation included. Our budget stands strong for the issues Americans care about, and we are crystal clear about how to pay for it.
We are securing our border and building the wall. We are protecting your Second Amendment rights. We are supporting our police officers and ensuring our communities remain safe for everyone.
Our budget includes over 30 specific deregulation bills ensuring liberty for American job creators and workers alike.
We are putting Medicare and Social Security on a path to solvency without cutting immediate benefits. Whether you call them earmarks or community project funding, we are getting rid of it for good. We are reforming the budget process to be transparent and effective. To put it simply, we are fighting for Main Street America.
Tonight, you will hear from me and my colleagues who helped shape this budget, whether as a member of the task force or by contributing legislation that is included in our budget. These Members all have something very important in common, a deep respect for the American taxpayer.
It is our job to ensure that Americans' tax dollars are being spent wisely, that the government is making every effort to prevent waste and promote efficiency. It is pretty clear this hasn't been the case in Washington for a long time.
Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy), my dear friend from the 21st Congressional District.
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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I would yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Miller), the 15th Congressional District.
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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin), the co-chair of the Border Caucus from the 36th Congressional District.
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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Davidson).
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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the great State of Louisiana (Mr. Higgins).
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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the Fourth Congressional District of Iowa (Mr. Feenstra).
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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the Fifth Congressional District of Virginia (Mr. Good). He is also a task force member who gave us a tremendous amount of input on our process, and I want to thank him for his work. It was a 5-month journey that we went through to arrive at this budget and a lot of sleepless nights. I really appreciate the gentleman's inputs and his thoughts.
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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, Speaker Pelosi reminded us about 3 years ago when she infamously said: Show me your budget, and I will show you your values.
That phrase and that statement have been made so many times by leaders talking about budgets.
In America, individuals have budgets, counties have budgets, communities have budgets, cities have budgets, schools have budgets, businesses have budgets, and States have budgets. The United States of America has gone 3 years now without a budget from the Budget Committee that is run by my colleagues from the Democratic Party, the people in power.
We have a budget that we are asking to get on the floor, a budget that is built on the pro-growth policies that we saw 16 months ago yield the greatest economy in our lifetime, the lowest unemployment rate, the most people employed with all diversity, of all ethnicities, of all countries of origin, women, African Americans, and Hispanics. Everywhere, people have seen the greatest jobs they have ever seen. There were double-digit increases for the lowest earning wage earners among us.
We know these policies work. This budget builds upon them. The American people are demanding that we be accountable for the dollars they send us. What we are seeing now in the budget that was just put out by the President in a piecemeal fashion is a budget that sends jobs overseas and that destroys jobs in our energy-producing companies, some of the highest wage earners we have in this country. We see our defense budget being cut below the inflation rate.
As we speak about inflation, the President promised the American people that he wouldn't raise taxes on anybody making less than $400,000 a year. Madam Speaker, I will tell you the greatest hidden tax in America is inflation, and what we are seeing right now is inflation rising at an annualized rate of 5, 6, and 7 percent that spans everybody in America on top of the proposed tax increases that the President is talking about.
He is proposing looking at changing the tax rates for our multinational companies, our companies that were starting to move jobs back to America. Now we are seeing a deal is being struck by Secretary Yellen to try to take the G7 to tax our companies to the point that we are going to see jobs leave our country and return back to where they moved their headquarters overseas, to lower tax nations.
To my colleagues out there, all we are asking for is to put a budget on the floor, our budget, to get your vote to be responsible to the American taxpayers so that we can see, once and for all, where everyone is on doing the right thing for the American taxpayers.
For all of my colleagues that joined us tonight, what we have heard over the last hour was a clear vision for America, an outline of how conservatives intend to govern. It is sad that we have to call it a conservative budget. It is a budget for the American people. This is the future of our Nation. This is the hope of democracy.
Before I finally close, I would like to yield to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes), my dear colleague, a member of the task force, to give his thoughts on what he saw and worked on, on our budget.
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Mr. HERN. Madam Speaker, the Biden administration has put themselves on the side of Big Government, big taxes, and big bureaucracy.
To paraphrase the great President Ronald Reagan, he said: You can't be for Big Government and still fight for the little guy.
Our budget is a clear outline for middle and working-class Americans that their government hasn't left them behind. We have a plan and it will benefit all Americans.
I am proud of the budget we put together this year, and I am ready to defend it in front of any committee and any Member of this House.
We have spent the last hour talking about conservative principles. Well, I want to make it clear that this budget is not just for conservatives. It is not just for Republicans. It is a budget for all Americans.
It doesn't matter if your children grow up to be Republicans or Democrats. They will be paying for our debts regardless, long after we are gone. That is why it is important to have leaders who are thinking about our grandchildren and great-grandchildren's future.
It is clear that Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer would rather auction off that future in order to pay for an unpopular radical agenda.
The American people need to know that we are the captains of this ship and we will not let economic doomsday destroy America's future.
Fiscal responsibility does not have to be partisan, which is why I am calling on my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to help us bring this budget to the floor for a vote.
I thank everyone who supported this budget tonight and to everyone who helped us put it together.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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