The Economy in America

Floor Speech

THE ECONOMY IN AMERICA -- (House of Representatives - January 14, 2009)

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Mr. LAMBORN. The gentleman from Missouri has laid a good background for what got us to the point. There is a lot of discussion going on right now today here in Washington about a stimulus package. It's been in the news.

The incoming President wants to deal with this, and I think by the middle of February we are going to hopefully pass something. I am concerned, though, that some of the elements in this program are not going to really solve the problem.

I haven't seen the bill. No one has seen the bill. There is no bill in front of us yet. There might be by next week. I hope so.

Mr. AKIN. That was a very important point that you raised. That is if we are going to propose solutions, the question is does the proposed solution actually solve the problem or does it just make people politically happy. Are we really trying to specifically tailor the solution to something that is going to work.

Mr. LAMBORN. Exactly. I know there is another representative here who can talk about H.R. 470, which is a positive approach to the stimulus, to what will kick start our economy.

Mr. AKIN. Before we get into the specifics of various solutions, let's just talk for a minute. You know, the question is, a lot of times people think Congress has some sort of a magic lever here in the Chamber. And when we pull this lever, it just makes the economy accelerate or something. You know, they say we are going to stimulate the economy, whatever that is supposed to mean.

Really what Congress can do is we can either tax people or not tax people. We can take the revenue and slop it around in different ways. That's about all we can do. We don't create any wealth at all.

So when it comes to the economy, the tools we have

are, to some degree, limited just because of the fact that Congress really doesn't create anything. What happens is it's the economy that either pulls itself forward or stagnates because we have created some set of laws that's messing it all up. So as we talk about solution, we have got to be careful, don't we.

Mr. LAMBORN. Representative, you are exactly right. Two things that I have heard bandied about that will probably be in the stimulus package that I think should not be, one is bailing out States. There is talk about sending a lot of money to the States for Medicaid and other expenses that they are running. They are running deficits in the number of States around the country.

The trouble is, every person who is listening to our dialogue right now wears two hats. They are a taxpayer to the Federal Government, and they are a taxpayer to a State or a territory government, every single person who is listening.

So we are going to take Federal tax money and give it to the States to solve their deficit but, in the meantime, we are creating a larger Federal deficit.

Mr. AKIN. It seems like to me, gentlemen, what you are recognizing is an inherent problem with this whole bailout concept. The whole idea of the bailout seems to be reward the person who did the wrong thing economically at the expense of the person who did the right thing.

Mr. LAMBORN. It's like taking a credit card debt that you are labeling under and say how can I pay off this credit card? Oh, I know, I am going to take out a new credit card, and I will take thousands of dollars in my new line of credit and pay off this credit card. You are not any farther ahead.

Mr. AKIN. With all due respect, gentlemen, I don't think you are being quite fair in that. What you are really saying is when you don't have a credit card you can pay off, you are saying I am going to use your credit card and take it. I mean, why should people from the State of Missouri or Colorado pay for California?

Mr. LAMBORN. You are exactly right. So you are not any further ahead. In fact, you are behind, because the money has gone through the bureaucracy. It got sent back to Washington, it came back to the States. There's been overhead costs, you actually end up with less than you started with, so you are worse off.

But that's the part about the proposed stimulus, and I haven't seen the details, that I would really object to. That's going to be in the final proposal.

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Mr. LAMBORN. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. GINGREY of Georgia. Of course I will yield to my friend from Colorado.

Mr. AKIN. I'll yield to you, and then we'll go to the gentleman from Louisiana.

Mr. LAMBORN. The Federal spending projected for Fiscal Year 2009 is going to be 25 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. Right now that's over $1 trillion, and that's even before we add the possible deficit spending of a stimulus package, which could be up to another $800 billion.

Now, 25 percent of GDP, to put that in perspective, that is the most, in our Nation's history, except for World War II.

Mr. AKIN. You know, we like to get into these numbers a little bit because we have to study it and live with it day by day. But let's try to make this practical for the average person on the street.

What we're talking about is, instead of treating a recession, we're talking about, if we don't do this right, we're going to create another depression. We're talking about an extremely serious condition for our country; is that correct?

Mr. LAMBORN. That's exactly right. The Republican Study Committee proposal, H.R. 470, is going to call for a modest spending decrease. Instead of this massive wave of spending, the bailout fever that Representative Jordan referred to, we call for a 1 percent decrease of nonmilitary and veterans spending, of the discretionary spending.

That would be, if you were a family making $40,000, that would be a $400 cut in your yearly budget. If a family could find $400 to save, out of $40,000, that would be like the Federal Government finding a 1 percent decrease, as opposed to this massive up to $800 billion increase for a stimulus.

That's the kind of thing that we have to do, Representative, is to tighten our belts. If families have to do that, if small business has to do that, the government should do that as well. And you're right, Representative, when you say we can go in 1 of 2 directions. The government can spend more money to try to stimulate, or people can keep their own hard-earned dollars and spend it themselves. And I believe the second approach is the best.

And I'd like to yield to the gentleman from Louisiana.

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Mr. LAMBORN. Yes, Representative Akin. Let me make a last statement about the voice of small business.

A few weeks ago, I sent out an e-mail blast to the Fifth Congressional District of Colorado. I asked, ``How is this economic situation affecting you, personally?'' My heart went out to the replies and to the angst that I heard from small businesses and from individuals.

For instance, Carol, who is a bookstore owner in Leadville, Colorado, is going to have to lay off two or three of her four part-time employees.

A cardiologist in Colorado Springs says, ``We have already had to lay off some personnel.'' He is going to have to lay off more.

I'll end with Deborah. She expresses concern for the next generation. She says, ``My descendents will be on the hook for big money when the bill comes due. Federal spending needs to be more than Federal revenue, period.''

That is the voice of small business. We have to live within our means because business has to live within its means, and that's the principle we need to follow as we debate this stimulus package in the next few weeks.

I yield back to the gentleman from Missouri.

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