Marsha Blackburn

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman. I want to welcome another member of the Budget Committee to our discussion this evening. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz- Balart) was a freshman with me in 2002, and we all worked together starting the Washington Waste Watchers. Waste, fraud and abuse, fighting waste, fraud, and abuse was our freshman class project. We certainly have stayed at the forefront. The gentleman from Florida has stayed at the forefront of fighting wasteful spending and then seeking ways to reduce that, seeking ways to approach the budget process, changes, and also looking for ways to reduce the burden of taxation. I yield to the gentleman from Florida.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I yield to the gentleman from Florida.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. If the gentleman will yield, I think that there was also an amendment presented that day in those 36 amendments that would have allowed your State of Florida and your State of Texas and my State of Tennessee to continue to deduct the sales tax deductibility that some of us worked very hard in 2003 to have that deduction restored for our States, where we did not have a State income tax. We have a sales tax. That is an issue of tax fairness, and it was a party-line vote to take that deduction away. In my State of Tennessee, that is about a $1,600 deduction per family. That ends up being real money in the pockets of our families. This new $683 billion tax increase that the majority has brought forward and laid on the table here in this House and said we are for it, that is what they want, that is what they think should be the priority. That bill, their budget, will take another $2,668 per tax filer out of the pockets of my constituents and send it here. I yield back to the gentleman from Florida.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. The gentleman from Texas talks about his seven grandchildren and the gentleman from Wisconsin talks about his three children. I have two adult children, and I am going to have a grandbaby in just a few days, and it is so disappointing when you see what that child is going to be responsible for when they come on the face of this Earth. This year alone, Washington is going to spend over $25,000 per household and that is going to be a heavy burden for every man, woman and child to bear. Just as a reminder, our budget school, the right to know how you spend your money, if you want to see how the Republicans would have approached this budget this year and not raised taxes, how the Republicans fought a $683 billion tax increase, $683 billion, this is where you go: Budget.house.gov/Republicans, and you can pull that response down. To get more information on our Republican Study Committee, budget and school resources, go to House.gov/Blackburn. That is a great way to figure out how we think is the best way to approach fiscal responsibility, how to be a good steward, a wise steward of the taxpayer dollar. Madam Speaker, I thank you for having yielded the time tonight.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, this is an important week here as we are hearing the updated assessments from General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Under the leadership of General Petraeus, our troops in Iraq have accomplished an astonishing reversal in a nation that was on the road to crippling ethno-sectarian violence just 18 months ago. One of the statistics that we are seeing is that these ethno-sectarian killings are down 90 percent. And with the security provided by coalition troops, the Iraqi parliament is now learning how to work as a parliament as a legislative body to negotiate and to cooperate. By passing their 2008 budget this February, the Iraqis demonstrated their commitment to bolstering security gains by working toward reconciliation, stability, and economic growth. The people of a Muslim state in the heart of the Middle East have rejected violence and extremism, they have cast their lot with the modern world and they have chose freedom. It is significant, Mr. Speaker.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. If the gentleman will yield.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman for yielding. And he's exactly right. Security on the ground, a secure and stable environment. And that is what the counterinsurgency strategy has been about, and the results that it has yielded. As we have just discussed, indeed, and as Americans know well, we had a surge from our troops. The Iraqis also carried out their surge, and what it has yielded is an environment where not only we saw the military progress, but also where political progress can take place. And there are some wonderful lessons learned here. I think that one of those, when we are in Iraq visiting with our troops and working with some of the Iraqis and helping to mentor some of the women that we have mentored over there, one of the things they will tell you is, we are so glad that you have not left us. Thank you for not leaving us. We know people are frustrated. We know there are no guarantees. But we also know that it is important that we keep at it. It's not going to happen overnight. And thank you, thank you for not leaving. We fear what would happen if you left. And they are, as the gentleman from Georgia was saying, Mr. Speaker, they are seeing progress. The Iraq parliament is seeing progress. And as the gentleman just listed some things, and let me touch on them again, a pension law for regime officials, that has happened. De- Ba'athification reform, that has been carried out. An amnesty law, provincial election laws. And as he said, the sharing, the national government now sharing oil revenues with the provinces, something that a year ago many people said, it will never happen. But, here we are, and yes, indeed, it all is beginning to take place. I yield back to the gentleman from Georgia.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman from Georgia, and Mr. Speaker, he just touched on something I think is so very important. Every once in a while, we need a wake-up call, and I think that is indeed true. And today has been a very serious day. This week is a very serious week here on Capitol Hill. And as I entered the Capitol again this evening to participate in our Special Order hour, I was struck by this stillness of the surroundings, the serene feelings of the Capitol as you walk in and as you look at the paintings and at the statues, making my way over to the chamber, reminded of those who have loved this Nation and loved the freedoms that we all enjoy and that allow us to stand in this chamber and participate in debate and to bring forward ideas and talk about what is a good idea and what is a bad idea. And indeed, as the gentleman from Georgia said, every once in a while we need a wake-up call and a reminder that freedom is an idea that definitely has served this Nation well. It, Mr. Speaker, is an idea that serves all of the nations of the world very well. It is something that people all over the globe seek to have. We have had discussion on this floor tonight about Tibet and the desire there to live in freedom, to worship freely. Many of us have watched the Iraqi people move forward with elections freely and willingly. Some of us travel to other nations to participate as we watch people seek to go in large numbers to the ballot box in their nation to freely vote. I was struck a little bit earlier today, and I think it was more or less a wake-up call for me, Mr. Speaker. I stood in the shadow of the Capitol on the Senate side with a group called Vets for Freedom. I have had the opportunity to spend some time with them as they have told their stories about the success, the success stories, if you will, of what is happening on the ground in Iraq. And today they were joined by Senator McCain, Senator Lieberman, and other Members of the Senate, several of us from the House, including one of our most distinguished Members and a former prisoner of war, Sam Johnson, the honorable gentlemen from the great State of Texas. And it was amazing to stand there and look into the faces of these veterans who have been willing to put it all on the line for freedom, to put it all on the line to protect this great Nation. And then to give actions to, again, to the actions they've carried out, to the words and the stories they're telling, and again, to take an action of coming here and coming to the Capitol and meeting with the Members of this body and to stand and support General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker as they reported to our Nation, to say we've been there, we've carried out the heavy lift, and indeed, freedom is worth the fight. They've also made it very clear that America now has the opportunity to achieve our fundamental objectives in Iraq through the establishment of a peaceful, stable, secular, democratic State which will be a reliable ally in the struggle against both Sunni and Shiite terrorism. Establishing this ally would allow America to reorient our position in the Middle East away from a position that relies on anti-democratic States to a position based on a strong democratic partner whose citizens have explicitly rejected al Qaeda and terrorism in general and have chosen freedom. Today, General Petraeus reported to the Senate on his progress. Tomorrow, the House will hear from the general. What we've learned so far is that levels of violence and civilian deaths have been reduced substantially. Al Qaeda Iraq, and other extremist elements, have been dealt serious and damaging blows. The capabilities of the Iraqi security forces have grown. Indeed, the involvement of local Iraqis and local security has been noteworthy. The forces are growing, and indeed, the Iraqis have carried out their own surge, Mr. Speaker. Americans are well aware the additional U.S. forces that deployed to Iraq as part of the surge and our great Nation's part there. What is less understood well is that Iraqi forces surged, adding over 100,000 additional soldiers and police to their very own security forces in 2007. There has been a shift in attitude among certain elements of the Iraqi population. The Sunni communities in Iraq increasingly have rejected al Qaeda's indiscriminate violence and extremist ideology. They recognize that they cannot share in the new Iraq if they don't participate in the political arena. That, Mr. Speaker, is a major step forward. Over time, these awakenings have prompted tens of thousands of Iraqis, some former insurgents, to contribute to local security as sons of Iraq. There are 91,000 sons of Iraq Shia, as well as Sunni, under contract to help coalition and Iraqi forces protect their own neighborhoods. Again, they are taking the lead. Al Qaeda's leadership, who still see Iraq as the central front in a global strategy, send funding, instructions, and foreign fighters to Iraq. Iraq's ethno-sectarian conflict in many areas is taking place through debate rather than through violence. That is another turn that we have seen. Security incidents are at a level not seen since early 2005, and civilian deaths have decreased to a level not seen before the mosque bombings in 2006. Mr. Speaker, these are all items that are being reported to us of successes, military successes, that are taking place; and indeed, the gentleman from Georgia has mentioned some of these, has touched on some of the trends that we are seeing; and I know he's going to spend a little bit of time this evening going back and looking at these steps that tell the story of what is happening on the ground. And as we see this take place, we see a population that is, indeed, beginning to feel safe to leave their homes. And once you're safe to leave your home, then you can start to work to make certain that your neighborhood is safe and then you make certain that your province is safe. All of this leads to a safer and free Iraq. We know that the Iraqi parliament is making some progress, and as the gentleman from Georgia detailed some of the stats tonight, these are going to be items that will be included as we look.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman for yielding. And he has shown us some great charts, civilian deaths, the coalition data, the high profile attacks with the suicide car bombings, the car bombs, the suicide attacks, the weapons caches that are found and cleared. And when you look at the fact that we are finding many more weapons caches than we were and when you look at the fact that the attacks are down and the deaths are down, you have to ask, how did this happen? And the way it has happened is our men and women in uniform, and God bless them all, and I think about my constituents from Fort Campbell who are deployed right now, who are in both Iraq and Afghanistan, but the men and women in uniform who are taking the lead and who are gaining the trust of the Iraqi people and of the Iraqi forces and of the Sons of Iraq. And it is our men and women in uniform, as they gain this trust, and as the Iraqis know we're not going to quit, they are telling them, this is what I know, this is where you go to root out this evil person, this is where you go to root out this weapons cache, this is where you go to get this information. Because they know that we are their partner in success and we are their partner in freedom. And it really begs the question, and as I visited with some of the veterans that have come to spend some time with us today, this really begs the question, when you look at the data and when you have this discussion, can we afford to give up on a war where we are winning, that our military men and women tell us that they are seeing some successes every single day? Can you afford to give up? And how would history remember it if you did give up? I yield back to the gentleman.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, today is a serious day on Capitol Hill. General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker have returned. They are reporting to the Nation on the progress in Iraq. Since they were last here, this is what the Iraqi Parliament has passed: A pension law for regime officials; de-Baathification reform; an amnesty law; a provincial election law. The national government is sharing oil revenues with the provinces; sectarian killings are down 90 percent; civilian deaths have dropped by more than 70 percent; and coalition casualties have dropped by more than 70 percent. Most importantly, Iraqi security forces are fighting for the future of their very own country. Some in this House are so invested in the narrative of defeat that they are blind to the results of a campaign that ranks among the greatest in the history of our Armed Forces. Our troops have achieved tremendous success through valor and sacrifice. Let's not sell them out and choose to lose a winnable war. History would not forgive us for that.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman from Tennessee, and as he said, the loss to the economy is something we hear a lot about. Look at this chart. You can see what happened with Federal revenues in 2001, 2002. Look at what happened when we reduced taxes in 2001 and then again in 2003, and look what happened, how we took off with a growth in Federal revenues. It just shows you what happened when you reduce taxes, when the government takes less and allows individuals to make those decisions, what to do with that money. When government doesn't take first right of refusal on so much of that paycheck and allows our constituents to make those choices, you can see there are four straight years of increases there. To talk a little bit about the impact of the economic policy that's before us on his constituents from Ohio, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Jordan.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentlelady from Minnesota. And as she said, we do have a response to this budget. You can go to budget.house.gov/republicans and pull that budget up, because it is a budget that is there to encourage growth, reduce taxes, and be certain that our constituents have the money left in their pockets. At this time I yield to David Davis, the gentleman from Tennessee who joined us in this House this year. He was in the State Legislature in Tennessee. He knows firsthand how important a low rate of taxation, low and reasonable regulation is to having small businesses grow and develop jobs. And as we all know, there is no economic stimulus as good as a job. And I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. And the gentleman is exactly right. And we would all like to see, and that is the reason that we are here. And my hope is that as we work with our colleagues on this budget issue, that we will see these charts level off and then head downward, because Federal spending is far too high. And then you're exactly right; when you add your political subdivisions and the State taxation and spending to that, you do see a different picture. At this point, to talk a little bit more about what we see happening with this budget, I want to yield to the gentlelady from Minnesota (Mrs. Bachmann) who has joined us this year and has jumped right into the discussion of budget and taxation, and does a wonderful job representing our conservative perspective.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I will yield.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman for yielding back. And he is exactly right. In 1993, the $240.6 billion tax increase that came about in 1993 is something that people in this Nation stood up and said we are not going to stand for this. And I appreciate also that the gentleman mentioned Wealth of Nations and made reference to that wonderful work. I think another one that we could add to the reading list of those who are fiscal conservatives is Road to Serfdom, which is a book, and I would commend that, Mr. Speaker, to all of our colleagues, to go back and read that work by a wonderful economist, Friedrich Hayek. And it talks about how, when you tax more and government spends more, and you take more from your people in a Nation, that you're walking on that Road to Serfdom. As the gentleman was saying, we look at the rate of taxations based on our GDP, where we are right now in 2007, and many of us feel like this is too high. We are under 20 percent. This is the CBO long-term outlook for taxation. You can see by looking at the bars, the red one is net interest. Social Security is the purple area. Medicare and Medicaid is the orange area, and then you have all other spending, which is in green. Look at this chart, and look at what happens from 2007 to 2015, where we move above that 20 percent. Look what happens by 2030, when meeting the cost of your entitlements and your interest are going to take all revenue coming in on our current percentage of taxation. And then 2040, look at what happens, when you're spending about 35 percent of your GDP on taxes.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the recognition and I appreciate the opportunity to come and talk about a subject that is near and dear to the heart of every single taxpayer in this Nation. That subject is the Federal budget. It is something that as we debate issues here, we say it affects 10 percent or 20 percent or 50 percent of the population. Our Federal budget, it affects everyone, Mr. Speaker, and I think we should start this second session of budget school with a little bit of perspective. I have got a copy of the Constitution of the United States, and there is also included in this a Declaration of Independence. Now this copy is small enough to fit into my pocket. I could put it in my jacket pocket and carry it with me all day long. What is a little bit frightening, Mr. Speaker, is here is the phone book for the news media that covers Washington, D.C. We are one of the most covered places on the face of the Earth, and here is the phone book that covers that. Well, I also have the Federal budget. As you can see, it is an enormous document. It is much larger. By the time you have the tables and the justifications and the analytical information and go through the appendix and find what you need, it is a huge document. It is much larger in size than the simple documents on which this great Nation was founded. What we are going to do today is talk a little bit about this budget and talk about what our response should be on behalf of the American people. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the time. I am coming to the floor as a member of the Republican Study Committee. This group of conservatives within the Republican conference have developed this project called ``Budget School'' because we think that it is imperative that the American people know what is in this budget and know where to find this budget and are fully aware of how their money is being spent because we realize it is not the Federal Government's money that is being spent, Mr. Speaker, it is the money of the taxpayers of this great Nation. This evening to open our session as we begin this period of time called special orders which comes at the end of our workday, and Congress has finished its regular business for the day, and it is 5 minutes of 5 in the afternoon here in Washington, and we are moving into the period of time called special orders. It is the period of time when we can come to the floor and talk a little bit more at length about the issues that are very important to us. This evening we have several of our colleagues from the Republican Study Committee that will join me to talk about the budget and their concerns with the increase in spending, the concerns with the increase in taxation and their concerns about the long term fiscal health of this great Nation. I would like to begin our conversation this evening by yielding to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) to hear his comments on the budget.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. And I'm about to be a grandmother. And I appreciate the gentleman from Georgia's comments about the historical data that is involved in that. And as we look at the budget, and how did this budget get to be so big? That is just so very important. And if you look at the budget, which is what I have right here on the podium in front of me, and you can see it, you can hardly hold it up it's so big, but it comes in sections. This much is just the overview. And I said, that pales in comparison when you look at the small size of our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence. Here's the appendix. And you would get inside this and look for the program that you're talking about with the Department of Agriculture. Then you would come in here to the Analytical Perspectives. This volume is where you would go to look at the analysis that you were just speaking of. And then, here are the historical tables. And Mr. Speaker, this is where our colleagues go to look at where a program was when it started, to trace back through why this program was put in place and go back and see if that program is still aimed toward meeting what it was put in place for, meeting that original mission, how has it changed? And as you're pointing out, so many programs get changed on a regular ongoing basis. You go into the analysis and look at if you think this is worthy, if those are certainly the type data and the type premises on which you want to be operating to fund that budget. You look at this appendix to see how much they decided that they ought to be putting into that budget. So, the gentleman is quite right in explaining how these programs grow, and did they begin to move away from their original mission? That is why some of our colleagues that are joining us this evening have been busy working on fighting waste, fraud and abuse, fighting increased spending, fighting wasteful earmarks, and working for the past few years to raise this issue. And I know the gentleman from Georgia has constituents, and we have the gentleman from Iowa, Ms. Bachmann, who is from Minnesota, Mr. Davis from Tennessee, who are joining us on the floor this evening to talk about this issue and to talk about where we are seeing the movement in this budget. At this time, I would like to yield to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) who has worked tirelessly. He was in my freshman class as we made waste, fraud and abuse our freshman class project, and as we have worked to reduce what the Federal Government spends and begin to try to tame this budget and to bring it back in so that it is a friendlier budget for the American taxpayer. And I yield to the gentleman from Iowa.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman for yielding. We're going to work through explaining that process this evening because the budget has come through the House and it is going to the Senate, it will come back to conference committee. And we set all of those different, the template, if you will, and then it will go through the appropriations process this year. And I wanted to show this second poster. You were just mentioning about Medicare and Social Security and some of the different functions that are entitlements. And then we also have the areas that are seen as being discretionary. And you were mentioning discretionary spending. And those who want to follow the budget discussion with us can follow these different functions in the budget documents that we had mentioned earlier. And I yield back to the gentleman from Georgia.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. The budget that was presented is over a $3 trillion budget, and it calls for a $683 billion tax increase. And discretionary spending is increased in this budget by $280 billion. So, what I'm hearing the gentleman say, that's not enough. We've already, day two coming back from our Easter district work period, day two we have seen them move forward and increase $20 billion more. And I yield to the gentleman.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. If the gentleman will yield. There are a couple of things that I would point out. I'm sure people are sitting there going, I'm not believing this. I have worked all day long, I work all year, I haven't even finished paying my obligations for my property taxes, my state taxes, my Federal income taxes this year because you have to work until around the first of June to meet your obligations on taxes before you're working for money to take home. So, what I'm hearing him say is, all that increasing, they want you to work further into the year to pay them. Somebody sitting at their desk right now, they're thinking, I can't believe this. If they want to pull down a copy of the budget, here are some Web sites and some resources we would encourage them to use. To get a copy of the President's budget, they can go to whitehouse.gov/omb. To get the Republican response, which our Republican Study Committee was involved in, budget.house.gov/republicans. And to get some of our budget school resources, they can go to house.gov/blackburn. They can also go to YouTube and Face Book and pull some of this information.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. If the gentleman will yield.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I think individuals can see how instructive and how exciting our next session will be because we're going to talk a little bit about this budget, and I thank the gentleman for his insight.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman from Texas for the leadership that he provides every day on these issues. And at this point, Mr. Speaker, I want to yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Bartlett), who has such a wonderful understanding of the budget. And as I mentioned earlier, we have our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence, a little tiny document. Then we've talked about the appendix of the budget, this big volume right here. And what you're going to find there with some of the line items, as our colleague from Georgia was talking about, is the ag program. That's where you find that information. Then there is analytical and historical data that we look at and what we actually find with our trust fund and with our debt. And to provide some insight into this, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland for his insight into the budget and the budget structure.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman from New Jersey, and I do thank him, Mr. Speaker, for his continued leadership. As I mentioned, we were freshman classmates in the 108th Congress and have worked each session of these past three sessions of Congress to bring to light the needed changes that are there for our government budget processes, the way we go about building this budget, and the way we handle the taxpayers' money. Another of our 108th freshmen who worked making waste, fraud, and abuse our class project as we developed to the wasteful Washington spending and the Washington waste watchers and started shining some light on earmarks and the need to change that practice on wasteful spending, on increased taxation, on programs that may be have outlived their usefulness, and that is the chairman of our Republican Study Committee, Jeb Hensarling of Texas. And as I mentioned, we are all Members of the Republican Study Committee, and I want to yield to our chairman, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling) for his comments and remarks on the budget process and welcome him to this session of budget school.