Jim Cooper

Mr. COOPER

Mr. COOPER. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I just wanted to add a note to what the gentlewoman from California said talking about pay as you go. That is a policy that former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said would be the single most important thing we could do in Congress to help get our fiscal house in order. Alan Greenspan saying the single most important thing we could do to get it in order. Because Chairman Greenspan and most other economists know that PAYGO worked very well from 1990 when it was first put in place, until 2002, when the Republican majority allowed it to expire. Chairman Greenspan can even remember the day and the hour that PAYGO was allowed to expire, because he knew then that our Nation was risking serious trouble. But we have not really been allowed to vote on bringing back pay as you go. It is a shame, because that pay as you go policy forces Congressmen to make responsible decisions. You cannot increase spending unless you find offsetting cuts somewhere else, and you cannot reduce taxes unless you find some way to pay for it. It is very sensible. It is the sort of policy we all have to do in our own household expenses, and our Nation was doing so well with it for 12 years, from 1990 to 2002. But, since 2002, we have not had PAYGO, and that is one reason you are seeing these terrifically high deficits.

Mr. COOPER. If the gentleman will yield. He is exactly right. Those numbers are much clearer than the numbers I gave, because every American can look at that $28,000 and say that is what I owe. That is what my spouse owes. That is what each of my kids owes. But if the gentleman would like the modern accounting comparison for those numbers, under accrual accounting, each American today owes $156,000 apiece, $156,000 for every man, woman and child in this country. And that would mean for a family of five, that is almost \3/4\ of $1 million. That is a luxury house anywhere in America, the cost of a luxury house. And yet we don't get to live in the house. We just get the mortgage. And that is on top of our real house and our real expenses and car payments and rent and all those things we have to pay. So it is a terrific and crushing financial obligation that has been put on us just in the last few years.

Mr. COOPER. If the gentleman would yield, many Blue Dogs have asked where are the war bonds for the Iraq war. Because during World War II, we had war bonds and it was a patriotic obligation, if you could afford to, to lend money to our government to conduct the war. The administration has not asked for war bonds for Iraq. Nor have we asked for Katrina bonds. That would be a great way that Americans could show their support. I saw in the newspaper today that a Middle Eastern country, Qatar, has offered to pay millions of dollars to New Orleans. There should be an effort for the American people to lend ourselves the money we need to get through this. Instead, we run up $1 trillion of debt with China. Already many countries have gigantic amounts. You may have seen the cartoon. When the President of China, Hu Jintao, came to visit a couple of weeks ago, there was a cartoon in the paper where there was a little balloon out of the White House saying, ``Oh, our landlord's here.'' When you start lending money on that scale from China to the United States and we have to pay that back to China, that almost means that we are beholden to them, and that is a very dangerous security risk for our country. So I appreciate the gentleman's leadership on this issue.

Mr. COOPER

Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Arkansas for yielding and my friend from Georgia for his remarks. If the gentleman from Arkansas would not mind, I might take that podium because of the easel next to it, because I brought a chart with me tonight.

Mr. COOPER. I appreciated the gentleman's remarks because he was exactly on track. There are two basic methods of accounting. One is simple, it is based on the cash basis. That means when you pay for something, you have to acknowledge it on the books. We all know that we live in a credit card economy, and it is easy to buy things with plastic, and you know that when you sign that little piece of paper after you put down your credit card, you have effectively bought it even though you have not paid the bill yet. You might not pay the bill until the end of the month or the end of the year, but it is important to acknowledge the fact that you have bought it when you put down the plastic. That is essentially what the accounting method that my colleague from Arkansas was describing does. It is called accrual accounting, A-C-C-R- U-A-L. Now, it has nothing to do with the word ``cruel.'' It is not a mean form of accounting. In fact, it is probably the kindest form of accounting because it remembers our elderly, it remembers our sick, and our disabled not just when their bills are due, but when their needs arise. And that is when we should pay attention to our seniors, our sick, and our disabled. I brought with me a chart tonight that asks a very simple question. Here we are in the Congress of the United States. This is the greatest country in the history of the world. You would think that in a recent year we would be able to tell you, Mr. Speaker, and tell the American taxpayer how big our deficit was. Well, there are different ways of measuring it, and let me list the ways for you tonight. One is the way that my colleague mentioned, the U.S. budget that the President talks about so much. I am going to have breakfast at the White House in the morning with the new OMB Director, Rob Portman, a former colleague of ours, and I am going to be discussing this with him in the morning. It will be interesting to see what his reaction is. Under the OMB approach of cash accounting, the deficit last year was $319 billion. That was the third highest figure in U.S. history. It is about 2.6 percent of GDP. So it is huge and worrisome. They claim it is shrinking, but let me show you these other deficit measures again for the same year, 2005. If you do not allow us to borrow money from Social Security, the gross borrowing for the U.S. that year was $494 billion. So in a sense our true deficit in 2005 was not $319 billion. It was $494 billion, because I do not know anybody back home who supports our borrowing from Social Security in order to reduce the appearance of the size of the deficit. But here is the number that my colleague from Arkansas mentioned as well: This is using real accounting, accrual accounting, like all businesses of any size in America have to use by law. If you apply that to the U.S. Government, you get a shocking result. The budget deficit jumps $441 billion to $760 billion using modern accounting. And guess what. This deficit is not shrinking, as OMB claims. This one seems to be growing rapidly. And that number equals almost all domestic discretionary spending in America, defense and nondefense. That is a huge number. That is a deficit as large as basically all the money that Congress has any say over during the year because the rest of it is in entitlement programs and the interest on the national debt. As bad as that is, look at these other numbers. These are truly scary numbers because if you believe, as I do, that Social Security is the most solemn obligation in the United States, you cannot ignore Social Security. And as good as this document is using modern accounting, it basically ignores Social Security because it has got a little paragraph in here on page 12 that says in the section ``Other Responsibilities,'' oh, by the way, the Social Security unfunded liability situation is trillions of dollars. Well, that needs to be accounted for in the annual budget deficit, and if you account for it in the annual budget deficit, it means that the budget deficit in the year 2005 was basically $1.7 trillion, many times larger than the figure the administration releases. But guess what. Not only is Social Security a sacred obligation of our Nation, so are other programs like Medicare. Medicare takes care of our elderly and our disabled, and it, too, is a solemn obligation of our Nation. But it, too, is ignored in this document, ignored in the annual deficit figure. If you factor that in, the true deficit for the year 2005 was not $319 billion, was not $494 billion, was not $760 billion, was not $1.7 trillion. It was $2.747 trillion, or $2,747 billion. That is a number so large, it is almost impossible to imagine. It is literally as large as the entire Federal budget itself. So if you want to measure the budget deficit accurately, I think you have to acknowledge there is not just one measure. There is the old- fashioned cash measure, which can be used, but is unrepresentative of our true obligations under credit card accounting and under the needs that we have with Social Security and Medicare. If you used a more modern accounting, suddenly the deficit looks a lot larger. In fact, if you include Social Security and Medicare, the deficit is, in fact, larger than most citizens can imagine. Very few people know this. It will be interesting tomorrow morning at breakfast to see whether the new Director of OMB knows this because these numbers are so large, they literally represent a crisis for our Nation. It is a crisis not only for this generation, but for future generations, because what a deficit means is it is borrowing money, oftentimes, as my colleague from Arkansas said, from foreign nations, and these folks expect to be repaid with interest. And that puts a terrific debt burden, D-E-B-T, on the backs of our kids and grandkids as they struggle to pay the interest costs. Pretty soon interest alone will take up almost $400 billion or $500 billion a year of American productive capacity. That is a shame because that money could be invested in roads and schools and future productive opportunities for our young people. Instead it will be paid in interest to foreign central bankers. It is the only tax that can never be repealed. It is a tax that will not go away until we once again return to the days of budget surpluses, when we can pay down that debt. But we are a long way from home right now, because the Nation is on the wrong track. We are headed in the wrong direction, and we need to acknowledge these truthful deficit measures so we can better understand our current plight. It is important that the American people be informed of all the facts, not only the President's budget, but also the financial report of the United States Government which was issued by his own Department of Treasury, but which they printed so few copies of that they literally don't want you to see it. So I would like to yield back my time to my colleagues from Georgia and from Arkansas. I appreciate your holding these issues up for the American people so the entire Nation can be involved in the debate. It is very important, Mr. Speaker, that all the American people see what is really going on in our great country, because our responsibility in this generation is to keep our country great.

Mr. COOPER

Mr. COOPER. Mr. Chairman, I thank my friend from South Carolina for yielding. He is one of the great Members of Congress of our time, and this is a vitally important debate. Our first speaker on our side talking about fiscal responsibility will be my good friend and colleague from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind), for 1 minute.

Mr. COOPER. Mr. Chairman, I thank my friend from Wisconsin.

Mr. COOPER. I thank the Chair. I yield now 3 minutes to my friend and colleague and fellow Blue Dog, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Ford).

Mr. COOPER. Mr. Chairman, in the time remaining, I am a Blue Dog, I am cochair of the Blue Dogs. Every Blue Dog has a sign outside his or her office that lists the debt, $8.3 trillion, and each American's share of that debt. It is very important that all Americans recognize the liabilities that this administration has added to our backs. Mr. Spratt said earlier, $3 trillion of this have been added just in the last 4 or 5 years. It took America the first 204 years of its history to get $1 trillion in debt. Now we are doing it about every 18 months. But don't take my word for it. Don't take the Blue Dogs' word. Look at a book just written by one of the most conservative Republican economists in America, Bruce Bartlett. It is called ``Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy.'' Now, you might say, well, he is a disgruntled economist, although I would urge everybody who cares about our fiscal future to read this book. Look at this one. This is from President George W. Bush's Department of Treasury, and they are so proud of this document that it was delivered to this body on Christmas Eve without a press release. In this document, you discover that the deficit last year was not the $319 billion that these gentlemen will admit to, it was $760 billion, over twice as large, and the unfunded liability for America approaches $46 trillion. And this is not according to a Democrat or a disgruntled Republican, this is according to the Secretary of Treasury of the United States. So it is a vitally important debate, Mr. Chairman. We need fiscal sanity to return in this country.

Mr. COOPER

Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, Mr. Bishop; my friend, Mr. Keller; and also Mr. Porter. This is a truly bipartisan resolution. As has been explained, it expresses the sense of the Congress of the United States that music should be a key part of the curriculum of every public school for every child. Music is vitally important for the education of our young people, and this expresses the sense of this great body, this institution, that it must be a part of our school systems. Mr. Speaker, I have the privilege of representing Nashville, Tennessee. That is also known as Music City USA, so you would know that I would be for a resolution like this, but all of us should be, in both parties. In the other body, Senator Hatch and Senator Feinstein are likely to be the leads on the legislation, but I hope that every school district across this country, every parent will realize the importance of music as a key part of the curriculum, not a luxury add-on, but a key part of their child's education. All of us love sports, and most all our schools have pretty good athletic programs. A lot of focus is put on that. But the chance of a child actually becoming a successful pro athlete is sometimes pretty small, whereas the chance of a child who has the ability to learn music, of whatever type, it might be band, it might be piano, or chorus or voice, there are a variety of opportunities, the chance is probably far greater that that child will be able to go on and develop some sort of career in the musical field; or perhaps music will be a hobby, an add- on to their career. Some of the most successful people in the world, such as software engineers and mathematicians, other folks like that, have music as a hobby, so it is a vitally important part of our curriculum. I think it is also an emotional need that so many of us have. If anyone has seen the great movie, Mr. Holland's Opus, it helps show how young people, sometimes unlikely young people, can benefit from a musical education. So I appreciate my friends across the aisle and my friend Mr. Bishop from Long Island championing this measure to make sure that music is a part of our curriculum in all of our schools for all of our students.

Mr. COOPER

Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, beginning this weekend, more than 3,000 individuals will gather in my hometown of Nashville to celebrate one of the most exciting and fastest-growing segments of the music industry. While most people around the world think of Nashville--Music City--as the place to come to enjoy the best country and bluegrass music in the world, Nashville is also home to another powerful music force: the Gospel Music Association. From April 1st through April 5th, Nashville will host Gospel Music Week. It is five days of concerts, worship services, performance showcases, educational seminars and exhibits, all culminating on Wednesday evening with the GMA Music Awards. Known as the Dove Awards, this year's ceremony will be held at the Grand Ole Opry House and hosted by Rebecca St. James and Kirk Franklin, both Grammy and Dove Award winners themselves. St. James and Franklin will also perform during the evening's program that will feature artists ranging from soulful gospel to guitar driven pop to powerful quartet harmonizing and more. The sold-out event is a testimony to the popularity and power of gospel music today. Christian and gospel music sales have increased from $381 million in 1995 to over $700 million annually, an 80 percent increase over the last decade. Over 43.5 million units of Christian and gospel music CDs, cassettes, digital albums, and digital tracks were sold in 2005. That figure represents over 6 percent of all music sales in 2005 and ranks higher than Latin, Soundtracks, Jazz or Classical releases. As John W. Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association has said, this growth in the Christian and gospel music isn't surprising. ``The heart of gospel music may be in the lyrics, but the soul is in the passion with which these artists perform.'' Clearly, the world is passionate about gospel music and the many outstanding artists who will appear in Nashville in the coming days. I salute each of these individuals, and the Gospel Music Association, as they prepare for the 37th Annual GMA Music Awards and Gospel Music Week and another year of inspiring performances that touch the hearts and souls of music lovers worldwide.

Mr. COOPER

Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate an extraordinary group of young women from Wilson Central High School in Lebanon, Tennessee--the 2005-2006 Class AAA Girl's Basketball State Champions. Of the 5 years Wilson Central High School has been in existence, the Lady Wildcats have been to three State championship tournaments. On March 11, 2006, they brought home the State title after defeating Shelbyville Central High School 44-38. The State championship is the school's first State title in any sport. The team finished a remarkable season with a 32-7 overall record. I am extremely proud of these outstanding young athletes for this great accomplishment. These student-athletes should be honored not only for the feat of winning the Tennessee State Girl's Basketball Championship, but they should also be recognized for excelling in the classroom and maintaining a team grade point average of 3.61. This is certainly no easy task and I am proud of the way they have represented their school and hometown both on and off the basketball court. On behalf of the Fifth Congressional District of Tennessee, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the following members of the Wilson Central High School girl's basketball team: freshmen Kelsey McGee, Lauren Wasson, Jasmine Hassell, sophomores Heather Simonis, Kristyn Clark, Sydney Ketcher, Rebecca Stewart, Cameryn Calhoun, Shelley Stewart and Rachel Stewart, juniors Tierney Jenkins, Lauren Farmer, Sara Williams and especially to the graduating seniors Elizabeth Martin, Breonna Brown, and Jenny Hall. I commend Nikki Eversole, Brittany Farmer, Courtney Chapman, Kayla White, Melanie Jones and Audriana Saddler for their hard work and contributions to the team. I also salute their coaches--Head Coach Bud Brandon, his father and Assistant Coach Campbell Brandon, and Assistant Coaches Jay Holladay and Scott Moore for their commitment, expertise and leadership. Campbell Brandon coached the Lebanon High School Blue Devilettes to their State championship victory 35 years ago, in 1971. Today, he shares his son's pride for another team of amazing young women--the 2006 Wilson Central Lady Wildcats. I applaud the tremendous achievements of these exceptional young players and wish them well in their endeavors on the basketball court and beyond.

Mr. COOPER

Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert into the Record letters that the entire Tennessee Congressional Delegation recently sent to Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States and Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. These letters discuss the case of Cookeville v. Thompson and Section 5002 of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The U.S. District Court decision in this case awarded 15 Tennessee hospitals up to $100 million in Medicare Disproportionate Share Hospital payments. Congress of the United States, Washington, DC, March 10, 2006. Hon. Alberto Gonzales, Department of Justice, Washington, DC. Dear Attorney General Gonzales: We are writing to express our deep concern regarding the recent Motion filed by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to alter the judgment in the case of Cookeville v. Thompson based on Section 5002 of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA). As you will recall, the U.S. District Court decision in this case awarded 15 Tennessee hospitals up to $100 million in Medicare Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments. The U.S. District Court's ruling, which is now being challenged, was based on its rejection of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) DSH policy as a violation of the Medicare statute. In CMS' 2000 policy statement announcing the inclusion of certain expansion population individuals in the DSH formula, CMS stated that these individuals would only be included in the DSH calculation prospectively. Hospitals challenged the prospective nature of the policy and were awarded compensation for patients treated prior to 2000. At the recommendation of CMS, Congress included a provision in the DRA ratifying the 2000 policy and its prospective application. Tennessee hospitals expressed concern that court decisions directing CMS to pay retroactively could be appealed with the new law. During the reconciliation process, however, CMS continually assured Congressional staff verbally, and by electronic communication, that hospitals which had been successful in litigation would still receive payment. CMS asserted that the new provision would not affect decided cases and would only be applied prospectively. In its Motion, however, HHS cites the DRA as support for the reversal of the Cookeville decision. There is no mention that the regulation should only apply prospectively. In fact, HHS' position suggests that recalculation of the DSH formula should not have been required. Congress intended that this provision would only be used prospectively. Thus, hospitals that had been successful in litigation prior to passage of the DRA would still receive payment. Considering the argument made by HHS rests upon the DRA, and that it was our understanding that this provision would not be used to appeal decided cases, we request further explanation of what we believe to be a serious miscommunication by CMS. Thank you for your time and attention. We look forward to your prompt response. Sincerely, William H. Frist, M.D., Majority Leader, United States Senate, Zach Wamp, John Duncan, Jr., Jim Cooper, Marsha Blackburn, Harold Ford, Lamar Alexander, William L. Jenkins, Lincoln Davis, Bart Gordon, John Tanner, Members of Congress.

Mr. COOPER

Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, I have never made a speech like this before. I am cosponsor of this bill. I think like a businessman, because our companies do need uniformity and simplicity. But I am outraged that a bill like this would come through the House of Representatives without a single hearing. That is the job of Congress, to hold hearings, to find out the facts, to listen to the debate, to sometimes participate in the debate to hear the pros and cons. I am wondering right now what the food industry is afraid of. Why are they trying to ram this piece of legislation through this House? Now, if we were to have hearings, I may well vote for the bill because I am predisposed that way. It makes sense to me. But I am not for a cover-up, and that is exactly what you get when you have no hearings on legislation. This body needs to do its job. So I would urge my colleagues and staff who are watching on television, reconsider, even if your boss has cosponsored this bill. Because what are we afraid of? We need hearings on this bill.

Mr. COOPER

Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful to my friend from Arkansas, and I appreciate his yielding to me. I am about to say something that very few people in America know. Hardly anyone in Congress knows it. This is not a partisan comment. I am about to reveal a document printed by this administration that received less distribution than the secret NSA domestic wiretapping activities of the administration. This is a document that coincidentally was revealed sometime close to Christmas Eve last December. It is a document that was issued without a press release. There was no press notification about this at all. Instead of being like the budget that my friend from Arkansas showed, that was distributed to every Congressman, every Senator's office, with great fanfare, this document was distributed to fewer than 20 Members of the House and Senate. It probably went to about a dozen. It was mailed in. It was not noticed, apparently, by anyone. And what does the document reveal? Well, first of all, this is it. When I called the Department of the Treasury, they laughed when I asked for multiple copies. This is the Financial Report of the United States Government 2005. This is the closest thing our Nation has to an annual report. Most Americans are familiar with those. All public companies are required to issue an annual report so that the shareholders can find out how the company is doing. Well, this is the annual report for America, and yet it was hidden in plain sight. Hardly anyone knows about this document. The first page is signed by the Secretary of the Treasury, John Snow, and the first page reveals a pretty shocking fact. It reveals the fact that for all that Mike Ross was talking about, about our terrible debt and deficit situation, situations that are driving up interest rates and putting a terrible debt burden on the backs of our kids and grandkids, according to that green document my colleague from Arkansas held up, the deficit last year was $319 billion. That is a lot of money. That is ``b'' for billion, or ``b'' as in, boy, that is a lot of money. Well, guess what this document shows on its first page, signed by Secretary of the Treasury John Snow? The real deficit last year for 2005 was not $319 billion, it was, get this, $760 billion. So there are two big questions here. Why did the administration try to hide this from Congress and the American people? Why was there no press release? Why did it receive minimal distribution? And, second, why is the Secretary of the Treasury so heavily at odds with another part of the administration, the Office of Management and Budget and the director there, John Bolton? How could one gentleman say that the deficit was $319 billion last year and another gentleman say it was $760 billion? Well, the difference is this: the budget of the United States uses what is called cash accounting, and only the tiniest businesses in America are even allowed to use cash accounting. Why? Because it gives you a very distorted picture of a business or of a government. This annual report for America, the financial report signed by Secretary of the Treasury Snow, uses real accounting. It is called accrual accounting, and it keeps the books in a much more accurate way. So I think most Americans would be shocked, as my colleague from Arkansas knows, that the U.S. Government, Uncle Sam, is keeping two sets of books. One has relatively good news, the other has terrible news in it. And guess what, they are trying to hide the second set of books from the American people. I would encourage people to go to the Blue Dog Web site. We can allow you to download this document, or you can go to the U.S. Treasury Web site and download the document. It will not be obvious, though, on the Treasury Web site. It is pretty well hidden on that Web site. It is pretty clear on the Blue Dog.com Web site. So I would encourage people to check this out and see what it says in cold hard print and ask the logical question of why the President's budget is so radically and totally different from the document issued by his own Treasury Department. I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for yielding to me.

Mr. COOPER. I thank the gentleman for yielding, because there are probably some listeners who are confused about cash-basis accounting versus accrual accounting. The simplest way to explain it is this way. If you were to look at giant U.S. companies like General Motors or Ford, they would be just fine today if you look at them on a cash basis because they are generating cash. But if you look at them on a more accurate basis, the way the stock market does and the way investors do, you will see that a cash basis ignores future obligations. For example, for retirees, for health care, for other benefits and obligations that should be kept and that have to be acknowledged. That is what accrual accounting does. And lest people be confused, accrual accounting is not cruel, the way it may sound. Accrual accounting is actually the most compassionate form of accounting, because cash-basis accounting forgets the retirees and the sick. Accrual accounting remembers them. And it is vital we remember all of our retirees and our sick because their health benefits matter, and we have to take them into account in this country. I know the gentleman is about to show the rule for business. This is a tough rule, and I look forward to the gentleman's explanation.

Mr. COOPER. Mr. Speaker, let me say amen to my friend's comments from Georgia. That was outstanding. I have the pleasure of serving on the Budget Committee and this week, probably on Thursday, we will start marking up the budget for the United States of America. That is one of the most serious responsibilities that we could ever undertake. It is an incredibly complex document and process. You are talking about $2.7 trillion. You are talking about not only all the defense programs, you are talking about Social Security and Medicare and a world of other programs, parks, agriculture, you name it; everything that the Federal Government is involved in. In the span of a few short hours, we will be able to offer a few amendments, and we try to do this on a bipartisan basis. It is hard, but let me report on what happened last year in last year's markup. I offered a number of the Blue Dog amendments as part of our 12-point plan for reform. They were individual, commonsense measures such as, for example, getting a cost estimate on every bill here so we know the cost of what we are voting on; having a recorded vote so that the members of this body go on record when large amounts of money are spent. We were one of the first groups in the country to go ahead and require transparency for earmarks so the public, everyone, would know what individual spending items were being requested. But probably, most importantly, we favored domestic spending caps so budget spending could not keep going up and up, and a pay-as-you-go approach so expansion of government was paid for, so that this generation paid our obligations, so we did not saddle future generations, including our men and women in uniform, with these terribly burdensome debts. I offered that last year in the Budget Committee markup. My amendment passed on a 19-17 vote because four brave Republicans were willing to cross over and endorse a commonsense measure like that. But then the chairman of the committee realized that common sense had prevailed, and he leaned over and twisted the arm of a freshman Member of Congress and forced that gentleman to change his vote right in front of everybody. So then it was not a 19-17 victory for our side and common sense, suddenly it turned into an 18-18 tie, and, under the rules of the committee, you lose on a tie vote. That was as close as we came last year to getting some of these commonsense principles involved. Even most State legislatures have rules like the ones I am describing. Most Americans would be outraged to learn we do not have these rules here. We are going to try a similar approach on Thursday. I hope we prevail, and I hope Americans will tune in to see what happens, because we do try to work on a bipartisan basis. The Blue Dogs are Democrats and we are proud of that, but we reach across the aisle. In fact, tonight, most of the Special Order is devoted to revealing the Republicans' Treasury report, because they did not want it to get the publicity that it deserves. This is one of the most important documents of government, and I have yet to meet another Member of Congress who knew about the existence of this document. It has been required by law to be published for over a decade now. Senator John Glenn of Ohio was the first person to author a bill to get this done. The former Secretary of Treasury, Bob Rubin, and the Clinton administration, championed this document. Back then the news was good. We were headed toward surpluses, and we achieved surpluses. But in the last 5 years, this document has been buried deep underground. I think it is high time we brought it above surface.

Mr. COOPER. Are those the famous FEMA trailers?

Mr. COOPER. Who is living in those homes?

Mr. COOPER. That much damage was done to our Nation's future just in 1 hour.

Mr. COOPER. And that will continue every hour, every night.

Mr. COOPER. The gentleman makes an excellent point. I would like to challenge those who speak after us, if they even know about the existence of this ``Financial Report for the United States in 2005.'' I bet that no Republican in the House even knows this report exists, even though it is signed by the Secretary of the Treasury, it is an official U.S. Government document, and it reveals the true deficit for America last year as being $760 billion. If my friend would put back up the Blue Dog debt and deficit sign, please, I think it is very important that people compare that. Those numbers are truly staggering, $8.2 trillion debt; and your individual share back home is $27,000 for every man, woman, and child. But, guess what? That is the good news. If you look at this document from the Department of Treasury, guess what our real debt is? It is not $8.2 trillion. I wish it were. It is a staggering $46 trillion. That is an unimaginable figure, $46 trillion. That is an unimaginable sum of money. But get this: every American's share, every man woman and child in this country, the share isn't $27,000 like you have on your sign; the share is $156,000 apiece. For every full-time worker's family, the share is $375,000 apiece.

Mr. COOPER. Which is illegal for most every business in America. Mr. Ross. Yet our very government, which uses a cash-base form of accounting, requires every business in America for the most part to use an accrual base of accounting.

Mr. COOPER. This is real accounting, and people back home need to know that for every working family, it is a $375,000 obligation already. So what the gentleman is talking about, this $27,000, that is the price of a pretty nice car. This is the price of a luxury home. This is what every working family already owes to pay for the promises this Congress and this administration have already made for our Social Security beneficiaries, our Medicare beneficiaries, so many other good and worthy programs. As my friend, the gentleman from Georgia, pointed out, today we are having to borrow most of this money from foreign countries. President Bush has borrowed more money himself from foreign nations than all previous Presidents in American history combined. That is a staggering thing to comprehend. I appreciate the gentleman yielding.

Mr. COOPER. Over twice as large as the administration will admit. If the gentleman will yield for one more moment, the Director of Office of Management and Budget, Josh Bolton, says the deficit is only $319 billion; it is actually getting smaller, it is turning up. He says the President in just a few years will cut the deficit in half. That is according to the cash basis. According to accrual, according to real accounting, guess what? The deficit is $760 billion, and getting bigger all the time. So it is going in the opposite direction from what Director Bolton says. So who do you believe, Director Bolton of the OMB, or the Secretary of the Treasury, John Snow? I think the American people need to know that both of these documents exist, both of them are official U.S. Government documents, put out by the Republican administration; but this is the one they have tried to keep hidden from the American people.