Rosa DeLauro

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, folks can say that those of us who are speaking here, that we are partisan in some way, and that this is not accurate, but let me just quote from this. This is a November 9, 1983 quote from the then Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker to the then Treasury Secretary Donald Regan: The failure of the Congress to act on the debt ceiling would in either case create great uncertainty and confusion in banking and money markets that count on timely payment, and in individual cases could result in hardship. In addition to the broader implications for confidence in the government's credit, a failure to increase the debt limit would not only create havoc in the payment system because of the necessary delays that I have outlined, but it would also undermine confidence at home and abroad in the government's ability to manage its affairs. A November 11, 1983 letter from the then Attorney General William French Smith to the then Republican Senate majority leader Howard Baker: It is extremely doubtful that any action to stop issuing checks or determining payment of benefits conferred by law would, in these circumstances, be effective to ameliorate, much less solve, the extraordinary crisis that would be presented should the Congress not raise the debt ceiling. No responsible government should place itself in a situation in which it would default on its obligations. I therefore urge in the strongest possible way that the Congress act to spare our citizens from the hardship, the flood of litigation, and the unprecedented constitutional crisis that would be threatened by the inability of the United States to meet its financial obligations. Mr. Speaker, people who do not understand the import of this, I will repeat, do not belong in a position of responsibility or a position of power, and certainly not in a position of leading the United States Congress.

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I want to say thank you to my colleague, the gentleman from Texas, for taking this time and for the opportunity to talk about a rather extraordinary time, I think, in our Nation's history. First of all, I do not know that we have seen anything like what has occurred either in the shutdown of the Federal Government twice in a row and now trying to, if you will, have Government by increments here in 2- or 3-month periods at a time, which is incredible in terms of how anyone can really do business in that kind of way. I have often heard from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that we ought to run this institution like a business. Well, any business that would stop, start, stop, start is not going to see either their goal or the mission of that business carried out or not see, quite frankly, their bottom line grow and increase and provide any kind of profit for that business. So I do not know what the purpose, except to try to hold the President hostage, that all of this activity has and actually, in fact, the long and the short, you can hold the President hostage, you can hold the Congress hostage, the long and short of it is the President is here, the Members of this House and the Senate are here basically to do public service for the people of this country. It really ties up and holds up the business that we are about, and that is to provide services, whether that is education, and clearly education is the key and the critical opportunity for Americans. It always has been and it continues to be the way in which this country grows and prospers and remains competitive. Like my colleague from Texas, I am sure our own experiences as well as the experiences we want to provide for our own children, I could not have gone to school without student loans. Anyone who will try to curtail that opportunity for either a Pell grant or a student loan or a direct lending program to make it as easy as possible for working middle-class families today to get their children to school really does not understand what this country is all about and is out of touch with the people who have sent them here. That is what is on the mind of the American public today, an opportunity to be able to see their young, their children compete for the future. It only reinforces what people are thinking about today, and that is that Government is getting in the way of opportunity instead of trying to foster it. The commentary that I want to try to make here today is something that I find to be almost incredible, beyond politics, beyond anything. I think one of my colleagues last week said that, and I will quote what this is first and then talk about it, ``abdication of leadership.'' Anyone, anyone on any side of any aisle, Republican, Democrat, independent, et cetera, who would like to see the U.S. Government default in paying its bills and jeopardizing the credit rating of the United States clearly does not belong in a position of any kind of power. They ought to pack their bags and go home. To take the credit rating of the United States, after a proud 220-year history of paying its debts, and to turn around and say that we ought to play chicken with the country's credit rating, again, does not belong in this body as far as I am concerned. Last month we had House Republicans shut down the Government, again, trying to blackmail the President into signing an extreme agenda. Now they truly are at it again. The crowd that did bring you the shutdown is the same crowd that wants to destroy this Nation's credit rating. Everyone in this country understands credit rating. They know that if you do not pay your bills, somewhere, somehow there is a mark by your name. And the next time you go out to purchase, the next time you go out to try to get a loan if you want to buy a car, if you want to buy an appliance, whatever you want to buy, if you need to get a loan to send your kids to school, when that comes up on the computer and it has that mark, they know that you are a bad credit risk. What we are doing here is saying, let us turn the United States into a bad credit risk. Let me say that 220 years is a long time and much has changed. Quite honestly, at one time we had an America that was led by Madison and Jefferson, who got to be known as our Founding Fathers of this great democracy. Quite honestly, today what we are left with are Gingrich and Dole, who seem intent on becoming the deadbeat dads of democracy. What was important in this issue on the credit rating is how the effect of this credit rating and defaulting on that credit rating has to do with working middle-class families in this country. I think it is important to note and for people to know that if we default on paying our bills, what the effect of that is to working families. Raising mortgage rates for home owners, that is what it is about, denying tax refunds to hard-working Americans. We had one of our colleagues who said that the Republicans are so committed to their blackmail strategy that they would be willing to allow the Government to default, even if it means that they will have to delay income tax refunds next year. Now, my gosh, that is the kind of thing that people wait for every single year. It is important for working families to understand that those interest rates, which will go up, will cause an increase in that adjustable rate mortgage. It will cause an increase in their loans that they have taken out, if it is on their cars, if it is on student loans, if it has to do with any of their credit cards. That is what will happen. Their interests rates will go sky high. It is interesting to me that it was last week that the Moody's investor service warned that it was considering lowering the U.S. credit rating because of this threat. I think everybody in this Nation knows what junk bonds are, not worth the paper they are written on, and what has happened in that market over the last several years. Well, the moving of this credit rating down by Moody's, they did not say exactly junk bonds but it would just be just slightly above what junk bond status is. That means for now, and often people do not understand how long that stays with you. As your own credit rating stays with you throughout your lifetime, if the United States' credit rating is lowered and if we default, that will be, for a future we cannot even imagine in terms of how the rest of the world will regard the United Stats in terms of paying its bills.

Ms. DeLAURO. I would just like to thank my colleague for taking this time to have us have a conversation and discussion. I think once again it comes down to why people do send us here, why they put their faith and their trust in all of us. They give us a tremendous amount of responsibility and of power and of leeway to work on their behalf. I think that it is this kind of abdication of leadership by the Republican majority in this House and the Gingrich leadership that makes people feel that why should they bother, why should they participate in Government, why should they trust a Government that will be willing to put them in economic difficulty, jeopardize them and their families. That is not what this is all about. But what the Gingrich leadership in this House wants to do is precisely that, is to put the United States in jeopardy as Nation but, more importantly, to put the people of this country and their families in economic harm.

Ms. DeLAURO. That is precisely it, because people are almost--I find this, I know you do--losing confidence in what Government is about. That is the tragedy of all of this, when you can have a conversation about a role of Government and what role that it does play, but every single day that these kinds of things occur here, there is less and less confidence in what the Government is able to do, and in terms of trying to assist people to do what they want to do, not to do it for them. That is not what it is about, but to assist people, whether it is, as I said, in retirement or education. One of the other pieces of this, which I do not know if it was mentioned in this discussion, is that come March 1 there are billions of dollars in Social Security payments that are supposed to go out, veterans' benefits, including the payments to our young men and women who are serving in Bosnia. If the Government defaults, as the current strategy is, none of those payments will go out.

Ms. DeLAURO. Just that point again which I made earlier, and I think my colleague would agree, we have heard over and over and over in this body that we ought to run the U.S. Government as a business; and that was an argument for balancing the budget that everybody does this, we have to do it, we have to put it on a business footing. How can a business, any business, make good business decisions, one, as I said, if you are opening and closing or opening some directions or initiatives in your business over a 6-week period or over an 8-week period, and then you shut it down. Who has confidence in any business that does not know what direction it is going to go in, whether or not it is going to shut down; or the long and the short of it, whether or not it is every going to pay the financial obligations that it incurs? What kind of a business is that? You would be out of business in a second. Nor would you give any credit to that business. We have small businesses going to get capital every single day. They try to get loans from banks. Can you imagine? Can you imagine what that means if you have a record that shows you stop, you start, you let some people go home, you do not know where you want to go in the future, that you not pay your bills? My God. The bank will say, ``What kind of a risk is that? We're not going to deal with this individual.''

Ms. DeLAURO. It is in vogue up here. It is very simple to take a look at this debt limit. We need to just say to people that to substitute credit rating, debt limit, debt ceiling, just put that out of your mind or understand it as credit rating. All that is being asked for here is, please, send the President a clean bill with no whistles and bells on it or anything else, so that we can really stay with the full faith and credit, maintain that full faith and credit of the United States, maintain that to the rest of the world, to the bond markets here, to the citizens, the working, middle-class families every day who do not want to see their mortgage rates or their car payments or their credit card bills go up. That is not what they want. When the public sometimes observes the process here, I know I get and I am sure the gentleman gets in his district, people say, well, why do you keep attaching this to a bill or that to a bill? Why can you not just say or do what you are going to do? This is exactly what this situation is about. This is to try to turn this borrowing authority bill into a Christmas tree, to put all kinds of things on it for whatever political motivations are out there, which we have talked about. But the argument is simple; I know that the gentleman shares this sentiment with me. I really plead with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, and there are some who are there already, to say, make this a clean piece of legislation, do not dress it up, dress it down, put all kinds of things on it that ultimately turn it into something else and put in jeopardy the credit rating of the United States. It is a very simple argument, as I think the gentleman would agree. It is an easy one to understand, I think, by the public, and they are going to understand it.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Thank you for your work, Congressman Kennedy. Well said. My colleague from Texas, Mr. Bentsen, who has really been the coauthor of the resolution to look at a clean debt limit extension, love to have you in this conservation. I welcome also, I might say, the ranking member of the Committee on the Budget, who will join us in this discussion in a few minutes. I yield to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Bentsen].

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, what I want to try to do is, I am here this afternoon along with several of my colleagues to talk about an issue really of great importance of the United States, the people of the United States, and, that is, in effect, what is going to happen to the credit rating of the United States in the next several weeks, a very critical issue that is on the minds of folks here, not only on their minds but we are going to have to take some action with regard to the credit rating of the United States. The situation, just to go back a little bit. Last month, Mr. Speaker, the House Republican leadership shut down the Federal Government in an effort, and in a well-described effort by themselves, to try to blackmail the President into signing their extreme agenda. Again by their own admittance, they failed to do that. But before they have indicated that they failed in that kind of a tactic, they shut the Government down twice. They are now at it again. This is the best way that I can describe this. They are at it again. The crowd who brought us two Government shutdowns now is threatening to destroy the Nation's credit rating by defaulting on the debt. If Speaker Gingrich has his way, the world will be faced with a spectacle of the United States defaulting on the obligations that it has, its financial obligations, for the first time in the history of this country. The Republican threats of Government default have sent unbelievable shock waves up and down Wall Street. In fact, and I know several of my colleagues are going to be more detailed about this, just yesterday Moody's Investors Service warned that it is considering lowering the U.S. credit rating because of the threat. We all understand what a credit rating is about. We all have a credit rating. We all know that when we go to purchase something and we need to use credit, that is examined. And we know when we have a low credit rating what that means in terms of our ability to purchase and to get by. Anything that hurts that credit rating hurts our families deeply. So that playing politics with our economy is bad news for Wall Street and the world in terms of the United States, but it is disastrous for Main Street and disastrous for families in this country. If the Government financially goes belly up, which is what we are talking about, interest rates go higher and higher. That means higher and higher mortgage payments, higher and higher car loan payments, and higher and higher credit card payments. Sometimes people think that what happens here does not affect their lives. I talk to kids and students about this all of the time. What we do in this Chamber, how our votes are registered on this board, has a direct effect on the lives of every single American. And, my fellow Americans, understand the import of what happens when the credit rating of the United States is destroyed and what it means to your lives.

Ms. DeLAURO. I would be happy to yield to my colleague, the gentleman from Texas.

Ms. DeLAURO. Exactly.

Ms. DeLAURO. In terms of what happens, the United States will never get out of that hole. Our credit, our word that says we will pay our bills, will no longer be believed by the rest of the world. I will say, and I think people can attest to this, that even if it is 15, 20 years ago, if there is a stigma on your credit rating, they look 15 years, 20 years back. That is what this is about. The United States will never be able to say to the rest of the world, ``We will make good on our credit and our financial obligations,'' because of what will be done in this House in the next several weeks. I would be happy to yield to my colleague from California.

Ms. DeLAURO. I think you have said it very accurately.

Ms. DeLAURO. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Ms. DeLAURO. The gentleman is absolutely right. The transition here is that they want to do that very loud and clear, as recently as reported in the Washington Times, they want to do it as a specific strategy of blackmail, of holding hostage in the same way that they did with the Government shutdown. They are making no bones. It is a tactical maneuver to force the President to do something, and they are willing to play so fast and loose with every single individual's life in this country.

Ms. DeLAURO. I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina.

Ms. DeLAURO. I thank the gentleman. Before I recognize my colleague from Connecticut, Mrs. Kennelly, I just want to tell you what kind of leader she has been on this issue. In the Hartford Courant today, the headline reads ``The Nation's Credit Is at Stake.'' They say especially what we have been talking about here. It says, ``It is the height of irresponsibility if we continue to deal with lowering the credit rating of the United States.'' It says ``Someone has to be a grown-up. Democratic representative Barbara Kennelly of Connecticut has introduced a bill to raise the debt ceiling with no strings attached.'' The next line says, ``Congress should pass it.'' That is what this is all about. I would like to yield the floor to my colleague from Connecticut, Mrs. Kennelly.

Ms. DeLAURO. It is taking a 200-year history of this great Nation of ours and truly trashing it, and saying that it is not worth it. I would have thought that the Speaker, who is a historian, when you brought up your frame of reference, I think what we need to do is to have some civics lessons here, and if we want to then try to really build on what the Founding Fathers have, their legacy, or whether we want to turn this country into, to quote a popular phrase today, deadbeat dads so that we are not meeting what our responsibilities are. I see that my colleague, the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Maloney], is on her feet. Let us get the gentlewoman into the discussion.

Ms. DeLAURO. I want to thank my colleague from New York. I just remind people again that the world effects are there. Families will suffer here as well. I believe it was the Speaker who said back in September, ``Even if we have to delay tax refunds, we should have our Government default.'' What happens with Social Security payments, with veterans' payments and military payments, all coming around. We are going to get in a few minutes our colleagues from Massachusetts to talk about that. I see my colleague, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Doggett], and let me ask you to get back into this.

Ms. DeLAURO. I want to say thank you to the gentleman from Texas, and pardon me for not mentioning it earlier, and I see that our colleague also from Texas [Mr. Bentsen], has come on to the floor, and I am going to recognize the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Kennedy] in a moment, but I want to compliment my two colleagues for your resolution of talking about a clean bill and not holding this country hostage. I know all the work that you have done. One of the most incredible things is that they are going to do this; they have taken us to the brink and now they want to just say, Let us recess and go home, and no one knows what is going on. Talk about, as the gentlewoman from Connecticut [Mrs. Kennelly] pointed out, an abdication of leadership. You cannot govern if you do not want to make the decisions and make the choices and let this country keep moving in a forward direction. Let me just recognize the gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Kennedy], who has also a piece of legislation, who sits on the Committee on Banking and Financial Services and clearly understands the ramifications of this, whether in the global market or whether it is for seniors, for veterans, for homeowners, or anyone else. Thanks for joining us this afternoon.

Ms. DeLAURO. Thank you very, very much, for your help in the education process. Let us now try to get into the discussion here, the distinguished gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Sabo], the former budget chairman and the ranking member on the Committee on the Budget. No one knows this better than Martin Sabo. I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Sabo].

Ms. DeLAURO. I thank the gentleman. Aptly put, it is dumb, and to hark back to something our colleague from Texas said, that the Soviet Union is still trying to dig out of that morass of defaulting on those czar bonds. That is a history lesson well worth taking. Let me ask my colleague from California to jump in.

Ms. DeLAURO. I want to thank my colleague from California for just outlining what it is all about. I want to thank my other colleagues who joined with us this afternoon, and I just want to say that the issue is credit rating, the credit rating of the United States. When you hear the words ``debt limit, debt extension,'' put that aside. Credit rating, that is what this is about, and whether or not we are going to say that the United States will continue to have the best credit rating in the world, which it currently has. I would just say to you that we do have people, we have a group of people in this House that are willing to do harm to the credit rating of the United States by defaulting on our debt. This would be for the first time in this Nation's history. They are prepared to do this, and even have talked about this in terms of a strategy for holding the President hostage, for blackmailing the President to try to get something from him on the issue of the budget. We have put to rest the issue of the balanced budget. The President has laid one on the table. It is now my Republican colleagues who are walking away from the balanced budget that the President has put down, which they asked for. What I am begging the leadership, the Republican Gingrich leadership of this House to do, listen to Wall Street when they say what difficulty we will be in in the world if this happens to the United States; listen to Main Street; listen to the working men and women of this country, who will see their adjustable rate mortgages on their homes go up $1,200 as my colleague, the gentleman from Massachusetts, has said. Credit card payments, because the interest rates will go up, will be higher. Towns and cities and States will find, and school districts and water districts, that their bonds will be in difficulty. That is all the result of tampering with the credit rating of the United States. It will have a disastrous effect on the United States and on the people of this country. We cannot let this happen. What we need to do is to send the President of the United States a clean debt limit credit rating bill, so that in fact we can continue on as the great Nation that we have been, and that our Founding Fathers sought for us.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, last night, the Nation was introduced to Richard Dean, a true American hero. An employee with the Social Security Administration, Mr. Dean was at work in the Murrah Federal Building last April when a terrorist's bomb tore a hole through that structure, killing 168 people. Mr. Dean went back into the building four times, saving three other lives. Mr. Dean was a hero on that day in April. But, Mr. Dean and Federal employees like him are heroes everyday. They help our elderly in their retirement, help our families find affordable housing, help our communities stricken by natural disasters. Yet, in November, Mr. Dean and thousands of Federal employees like him were forced to work without pay, because of the Gingrich Government shutdown. These hard-working men and women should not be used as pawns in an inside-the-beltway political game. So, let me join the President today to ask my Republican colleagues: Please don't shut down the Government for a third time. Think about Richard Dean. And, ask yourself, is this any way to treat an American hero?

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, today it is my pleasure to honor a distinguished citizen from my district, Chief William A. Healey. After 50 years of exemplary service, Chief Healey is retiring from the Milford Fire Department. In 1945, Bill Healey followed in the distinguished footsteps of his father and grandfather by joining the Milford Fire Department as a volunteer member of the Fort Trumbull Beach Company 2. After serving with distinction in the U.S. Navy, Bill Healey returned to the Milford Fire Department and was appointed a career member in 1950. Bill's courage, leadership ability, and commitment to public service led to numerous promotions and commendations over the years. For example, he received the prestigious Ralph Ryder Fireman of the Year as a lieutenant for his role in directing a difficult automobile extrication, as well as numerous meritorious service awards and community service awards. In 1973, after serving as a battalion chief, deputy chief, assistant chief and fire marshal, Bill Healey was appointed chief of the Milford Fire Department. He has held this position for the past 22 years, earning the respect and gratitude of all Milford citizens. During his lengthy and impressive tenure with the department, Chief Healey has presided over many changes, including the reorganization of the department in the 1980's, in order to make services more effective and cost-efficient. Chief Healey is known for his innovative leadership and his commitment to protecting the safety of Milford residents. His leadership has saved numerous lives and resulted in a fire department that has a sterling reputation for its ability to respond to emergency situations. Chief Healey has also been called upon numerous times to lend his expertise to the State of Connecticut, including serving on the first E-911 Commission to implement the E-911 system throughout the State. Despite his many responsibilities, Chief Healey has always devoted many hours to community service. He has coached and managed in both the Milford Junior Major and Babe Ruth football leagues, and served in the Milford Rotary Club for 21 years, including a stint as president. He and his wife, Marion, have contributed so much of their time and energy to making the city of Milford a better and safer place to live. It has been my great honor to know and work with Chief William Healey over the years. His commitment to public service is unparalleled, and I am delighted to have this opportunity to commend him for 50 years of distinguished work. He will be sorely missed both by his colleagues and Milford residents. I wish Bill many years of good health and happiness in his retirement.

Ms. DeLAURO

Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, House Budget Chairman John Kasich said in November about the budget negotiations, and I quote, ``Frankly, we do not ask for a lot. We ask for nothing more than a commitment to do this in a 7-year period. The priorities within that 7-year plan are negotiable.'' Well, the President did exactly that, but now the Republicans want to move the goalpost in the middle of the game. Now the Republican leadership says that they will not negotiate on the budget priorities. What they want to do is to have a backroom deal on deep cuts in Medicare for a tax break for the wealthiest Americans. Where I come from a person's word is his or her bond. Mr. Kasich and other Members of the Republican majority gave their word that they would sit down and negotiate the details of the budget once the President produced a 7-year balanced budget. The President met the Republicans more than halfway, but instead of responding in kind, Republicans have walked away from the negotiating table, walking away from their promise to the President, but more importantly than that, walking away from their duty to the American people.