Bob Goodlatte

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence), who is not only the vice chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee but has been a great partner in this effort to pass a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution. (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. GOODLATTE. I yield an additional minute to the gentleman from Indiana.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Rokita), a member of the Budget Committee and a leader on this issue.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I would advise my colleague that I have only one speaker remaining.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. The gentleman from New York and I agree on one thing: Prosperity is the goal. And this is not a pathway to prosperity. Fifty years with six balanced budgets is a pathway that has led to a $15 trillion debt that we have right now. That's not prosperity. The largest debtor nation on Earth is not prosperity. $50,000 per American citizen in debt is not prosperity. And the $60 trillion in future obligations that we have yielding this result is definitely not prosperity for our children and grandchildren. That is why we need the discipline that a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution provides. That is why this is a bipartisan vote. That is why dozens of Democrats will join us today in enshrining in our Constitution something that will require that future Congresses balance the budget. I urge my colleagues to join us in this matter, and I yield back the balance of my time. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, at this time it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tipton), the chairman of the Agriculture, Energy and Trade Subcommittee of the Small Business Committee.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. DesJarlais), a member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hultgren), a member of the Agriculture Committee.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Posey), a member of the Financial Services Committee and, as a realtor, may want to comment on some of the remarks made here today regarding the ability of people to borrow money under certain circumstances.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute to respond to the gentleman. If the gentleman's complaint is that there have been decisions made during Republican Congresses that he doesn't agree with that spent too much money, that didn't yield to balancing budgets, the gentleman is correct. But the gentleman neglects to point out that there have been many, many Democratic Congresses in the last 50 years, 37 of them, of which only two of them resulted in a balanced budget. That is not a good record either. In fact, during the 1990s, when we were fortunate enough to receive four balanced budgets, those balanced budgets were under a Republican Congress and a Democratic President. In point of fact, it was only after there was a confrontation about the level of spending and a government shutdown that the necessary reforms were made to slow the rate of government spending so we could achieve those balanced budgets. The gentleman from North Carolina takes credit for his vote in 1993, which I did not agree with. I'm going to take credit for my four votes that were balanced budgets in 1998 through 2001, which he voted against. So we need bipartisan support for a rule in our Constitution that requires that the budget be balanced every year, except in times of national emergency when we should have bipartisan support to not balance. At this time it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, it is now my honor to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Platts), chairman of the Government Organization Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 15 seconds to point out that this does allow you to borrow; you just have to have a supermajority and a special reason to do so. And I point out that if the States had anything like the proportionate debt that is constituted by this government today of $15 trillion, they wouldn't be borrowing much money either. At this time, it is my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Duffy), a member of the Financial Services Committee.

Mr. GOODLATTE. He calls a ribbon cutting to show up and vote for budgets that are actually balanced. The gentleman from Virginia, my good friend, voted against all four--all four--of the budgets that were balanced in the 1990s and leading up to 2001.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, at this time it is my pleasure to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Mr. GOODLATTE. I thank the gentleman. I need to comment on the revisionist history that we are hearing. Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that tough votes are made when Congresses make the decision to balance the budget. That decision wasn't made in 1993 when Democrats voted to raise taxes; it was made when we sent a budget to the President that he vetoed. The government shut down, and after that shutdown, then and only then did President Clinton get in favor of welfare reform and other things that led to a slowing of the rate of growth in government spending.

Mr. GOODLATTE. I thank the gentleman. In response to the gentleman from New York, I just want to point out a few facts: first of all, in the last 50 years, the budget has been balanced six times. Democrats have controlled the House of Representatives 37 of those years, and in only two of those years did they balance the budget. Four times when Republicans were in the majority, the budget was balanced: 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2001. When those budgets were offered in this House, many Democrats voted in a bipartisan fashion for at least one of those budgets. The gentleman from New York voted against all four of the last balanced budgets that occurred in the time that he has been in Congress.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute to say to the gentleman that the balanced budget amendment also will not deliver a pennant to the Chicago Cubs. Now, let me also say this. In talking about those groups that the gentleman is rightly concerned about how they will do in the future, CNN asked them what they thought of a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution, and 75 percent of women said they favored a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution; 72 percent of nonwhite voters said they favored a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution; 79 percent of our senior citizens said they favored a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution; 79 percent of those who earn less than $50,000 a year said they favor a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution. And the same is true whether you look at urban areas, suburban areas, rural areas, or any geographic region of our country. Consistently, they support a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

Mr. GOODLATTE. I would be happy to yield.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois, who is the chief deputy whip and a member of the Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Roskam.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McIntyre), the ranking member of the Seapower Subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee.

Mr. GOODLATTE. This chart shows government debt as a percentage of GDP for the United States and five European countries--Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, and Greece. When Greece first got into their problem last year, they were at 120 percent of GDP. That's what their debt totaled. Already just a little over a year later, it is 152 percent of GDP because their economy is shrinking because of irresponsibility on the part of their government. The United States just this week crossed the 100 percent line. The United States owes as much in debt as we have in the total economic output of this Nation for 1 year. It is time to put a halt to this, and the best way to do it is to enshrine in our Constitution a principle we all understand, we all live by, and that is you cannot live like this, you cannot live beyond your means year after year after year. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join this bipartisan effort to enshrine in our Constitution a principle sought by the vast majority of the American people.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Absolutely.

Mr. GOODLATTE. I thank the chairman, and I just want to make it very clear that some inaccurate assertions have been made about the protection of Social Security and highway trust funds. The funds can be spent each year, and then any excess funds that need to be retained can be put into a rainy day fund. And so the Social Security trust fund or another type of fund like that is perfectly permissible under this provision. What is not permissible is continuing to run up debt year after year after year, and that is what endangers Social Security and Medicare and important programs for our senior citizens, and that is why this amendment is needed.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway), the chairman of the Agriculture Committee General Farm Commodities Subcommittee. (Mr. CONAWAY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. GOODLATTE. Very much so.