Ron Johnson

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Well, obviously it makes more sense to actually use them to make us more competitive so that global capital actually flows to the United States to create jobs here. I am a long-term job producer. I certainly recognize it is the private sector that creates long-term self-sustaining jobs. I am afraid that is what our colleagues on the other side of the aisle and President Obama simply don't understand. I am often asked, Are you surprised by anything in Washington? I will tell you one thing I am not surprised about is that their solution is increasing taxes. Let's face it, we just undertook a $4 trillion experiment in Keynsian economics. We are down more than 2 million jobs since that grand experience began when President Obama became elected. It doesn't work. And now for the Democrats and President Obama proposing $1 trillion, $2 trillion or, as was pointed out, as much as $2.8 trillion in new taxes? What is that? That is actually taking money out of the private sector where real jobs are created. That would be the wrong direction. That would be a big mistake. That is why the Republicans are united in saying increasing taxes at any time, particularly in a weak economy, is the wrong prescription. Getting our debt and deficit and spending under control, a balanced budget amendment is the solution. It can actually be enacted very quickly. We don't have to face the crisis that President Obama and the Treasury Secretary are trying to whip up here.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Absolutely. The floor is the Senator's.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. First of all, I thank the Senator for his leadership. He has been talking loudly and clearly about the fact that we should not have recessed this week. I know President Obama tried to claim credit for that. It is because of the Senator's leadership and the members of the Republican conference in the Senate who said: No, we are bankrupting America and we need to stay here and start debating this issue. Unfortunately, that is not what we have been doing this week. It is sad. One word I have used all the time now that I have come to Washington is ``unbelievable.'' It is simply unbelievable that tomorrow will mark 800 days that we haven't passed a budget. My background is in business for the last 34 years. I have had to produce budgets on time. I have had people produce budgets for me on time. In business--even a small business--it is inconceivable that if you tell a colleague to make sure to have the budget on your desk by April 15 that it wouldn't be there; 99.9 percent of those accountants and controllers would have a budget on time, on April 15. We are dealing with the United States of America. We are talking about our financial future, the fate of America. The Democrats in the Senate have failed to meet that obligation for 2 years in a row. That is simply unbelievable, and it is so incredibly irresponsible. Really, I think the Senate has been guilty of willful neglect. The phrase I have used is that the Senate has been ``fiddling'' while America is going broke. That is sad. As the Senator pointed out as well, what does the financial future of America rest on? Some secret talks--talks between a few individuals going out behind closed doors far from the view of the American public rather than in an orderly process where a plan is presented that can be viewed by the American public, that can be debated openly the way our Founders envisioned on the floor of this Senate, this historic floor; instead of using the process that we should have been using, what is going to happen? Are we going to have a result, a negotiated settlement drop in our laps a couple days before this deadline date? Is that what is going to happen? Is that really how the financial fate of America is going to be decided? I personally find that process disgusting. That is why I stood last Tuesday on the floor of the Senate and said unless we start seriously addressing this problem, the bankrupting of America, in the open, in the bright light of day, I was going to begin to object. I was going to begin to withhold my consent. I was heartened by the support I got from my Republican colleagues because, let's face it, we understand how urgent the situation is. We understand how dire our financial situation is. We are willing to sit down and work with anybody who will seriously address the fact that we are driving America toward bankruptcy. But we need a willing partner, and up to this point in time I haven't seen one. The fact that the only plan we have seen is the President's budget, 4.25 inches thick, 2,400 pages long--how many thousands of manhours did that document take to produce? It was so unserious it would have added more than $12 trillion to our Nation's debt in the next 10 years. It would have continued the bankrupting of America. It would have made us go broke. It was so unserious, it failed in the Senate by a vote of 0- 97. Not one Democratic Senator found that bill serious enough to give it a vote. That is the only plan I have seen. I woke up this morning to a couple of news reports, and there was more detail about what the administration might plan to do fed to reporters than fed to a Member of Congress. I am sorry to be so blunt about this, but that is a disgusting process. The American people deserve far better. I guess today what I am standing here saying is, I want to see a plan, and I want to see a budget, and I want to see it to give us enough time so we can actually analyze it and debate it and pass the real structural reforms so that we can actually solve this problem. I am calling on the President and I am calling on the Democrats in this Senate to produce that plan so we can have an open debate on it. That is kind of how I am thinking.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Well, the reason I ran is because we are bankrupting the Nation. I love America. We love America. When I watch what is happening, and when I saw how broken Washington was, when I saw them pass the health care law, from my standpoint that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Our first child, my daughter Carey, was born with a very serious congenital heart defect. Dedicated doctors and surgeons saved her life the first day. Then 8 months later, when her heart was the size of a plum, another dedicated surgical team of dedicated professionals totally reconstructed the upper chamber of her heart. Her heart operates backwards now. But she is 28 years old, and she is a nurse herself in a neonatal intensive care unit. When I heard President Obama say these doctors, that they will take out a set of tonsils for a few extra bucks, I found that outrageous. Then when this Congress and this President signed the health care law, I know the result of that. It is designed to lead to a government takeover of our health care system. All we have to do is take a look at Canada and Britain. We don't have to theorize what that is going to result in. It will lower the quality of care. It will result in rationing, and the medical innovation to save my daughter's life and millions of others--it really is America where medical miracles are created. I think that innovation is going to come to a grinding halt. So that is just the quality aspect of the health care bill, but it is going to destroy our budget. I wrote a piece with Douglas Holtz-Eakin, ex-CBO Director. Rather than $93 billion a year, when this bill kicks in, as it is designed to do, and a large percentage of Americans lose their health care employer coverage and get dumped into the exchanges, we are talking about a $\1/ 2\ trillion or maybe $900 billion. I see we are running out of time, but that is why I ran, because we are bankrupting America.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. I would like to pick up on Senator Blunt's point about just how unserious this week has been. Just in comparison to business, about 5 years ago I bought a business out of bankruptcy. I watched those business owners over the course of 2 or 3 years struggle to make a go of that business. You would not believe the number of hours those people, those hard-working Americans put in to save that business. It didn't work. They went into reorganization under the bankruptcy laws. I bought that business out of bankruptcy. I saw how incredibly hard my team worked to make that business survive, and it did survive. These are individuals putting in 16, 17, 18, 20 hours a day to make a product, to build a good life for themselves and their families, to provide employment, jobs. This is the American spirit. That is the entrepreneurial spirit. That is what Americans do day in and day out, whether they own a business or whether they contribute their effort: their labor to make their business successful, the one they work for successful. That is what Americans do. What has this President done? What has this Congress done? What has this Senate done? In the last 6 months since I have been here, we passed six laws, six bills that have become law. Three of those had to do with the continuing resolutions of last year's business: funding the government for this year. Those were laws that should have been passed 1 year ago, but it was left over for us to do that. We had two bills to extend the PATRIOT Act. If we take a look at how that was even done, it was last minute, rush-rush, very little time for debate. We couldn't even get amendments in there. Then, of course, the other one is we kind of cleaned up a little bit a little part of the health care law that dealt with 1099s, which would have been a nightmare. It would have cost billions of dollars to comply with and not brought in any revenue. So we finally got that off the books, thankfully. The other bills we have debated, we spent 16 weeks debating three bills. The total dollar amount of those bills is $20 billion. That is about \1/2\ percent of what this Federal Government will spend this year. So we have spent 16 weeks debating \1/2\ percent of our $3.6- trillion-a-year budget. That, in my mind, is the definition of being not serious. Of course, we have said it has been 799--tomorrow it will be 800-- days since we actually passed a budget. This week we spent 15 hours of debate. We call it a sense-of-the-Senate resolution? It should be called the nonsense of the Senate. That is what has been occurring this week, and it is a tragedy. It is a tragedy. But, again, that is why I stood up and started to object. I will continue to do that until we actually start getting serious, until we actually see a plan, a budget that we can start debating.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. I thank Senator Sessions. I will point out that business as usual here in Washington is bankrupting America. Senator Vitter.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to enter into a colloquy with my colleagues for up to 30 minutes.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. First of all, I am happy to hear that our Democratic colleagues agree to allow us to come back next week and not go on a recess. It is important that we start work on the single greatest issue, the single most important issue facing this Nation--our debt and deficit issue. A couple of minutes ago, I objected to what the leadership wanted to move to, which was an important debate on Libya, but it is not addressing what we need to address. The fact is that in the Senate this year--we have been here 6 months, and we have not passed a budget. As a matter of fact, we have not passed a budget in the Senate for over 2 years. We have missed all of the budget deadlines. We should have passed a budget by April 15. Appropriations bills should have been completed by June 10. We are simply not addressing the single greatest issue facing this country--that we are bankrupting America. Only six bills have been passed in the Senate that have actually become law. Three of those were cleaning up last year's business. They were continuing resolutions funding the government, when what should have happened a year ago is those bills should have already been passed. President Obama's budget that he sent over here in January was so unserious that actually it lost 0 to 97 in the Senate. Not a single Democratic Senator voted for that budget. We have an awful lot of work to do. Our budget deficit this year--the highest estimate I have heard is about $1.65 trillion. We have incurred over $4 trillion in just the last 3 years. If anybody in America wants to understand why our economy is in a coma, it is exactly that. People look to Washington and they see how reckless and out of control our spending is. As a former manufacturer, as somebody who made investments and created jobs, I realize that when the Federal Government is spending so much money that it doesn't have, eventually the Federal Government is going to take in the form of higher taxes, possibly in the form of higher inflation. The other thing that is overhanging the economy that is preventing job creation is overregulation. I cannot tell you how many Wisconsin businesspeople come into our office and talk about that regulation or this regulation that one of the agencies is trying to impose on them. One thing that is interesting about many of these regulations is they are not being implemented. Just like the health care law; over 3 million waivers have been granted. Why is that? I believe it is because this administration actually understands that if they implement the health care law and these regulations--they understand exactly the harmful effect that will have on our economy and on job creation. The fact is, what this administration has done--they came into office with a tough situation, no doubt about it, but their actions--passing the health care law, the 1,600-page Dodd-Frank financial bill--have made job creation far harder. They have made the situation far worse. I think Senator Rand Paul has a few things to say.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. I thank Senator Ayotte. Senator Vitter.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. I thank the Senator. Senator Ayotte.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. I thank Senator Vitter for his leadership on this issue. It is the most important issue facing this Nation. I wish to thank my colleagues for joining me and for the leadership they have shown as well. With that, I yield the floor.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. I thank the Senator from Florida for those comments, and I want to pick up on one point the Senator just made about class warfare. Certainly, as a job creator myself of 31, 32 years, I know an awful lot about entrepreneurs, and I have to point out how incredibly dispiriting it is to have leaders in Washington attack you day in and day out, demonize you, when all you are trying to do is make a good life for yourself, your family, and provide solid employment for other good Americans. So, again, I need to point out class warfare does not work. It does nothing--it does nothing--to help improve our economy. Senator Lee.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. I totally agree with my colleague from Kentucky, and I believe Senator Rubio has a few words to add to that.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. I thank Senator Vitter. Senator Sessions.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, this is a very important issue. I understand a number of my colleagues have worked very hard to bring this issue to the floor. But the fact is, it simply does not address the fact that we are bankrupting this Nation. I do object.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Madam President, I have been here for almost 6 months now, but I have been carefully watching Washington for the last 32 years while I have been running my manufacturing business in Oshkosh, WI--watching how increasingly broken Washington has become over the years. Nothing I have seen in the last 6 months has changed that evaluation. Washington is broken and America is going broke. Our economy is in a coma and people are suffering. America hungers for leadership, and it is not getting any--not from President Obama and not from the Senate. We can't afford to have a broken political process--not now, not while America is hurtling toward a financial crisis. Under Democratic leadership, it has been over 2 years since the Senate passed a budget, and there is currently no markup going on in the Budget Committee to produce one. America is going bankrupt. Yet the Senate refuses to pass a budget. The President's budget that he presented several months ago to great fanfare--remember that--4\1/4\ inches thick, 2,400 pages long, and who knows how many thousands of man hours that document took to produce--was going to be the solution to our fiscal problems. But it was so unserious it would have added over $12 trillion to our Nation's debt. It was so unserious that when it was voted on in the Senate, it lost by a vote of 0 to 97. It was so unserious that not a single member of the President's own party voted for it. Instead of rolling up his shirt sleeves and personally tackling the No. 1 problem facing this Nation right from the beginning, President Obama delegated his role in sporadic negotiations to Vice President Biden. Now that those talks have broken down, the President is finally getting personally involved in this process. But what kind of process is this? A few people talking behind closed doors, far from the view of the American public, is that the process that is going to decide the fate of America's financial situation, of our financial future? Is this how the U.S. Government is supposed to work? I don't think so. Of course not. Unfortunately, this has become business as usual in Washington. As a manufacturer, I know if the process is bad the product will be bad. Business as usual in Washington is a bad process. Business as usual is bankrupting America. It must stop. America is simply too precious to subject our financial future to Washington's business as usual. I am pretty new here. I don't pretend to understand everything that makes the Senate work, or maybe more accurately what doesn't allow the Senate to work. But I do know the Senate runs on something called unanimous consent. So unless we receive some assurance from the Democratic leadership that we will actually start addressing our budget out in the open, in the bright light of day, I will begin to object. I will begin to withhold my consent. The Senate needs to pass a budget. It shouldn't be that difficult. Families do it every day. A husband earns $40,000; a wife earns $40,000. The total family income is $80,000. That is their budget. That is what they can afford to spend. American families figure out how to live within their means. The Federal Government should be no different. A budget is a number. We should first pick one number and then a set of numbers that will not let America go bankrupt. Let me start the process by throwing out a number--$2.6 trillion. That is $800 billion more than we spent just 10 years ago. The $2.6 trillion is the amount President Obama, in his budget, said the Federal Government would receive in revenue next year. If we only spent that amount of money we would be living within our means. What a concept. If we want to spend more than $2.6 trillion, Members of Congress, members of this administration, should go before congressional committees and openly justify what they want to spend, how much they want to borrow, and how much debt they are willing to pile on the backs of our children, our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren. They should explain just how much of our children's future they are willing to mortgage. The American people deserve to be told the truth. Unless that happens, I will begin to withhold my consent. Unless there is some assurance the Senate will take up its budget responsibilities in an open process, I will begin to object. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. I object.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Mr. President, reserving my right to object, I may not object to this request. It certainly is not addressing the primary problem facing our Nation; that is, the fact that we are bankrupting this Nation. We need to start actually addressing that in the Senate. But I realize the managers worked hard on this bill. I realize there are some good amendments the Senate really needs to debate and we should vote on. That is the way the Senate should work. I also ask that I be allowed to speak for 10 minutes following the agreement here.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business for up to 10 minutes.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Mr. President, I realize a number of people in this Chamber are asking why I am doing this. First of all, I think it is important for everybody to realize that--and I certainly mean no offense to anybody in this Chamber--I did not run for the Senate because I wanted to be a Senator. I ran for the Senate because I realized we are bankrupting this Nation. I think the evidence is quite clear, if we take a look at the budget deficit for just the last 3 years: $1.4 trillion, $1.3 trillion, and for this year estimates as high as $1.65 trillion. We have incurred over $4 trillion worth of debt in just the last 3 years, and our Nation's debt stands at $14.3 trillion. We have reached our debt limit. Our debt is almost the size of our entire economy. I have been watching Washington for 32 years from Oshkosh, WI, and I realized that Washington was pretty broken. I have been here now for 6 months, and I haven't seen anything here that convinces me otherwise. The Senate has not passed a budget for over 2 years. Of the six pieces of legislation we have passed--only six pieces of legislation we have passed from this Chamber have actually become law, and of those six three dealt with last year's business. They were pieces of legislation dealing with this year's budget that should have been passed last summer. The bottom line is the Senate is fiddling while America is going bankrupt. As I mentioned, the debt ceiling has now been reached. What are we doing about it? The answer is virtually nothing. We are scheduled to go on recess next week. We should not be doing that. We should be staying in session. We should be debating. We should be developing a budget. Bottom line, all we are doing is waiting for the results of a negotiation between a limited number of people, conducted behind closed doors, far away from the view of any American citizen. Is this the process we are going to rely on to prevent the bankruptcy of America? Is this on what we are placing the future of America? I hope not. The Senate needs to get back to work. We need to pass a budget. It should not be that hard. American families do it every day. They figure out what their income is and they figure out how to learn to live within their means. The U.S. Government needs to figure out how to live within its means as well. Let me kind of start the process by naming a figure. I would start with $2.6 trillion. That is the amount of money President Obama, in his budget, says we will receive in revenue to the Federal Government next year--$2.6 trillion. It is $800 billion more than we spent just 10 years ago. It would pay for 100 percent of the interest payment, which is $256 billion. It would pay for all of Social Security, which is $760 billion. That totals $1 trillion. There would be $1.6 trillion to pay for all other essentials: defense, security, health and safety spending. If that is not enough--and, again, that would be living within our means--then what I believe is required is every Member of Congress, members of the administration should come down into congressional committees, and they need to, in the open, justify how much they want to spend, how much they are willing to borrow, and how much debt they are willing to pile on the backs of our children, our grandchildren, and our great-grandchildren because that is what we are doing to this country. So tonight I will leave the floor. But unless the Senate gets serious about addressing the No. 1 problem facing this Nation--our debt and deficit--I will definitely be back. I will exercise my full rights. I will do everything in my power to prevent the bankrupting of America. I yield the floor.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Mr. President, I come to the Senate floor for the second time because I am highly concerned. For the last 31 years, I have been running a manufacturing business in Oshkosh, WI. During all of that time, I have been a very careful observer about what has been happening here in Washington. I have been watching how broken and unworkable our government has become. I have been here now for 4\1/2\ months. Nothing I have seen has changed my mind. Our political process here in Washington is broken. So here is my specific concern: There seems to be a growing assumption in this town that eventually--probably at the very last minute--some kind of grand bargain is going to be struck and we will actually increase the debt ceiling limit. That would be great. It will be absolutely great if that would happen--if the administration would get serious and work with Republicans to actually address the serious fiscal issues that face this Nation. But I am not so sure we can count on that. The fact is the Democrat-controlled Senate has not passed a budget for 754 days. I don't believe we need any further evidence that our budget process in this Chamber is broken. So, in my mind, not raising the debt ceiling is a very real possibility. I am afraid this administration is totally ignoring that possibility. It appears it has absolutely no plan B. It has no contingency plan. As I mentioned, I have been running a business for the last 31 years. When you run a business, things often do not go according to plan. Every day, millions of American businessmen and businesswomen try to anticipate the problems on the horizon. They develop contingency plans in case those problems arise. That is what responsible leaders do. Government should be no different. But instead of being responsible, this administration seems to be making a concerted effort to scare the American public and scare the markets in a very transparent attempt to force Republicans in Congress to increase the debt ceiling without enacting the structural budget and spending reforms we need to make to prevent this Nation from going bankrupt. Instead of scaring the markets, the administration should be seeking to calm the markets by developing a contingency plan just in case the debt ceiling is not increased in time. That would be the prudent thing to do. That would be the responsible thing to do. So, today, I am calling on President Obama to begin planning ahead so that failure to raise the debt ceiling does not immediately turn into a totally unnecessary crisis. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin

Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Mr. President, it is my honor to represent the good people of Wisconsin in the Senate. It is an awesome responsibility--a responsibility I take very seriously. Today it is my distinct privilege to address this historic body for the first time. It is a moment in time when our Nation is in peril. Not only do we continue to face the very real threat of international terrorism, but we also face a threat of our own making, one that challenges the very foundation of this Republic. Our Nation was founded on the basis of God-given rights and individual liberty. The genius of our Founding Fathers' vision was rooted in their recognition that more often than not government was something to fear. Government necessarily limited individual freedom and, therefore, government itself must be limited--its potential for growth highly constrained. During America's first century, this vision was largely upheld. The last century, however, has been an entirely different story. In 1902, the Federal Government spent 2 percent of the Nation's gross domestic product; State and local governments spent 5 percent. Government was close to the governed. The size, scope, and cost of the Federal Government was constrained by the Constitution's enumerated powers. The individual was preeminent, and government's role was modest and pedestrian. This body played a key role in limiting Federal Government expansion. Debate in the Senate was unlimited. The cloture vote did not exist. As George Washington had said, the Senate was the saucer that cooled the tea. All that changed in the 20th century's second decade. The Senate adopted the cloture vote and America adopted the 16th amendment. The Federal Government now had the power to tax income, and the Senate had made it easier for government to grow. And guess what. Government grew. It did grow in reaction to real problems. Trusts had been formed that concentrated power and created monopolies that threatened free markets. Capital did exert too much power over labor. Balance was needed. As our Nation's prosperity grew, the elimination of poverty and retirement insecurity became a public responsibility. Private charity was simply deemed not up to the task. So government acted and government grew. From 2 percent in 1902 to today, where the Federal Government spends 25 percent of our Nation's economy, and combined all levels of government in the United States now consume 39 percent. By comparison, the size of government in Norway is 40 percent; in Greece it is 47 percent; and in France, 53 percent. In the end, I don't believe Americans want to be like France or Greece. We haven't reached that tipping point yet, but we are extremely close. There is a reason America holds 5 percent of the world's population and yet accounts for 24 percent of the world's GDP. It is because of freedom, the free market system and the American people. America became a land of unlimited opportunity because we were a nation of self- reliant people. Hard work was valued, personal responsibility expected, and success was celebrated, not demonized. I grew up in that America. I am very sad to say what I have witnessed during my lifetime is a slow but steady drift and, I would argue, over the last 2 years a lurch toward a culture of entitlement and dependency. This is not an America I recognize. It is not an America that will work. Even worse, we have granted entitlements and encouraged dependency with little thought as to how we would pay for it. We have racked up enormous debt, and now the bill is coming due. Time is running out. Last week, the government almost shut down because we were arguing over a few billion dollars, but our debt and deficits are measured in the trillions. Our problem is a thousand times larger than the current debate. Most of us recognize this is simply unsustainable. Most of us know what programs need to be reformed. Most of us want to fix the problem. So let's start addressing these issues now before it is too late. These are enormous problems and it is easy to become pessimistic, but there is reason to be hopeful. I have done a fair amount of traveling throughout Wisconsin over the last year, speaking to all kinds of people--Republicans, Democrats, union members, tea party folks. I talked about America, about how incredibly precious and exceptional it is, and how I fear we may be losing it. What I will never forget is how many people came up to me after my speeches with tears in their eyes or tears running down their cheeks-- not because I am a great public speaker but because people love this country. Their political affiliation makes absolutely no difference. Americans want this Nation preserved, and they are counting on us to do just that. The good news is they will support us if we make the hard choices together. So together let's roll up our sleeves and do what needs to be done. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. JOHNSON

Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, today the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs adopted rules of procedure for the 112th Congress. I ask unanimous consent that the rules of procedure be printed in the Record.