Scott McInnis

Mr. McINNIS

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield three minutes to the gentleman from Colorado [Mr. Schaefer] who is also chairman of the subcommittee. (Mr. SCHAEFER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 15 minutes to the fine gentleman from the State of Texas [Mr. Barton].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I would remind my colleagues that the issue we are talking about right now is the rule, and we have an open rule. It came out of the Committee on Rules on a unanimous voice vote. I do not want everyone's attention being diverted away from the fact that the debate on this issue will take place when the bill comes up. Right now the issue is the rule. I respect the gentleman's arguments, but I would point out, let us focus back on the rule. It is an open rule. There is no reason anyone in here should object to the rule because it will allow the kind of healthy debate we have just seen.

Mr. McINNIS. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, the gentleman will have that opportunity to amend, and I certainly appreciate where the gentleman comes from and his purpose in affording that debate, but I do want to remind all of us that we will have a lot more time for debate, so I think we should try to wrap this rule up. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Fields]. (Mr. FIELDS of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. What is the rule doing down here? I would once again remind my colleagues it is down here because we passed it by unanimous consent on a voice vote. It is an open rule. We should not have this kind of debate on this rule, which is what everybody has an opportunity to amend. Let me go back just a second. I would ask the gentleman from Texas to respond to a question, and I will yield to the gentleman for that response, and it is, does he support the open rule? That is, I think, the crux of what we are arguing here. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Doggett].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Fields].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Fields].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Maine [Mr. Longley]. (Mr. LONGLEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Hall]. (Mr. HALL of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remark.)

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California [Mr. Beilenson] from the Committee on Rules.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Fields].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, as we wrap up the debate here, I would just want to remind my colleagues that the issue in front of us is the rule. The rule came out of the Committee on Rules on a unanimous vote. It is an open rule. Today we have heard some very good debate. We have heard healthy debate. There is going to be an opportunity if this rule passes, which I fully expect it to do on voice vote here on the House floor, then all of this debate can be presented again at the proper time. With that, Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from the State of California, my colleague on the Committee on Rules, and would urge a ``yes'' vote on the rule. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution. The previous question was ordered.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from California, [Mr. Beilenson], pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During the consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 313 is a very simple resolution. The proposed rule is an open rule providing for 1 hour of general debate divided equally between the chairman and ranking minority member of the Committee on Commerce. After general debate, the bill shall be considered as read for amendment under the 5 minute rule. The resolution allows the Chair to accord priority recognition to Members who have preprinted their amendments in the Congressional Record. Finally, Mr. Speaker, the rule provides one motion to recommit with or without instructions. Mr. Speaker, the chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Mr. Bliley, requested an open rule for this legislation. This open rule was reported out of the Committee on Rules by unanimous voice vote. Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, I voted against this legislation under the suspension of the rules because I felt that this legislation should be thoroughly debated. Under the proposed rule, each Member has an opportunity to have their concerns addressed, debated, and ultimately voted up or down by this body. I urge my colleagues to support this rule, as well as the underlying legislation. Mr. Speaker, I include the following data for the Record.

Mr. McINNIS

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, we need a Government that keeps on ticking, but we do not need a Government that keeps on giving. This balanced budget is the most serious crisis of this generation. there is not a family in America that finds themselves in a situation where they spend more money than they bring in that they do not call it a crisis. There is not a family in America that if they got them selves into the same kind of situation as this Government, spending more than they bring in, would not sit down at a table and say, you know something, somewhere we are going to have to reduce the amount of money that we are spending. Our problem back here in Washington, D.C., by the way, is not a lack of money. We have plenty of money in Washington. We have twice as much as we did 10 years ago. Our problem back here in the Nation's Capital is spending. We are spending more money than we bring in. Our problem back here is not a lack of taxes. In fact, the average person in this country spends the first 2 hours and 45 minutes of every working day just paying their taxes. Like an old farmer one time told me, before you put more water in the bucket, you better plug the holes. That is what is happening in this Government. We need to plug the holes. We need to reduce this spending. You cannot tax the American people anymore. And the American people have every right to expect this Government to conduct its business as we expect them, the constituents, our bosses, to conduct their business. Mr. Speaker, what will happen if we can balance this budget? First of all, let me tell my colleagues that the President, regardless of all of the rhetoric that goes on, regardless of what the President says right now, I can guarantee my colleagues that this President will be forced to accept a 7-year balanced budget; I can guarantee my colleagues that this President will be forced to have that scored by the Congressional Budget Office; and I can guarantee my colleagues that the President is going to have to address entitlement programs. Mr. Speaker, if my colleagues think entitlement progarms in this country are run well, ask anybody how well our welfare system is run. Imagine winning $100 million in the lottery and wanting to give $50 million of it to the poor people in this country. Would anyone send that to Washington, DC for distribution to the poor people in this country? Of course they would not. The system is broken, and the President is going to have to be part of the solution in fixing that. Mr. Speaker, another thing we have got to do is we have got to restore confidence in the American people. How confident can the American people be that business in Washington is changing when we have the Secretary of Energy traveling around the country in one of her jet rides that costs $400,000 just for the jet, taking an entourage of 50 or 60 or 70 staff people with her, having 500 people to handle public relations? We cannot allow that to go on. How confident can the American people be when we stand by and let that happen? The President should immediately ask for, and the Secretary of Energy should immediately submit, her resignation. We need to look at the scare tactics that are being deployed, and we have heard some of them on this floor today. Mr. Speaker, we are not ending Medicaid. We are doing it in a different way. We are sending the money to the States and bypassing the bureacruacy in Washington, DC. Medicare is not being eliminated. Mr. Speaker, if we listened to some of the scare tactics, we would think there will be no more school lunches for kids. That is obviously false. Not one kid who got a lunch this year is going to be denied lunch next year. We would believe that students will not get loans and the senior citizens are going to be thrown out in the street to starve. We would think all of these dramatic things are going to happen. Mr. Speaker, a year from now, after this President is forced to accept a 7-year balanced budget and after this President is forced to have it scored by the CBO, a year from now we are not going to find any of that having occurred. In fact, what we are going to find is lower interest rates. We are going to find that the next generation has got this generation paying off its credit card so that we do not send that debt on to the next generation. That debt right now accrues at a rate of $30 million an hour. This next generation is watching our generation overspend the budget by $30 million an hour. What will we see a year from now? We are going to see that come to an end. We are going to see the U.S. Government in Washington, DC do as 48 States do, and every family in America is expected to do, and that is to balance their budget, to not spend more money than they bring in. Mr. Speaker, let me say that our issue back here is spending. We are not cutting Medicare; we are reducing the growth of Medicare. The President's proposal, by the way, on Medicare is very similar to ours. If some of these people get up talk about the Republicans and want to use the word ``cut,'' they better talk about their own President. Mr. Speaker, we need to stop the spending in Washington and we need to control. With that, I would just urge and tell the American people I am positive and optimistic that we will have a balanced budget and all of us, including the next generation and especially the next generation, will be better off for it.

Mr. McINNIS

Mr. McINNIS. Order in the House, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, it is all very, very simple. The President made a deal, and the people of America expect the President to stick to his deal. Granted, the President does not have a very good track record. I looked in the Wall Street Journal today and they have got an ad. Let me repeat what that ad says. ``Without a balanced budget, the party is over, no matter which party you are in. There are moments in history when a single choice can make the difference between vastly differing futures, one a bright future, the other a dark. We believe that you, the political leaders of this country, are now confronting such a choice in your deliberations over a plan to balance the Federal budget.'' It comes back to a balanced budget. The President made that promise to the American people. All of us saw it. All of us rejoiced because this President said he would agree to a 7-year balanced budget, which surprised all of us, because, as you remember, he went to 5 to 9, 8, but he agreed in writing to a 7-year budget scored by the CBO. Yesterday he put a bunch of children behind him, kind of as props and attacks everybody who is expecting him to keep his word. It is very simple. Mr. President, keep your word to the American people. When you talk to those children, talk to them about Scout's honor, talk to them about the importance of keeping your word. That is what it all comes down to.

Mr. McINNIS. Prior to the distraction, we got back to the key issue here, and the key issue is we have got to reach a balanced budget. That is what the American people expect, and that is what this Congress should deliver, and in a few moments, we are going to get an opportunity to vote on the proposal the President calls a balanced budget. I would venture to say very few Republicans are going to support that, excuse me, very few Democrats are going to support that, because they know, as we know, that his proposal will not balance the budget.

Mr. McINNIS

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, this is an opportunity today to visit with all of you. Of course the last 48 hours we have had a very busy weekend. I think we have come up to a compromise, but I am a little discouraged this morning to see some of my colleagues on the floor come to you and act as if they have been strong warriors for a balanced budget over the period of time that some of them have served in this office. Let me tell you that all of a sudden, some of my colleagues cannot rush fast enough to embrace the words ``balanced budget,'' so that they can say to the American people, you know, I have been for a balanced budget all this time. The question is not whether or not we balance the budget, the question is how we do it. That is their little wiggle room that some of these people are using. I think it is important that we look at the history of this country. A lot of these people that are talking to us, a lot of our colleagues that are talking that way, have served in previous Congresses. We have not had a balanced budget come out of these Chambers in 25 years. The Federal Government has not reduced Federal spending in 40 years. Look at what this deficit is doing and the debt is doing to the American people. Where are they, Johnny-come-latelies; where have they gone? It is about time they embraced a balanced budget. I tell you it is about time the President, who by the way said when he ran for office he would produce a balanced budget plan in 5 years, then he switched it to 10 years, then he dropped to 7 years, then he went to 8 years, then he went back to 7 years, then he was back to 10, and finally last night, finally last night, we got the President to commit to a 7-year balanced budget. Why is that so critical for the American people? What is the deficit doing to us? Take a look at what it accrues. It accrues at $30 million an hour. This Government spends $30 million an hour more than it brings in. The average person in America, each person in America, not the average, excuse me, each person in America owes $18,000 on the Federal debt. For a family of four, what is that, over $60,000, almost $60,000 in the debt for a family of four. Do you know that a child born this year, a child born this year, will owe out of their lifetime earnings, if we do not do something about this deficit, if the President does not keep his word to do it in a 7- year period of time, that child will owe $180,000 of their lifetime earnings just to pay interest on the Federal debt. Now some of the preceding speakers have stood up here and said, take a look at the vets, take a look at Medicare, take a look at welfare, take a look at every entitlement program out there. What they are trying to convince all of you is that you could reach a balanced budget without touching entitlement programs. We can. We do not have to cut entitlement programs. We do have to control their growth. Do not let anyone stand up here in front of you and pretend that we are going to be able to balance the budget of this country without cutting growth on some of these Federal programs. You cannot cut the growth on every other program except entitlement programs, and even have a hope of ever balancing this deficit. Do you know that if we went out to every Federal agency next year, every Federal agency out there, and we said to those agencies, look, you do not have to cut one penny out of your budget, you do not have to cut one penny out of your budget, but next year your budget can only grow at a rate of 1 percent, you can only grow at a rate of one penny on the dollar, if we could get the Federal agencies to do that, we would balance this problem, the annual deficit, in probably a 4-year period of time. Now you are going to hear some of my colleagues say, well, where is this 7 years; where did they get 7 years? Did the Speaker just pull it out of the sky? I can remember when the Speaker explained to us why the 7 years. You know what he said to us? I thought it made a lot of sense. He said to us, we could balance this budget this year, we could balance it in 4 years, we could balance it in 3 years. Then it would be so harsh on the American people that the hardships would overcome the benefit of the balance of the budget. Seven years is a period of time that, yes, everybody is going to have to pitch in, but it is not going to be especially painful for any particular group. I take that back, any particular group. We are going to have some pretty basic requirements out there on some groups. For example, we have some able-bodied people in our country who draw Federal benefits because they are not working. They ought to be working. I do not have any problem with saying to those people, you know something, you can work, you are able to work, and you ought to work. I do not think it is particularly harsh on you when we do welfare reform to say, look, we are not going to let this go on forever. So I encourage all of us to work together to get this balanced budget.

Mr. McINNIS

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, first of all, in regards to the preceding speaker, it is her kind of math, frankly, we have gotten a problem with. It has been 49 days since the end of the fiscal year, not 59 days. Second of all, Mr. speaker, I would like to finish my comments. The other comment I would like to make is, as I recall the previous Speaker's statements from earlier in the year, the criticism to this side of the aisle is we are going too fast, you are going too fast, slow it down. I think both sides of the aisle can work on this. Let us get it completed and get a commitment from the President to balance the budget within 7 years. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to my friend, the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Graham].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Young].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Kolbe]. (Mr. KOLBE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to my friend, the gentleman from Arkansas [Mr. Dickey].

Mr. McINNIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute and 45 seconds to my good friend, the gentlewoman from Maryland [Mrs. Morella].