Tom McClintock

Mr. McCLINTOCK

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Chairman, three points: First, these amendments don't cut the fee support, only the $1 billion in direct taxpayer subsidies that would be paid into this program over the next 5 years. Under the so-called reforms referenced by the chairman, this program has doubled in cost over the past decade, and all Americans do not benefit from this program. Let's take the remote communities, like those in Alaska. This program subsidizes 61 small communities in a State with 259 airports. That means there are roughly 200 airports and 350 local communities in Alaska, alone, that seem to do just fine without Essential Air Service. If Alaska or any State believes that air service should be subsidized within their State, they certainly have the ability to do it themselves. So do individual towns. The States choose not to pay for the service; the local communities choose not to pay for the service; and, most importantly, the passengers, themselves, choose not to pay the actual cost of the service. Perhaps as we approach $1 trillion annual deficit, we should consider choosing not to pay for it either. We hear that it helps prop up small airports and small airlines that service them. Well, sure, if you hand somebody wads of cash, that person does very well. The problem is that the people you took that cash from do very poorly to exactly the same extent. A $275 million program out of a $4 trillion Federal budget seems like a drop in the bucket, and I agree we are not going to balance a $1 trillion annual deficit just by cutting programs like this. But if we can't cut a 40-year-old temporary program that has doubled in cost over the last 10 years--this is the kindest and easiest cut of all--then I fear that we will never summon the courage to get our budget back to balance before we bankrupt our country. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. McCLINTOCK

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, in December we adopted one of the most important tax reform laws in our Nation's history. It is producing higher wages, better job opportunities, and greater economic expansion than we have seen in a decade. But having cut taxes, we assumed an urgent responsibility to restrain spending. Taxes and debt are two sides of the same coin. A debt is simply a future tax. Once we have spent a dollar, we have already decided to tax it, either now or in the future. It is the spending that is the problem. Three numbers--26, 29, and 46--tell the whole story. Over the last 10 years, population and inflation have increased a combined 26 percent. Our revenues have more than kept pace, increasing 29 percent. The problem is that third number. Our spending has grown 46 percent. We are now approaching a trillion-dollar annual deficit with $21 trillion of total debt. This not only crowds out capital that would otherwise be used for economic expansion; it also produces staggering interest costs on that debt, which today amount to $475 billion a year. Our total defense spending this year is roughly $675 billion. Every 1 percent increase in interest rates adds roughly $200 billion to our annual interest costs. If capital markets believe we have no plan and no inclination to control our spending, they could soon begin demanding higher rates to compensate their added risk. That is a debt spiral. It leads to a debt crisis. Pension systems implode, basic services falter, the economy collapses, and the population flees. Puerto Rico's debt crisis has left its Government completely helpless to respond to last year's hurricanes. The instrument required to prevent this from happening is the Federal budget. It is supposed to set limits on discretionary and mandatory spending and to provide a streamlined process to adjust statutes to meet those levels. The deadline for Congress to pass such a budget was April 15. To date, the House Budget Committee has done precisely nothing to fulfill this statutory requirement and this fiscal imperative. Nothing. The Constitution gives to the House the power of the purse. A dollar is not spent by this government unless the House says it gets spent. Two months ago, having cut taxes, the House has approved a 20 percent increase in discretionary spending, placing us on a path that will inexorably lead to a sovereign debt crisis. And the House Budget Committee, over the objections of myself and others, has done nothing to produce a plan to get us off that path. Fortunately, the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus in the Congress, has stepped forward to offer a comprehensive budget for fiscal year 2019. I chair the Budget and Spending Task Force of the RSC, and I want to thank the many Members and staff who provided countless hours to produce it. The RSC budget is, at present, the only credible and comprehensive plan in Congress to turn us back toward fiscal solvency before it is too late, getting us back to balance by 2026. It combines the fiscal reforms proposed by the members of the RSC over the last several sessions, along with innovations and service delivery proposed by the CBO, the GAO, the administration, and by think tanks like Heritage Foundation and Mercatus. It shows, program by program, how we can reform them in a manner that produces more effective service delivery at a much lower cost, save Medicare and Social Security from impending collapse, and fully fund our Nation's defense. Yes, it gores every sacred cow in the Federal bureaucracy, and we will hear howls of protest from the partisans of the status quo; but we are running out of time, and we are running out of options. Those same voices have placed us on a collision course with bankruptcy, and countries that bankrupt themselves aren't around very long. A sovereign debt crisis is coming to America, and at our current rate of spending and borrowing, it could be coming very soon. I implore the House leadership to allow this budget to be brought at once to the floor and at least give the House the fleeting and perhaps final chance to avert the fiscal crisis that looms before us. Given the fact that there is no credible plan even being considered to avert this crisis, the RSC budget may represent the last best hope of restoring our government to solvency and assuring that we can continue to provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare for ourselves and our posterity.

Mr. McCLINTOCK

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I ask for adoption of the measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the Band Eastern of Cherokee Indians is a relatively small Tribe located in the Great Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina and is headquartered in Cherokee, North Carolina. The Tribe's reservation covers over 51,000 acres in a region known as the Qualla Boundary. After the completion of the Tellico Dam in Loudon County, Tennessee, in 1979, the Tribe continued in active communication with the Tennessee Valley Authority on any areas impacted that the Tribe believed was of historical significance to them. H.R. 146 would place approximately 96 acres of Tennessee Valley Authority land in Monroe County, Tennessee, along the shores of the Little Tennessee River and Tellico Reservoir into trust for the benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Gaming pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act would be prohibited. Most of the parcels to be placed in trust under this bill will be used for memorializing and interpreting the history of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and the remaining parcels will be used for recreational trails. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Fleischmann), the author of this measure, a tireless advocate for the State of Tennessee.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 146) to take certain Federal lands in Tennessee into trust for the benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. McCLINTOCK

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, President James K. Polk lived in Columbia, Tennessee, from 1819 until 1824. Other than the White House itself, the Columbia, Tennessee, site is the only surviving residence of our 11th President. It is the repository of many original artifacts from his life. Although he served a single term, Polk left our Nation with a remarkable legacy of public accomplishments, including expansion of our Western territories and the establishment of the U.S. Naval Academy. My home State of California owes him a particular debt of gratitude. Indeed, he made four campaign promises and, in 4 years, he fulfilled all four. President Polk left office in 1849, and returned to Nashville, Tennessee, where he lived for 3 months before his death. The James K. Polk home in Columbia, Tennessee, was designated as a national historic landmark in 1961. In April of 2015, the National Park Service completed a reconnaissance survey of the home and determined that the site warrants a special resource study. H.R. 443 would authorize the special resource study of the James K. Polk home to evaluate its national significance and the suitability and feasibility for a potential designation of the area as a unit of the National Park Service. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 443) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating the James K. Polk Home in Columbia, Tennessee, as a unit of the National Park System, and for other purposes.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. DesJarlais), the author of this measure and another tireless advocate for Tennessee.

Mr. McCLINTOCK

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3961) to amend the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate segments of the Kissimmee River and its tributaries in the State of Florida for study for potential addition to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. McCLINTOCK

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. McCLINTOCK

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tipton), the author of this measure and one of the leaders in the House on important issues facing the Western States.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4609 would authorize the U.S. Forest Service to convey 3.61 acres of land to Dolores County, Colorado, for the purpose of building a fire station for the community of West Fork. Currently, area residents must rely on a fire protection district located 26 miles away to provide critical firefighting and emergency services to the community. Frequent and devastating wildfires have ravaged the Western States, making it more vital than ever that every community is prepared to protect itself against fire and other catastrophic events. H.R. 4609 will improve local fire and emergency services to the community of West Fork and will ensure that residents of the West Fork area will be prepared for catastrophic events without expending any new Federal dollars. Mr. Speaker, I want to note the hard work that Representative Tipton has put into this bill, and I salute his efforts and leadership. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCLINTOCK

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the National Park Service currently manages 11 units that provide medical services to park visitors, employees, and nearby residents, including Yosemite in my district, Yellowstone, Zion, the Grand Canyon, and Death Valley. These include a wide range of services, including emergency medical services, ambulance transport, and clinical services. They treat colds; they set broken bones; they stabilize heart attacks and strokes; they evacuate the severely injured and treat thousands of patients annually. These national park units are typically located in remote areas, which means that they are often the only option patients have to receive timely medical care, especially in emergency situations. In the case of Yosemite, the medical clinic has operated in the valley since 1929. Like other medical clinics in our national parks, it serves the park and concessionaire employees, their families, and tens of thousands of daily park visitors. The Yosemite medical clinic is a million-dollar-a-year operation, maintaining a full-time staff and sophisticated medical treatment to treat and stabilize any number of serious injuries and sudden illnesses that confront a population of a moderately sized town. But here is the problem: Any other medical clinic would be able to use the fees it collects to finance its operations, to plan for amortizing equipment purchases and expansions, and to match its expenses to the revenues it generates, but not so our national park medical clinics. Under current law, the fees collected by our national park clinics must go directly to the national Treasury, and the parks must then rely on annual appropriations to replace those funds, with no certainty they will return and no ability to plan long-term improvements. This bill changes all of that. It would establish a separate trust fund in the Treasury, still under the control of Congress but dedicated to be returned to the clinics that generate these funds in the first place. H.R. 3607 will allow the National Park Service to retain revenues to help offset the costs of providing medical services. It establishes a national park medical services fund at the Treasury. The fund will consist of fees collected for medical services provided to persons in units of the National Park System and through other donations. My bill will help the National Park Service to provide higher quality patient care with industry standard equipment and technology; assist with training relating to providing the necessary medical services; develop management plans for medical facilities; and obtain or improve medical facilities, equipment, vehicles, and other needs and costs of providing medical services to visitors and staff of our national parks. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3607) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to establish fees for medical services provided in units of the National Park System, and for other purposes, as amended.