Jerrold Nadler

Mr. NADLER

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

Mr. NADLER

Mr. NADLER. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, how much time remains, please?

Mr. NADLER. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott).

Mr. NADLER. I yield the gentlelady an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey).

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I would simply point out that when S&P downgraded our debt, they were so well respected that the interest rates went down and the price of our bonds went up. So much for S&P. I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind).

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett).

Mr. NADLER. I yield the gentleman an additional 1 minute.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I would point out that families are able to borrow to pay for the car and to pay for the mortgage. Under this amendment the Federal Government would never be able to borrow. It's quite different. Mr. Speaker, I now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Boswell).

Mr. NADLER. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, it is now my privilege to yield 4 minutes to a member of the Ways and Means Committee, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal).

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I would point out that if this amendment passed, we would never be able to borrow money to do the infrastructure that we need. I now yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi).

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, Social Security and Medicare will be there unless we pass this balanced budget amendment because this balanced budget amendment will cause the inability to pay for them. The trust fund is amply funded right now for Social Security. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes to reply to what the gentleman just said. The fact is, the reason this country is in such deficit is because of a deliberate Republican crusade over the last 30 years to reduce taxes on the rich in order to deliberately create huge deficits, and to then use those deficits as the excuse to justify large cuts to gut Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and education programs that they have never liked in the first place but could not justify cutting without it. Taxes used to be 18 to 19 percent of the economy, of GDP. Now they're about 14 percent of GDP, and yet the Republicans won't increase it because we have decreased the taxes on the rich and on the corporations. The country is not broke; we're just not taxing the millionaires and the billionaires the way we used to. And the fact is, you look at the history here. When Ronald Reagan took over as President of the United States, the entire national debt of the United States accumulated from George Washington through Jimmy Carter was less than $800 billion. Then you had 12 years of Reagan and the first Bush cutting taxes on the rich. When Clinton took over, you had a $4.3 trillion deficit, and it was expected to go much higher. We made the tough decisions; we voted for increased taxes in 1993 and for cutting the budget. And when Clinton left office 8 years later, the budget had been balanced. But from the time we made that vote in 1993, the deficit decreased every year until it became a surplus, then it increased every year. And when Bush II took over, we were looking at a $5.7 trillion surplus over the next 10 years, and we were going to pay off the entire national debt. Then we had those huge Bush tax cuts and the irresponsible, unpaid-for wars. And when Bush left office, we had a $9.5 trillion deficit--a turnaround of $15 trillion--and a recession, which causes the bigger deficits now.

Mr. NADLER. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from New York (Ms. Velazquez).

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, how much time does each side have remaining?

Mr. NADLER. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NADLER. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, how much time do we have, please?

Mr. NADLER. I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Connolly).