Mike Ross

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Yes, I would.

Mr. ROSS. As we wind down this hour that we do every Tuesday night, as members of the 37-member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog coalition, I would like to remind you, Madam Speaker, the reason why deficits matter, deficits reduce economic growth. They burden our children and grandchildren's liabilities. They increase our reliance on foreign lenders who now own some 46 percent of our publicly held debt. It matters because as a Nation, at a time when we are spending half a billion dollars a day simply paying interest, not principal, just interest on the national debt, we are also increasing that debt. We are increasing it to the tune of about a billion dollars a day, $260 million every day going to Iraq, $33 million every day going to Afghanistan, but do not dare ask how a single dime of your tax money, $260 million a day going to Iraq, $33 million a day going to Afghanistan, do not dare ask this administration how it is being spent. Do not dare ask them because they will say you are unpatriotic. As taxpayers, I think this administration has a duty and an obligation to let the taxpayers understand that he has, that this President has a plan on how this $260 million a day is being spent of your tax money. We all want to make sure that our soldiers get the equipment they need and get taken care of and can get back home to their families as soon as possible. And the President, if he is going to spend $260 million in a day to Iraq, he ought to give us a plan. He ought to give us a plan. He owes it to the American taxpayers. He certainly owes it to our troops.

Mr. ROSS. I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza), the co-chair of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, for joining me this evening. I want to thank the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Matheson) for joining me this evening, the co-chair for administration within the Blue Dog Coalition. And, Madam Speaker, if you have got comments, concerns, or questions regarding our discussion this evening about the budget, the debt and the deficit, the manufactured homes sitting in a pasture in Hope, Arkansas, I would encourage you to e-mail me. Bluedog@mail.house.gov. That is bluedog@mail.house.gov. As we finish this Special Order each week, it is a very sobering thing that we do. As you can see, when we started this hour, the national debt was $8,270,385,415,129-and-some-change. Just in the hour that we have been on the floor this evening discussing the budget, the debt, the deficit and, yes, a solution, a 12-point plan for budget reform, the deficit has increased by approximately $41,666,000. It is a very sobering thing that we do at the end of this hour each Tuesday night. But the national debt, 60 minutes later, is no longer this number here. It is $8,270,430,081,129. So, again, the deficit now, at the beginning of this evening it was $8,270,385,415,129-and-some- change. One hour later it has increased approximately $41,666,000. The national debt now stands at $8,270,430,081,129-and-some-change. Madam Speaker, we will be back next Tuesday evening. Well, Congress is on recess next week. But the following week we will be back on Tuesday evening to continue this discussion about the budget, the debt, and the deficit. We raise these issues because, you see, my grandparents left this country better than they found it for my parents. And my parents left this country better than they found it for our generation. And, Madam Speaker, I believe we have a duty and an obligation to try and leave this country better than we found it for our children and our grandchildren. That is why we are here.

Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Utah, and the gentleman from Utah raises a couple of good points. First and foremost is that as members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog coalition, 37 members strong, we are sick and tired of all the partisan bickering that goes on at our Nation's Capitol. It should not matter if it is a Democratic idea or a Republican idea. It ought to matter that it is a commonsense idea and does it make sense for the people that send us here to be their voice in our Nation's Capitol? I see these Democrats that vote 98 percent of the time with the Democratic Party, and I see these Republicans that vote 98 percent of the time with the Republican Party. And I submit to you, you do not need a brain to do that. And I do not think that is why people sent us here. I think they sent us here to look at the issue and to judge it on its merits and whether it makes sense for the people back home. There is a lot of criticism that goes on in this Chamber, a lot of people that criticize each other and each party. We are here tonight to point out that there is a problem: the largest budget deficit ever in our Nation's history. The largest debt ever in our Nation's history. More importantly, as the gentleman from Utah pointed out, we are here this evening to offer up our plan, our plan for a budget reform, our plan, a 12-point reform plan, for curing our Nation's addiction to deficit spending. The gentleman from Utah raised two of 12 points very eloquently. One of those is require agencies to put their fiscal house in order. Again, that is just a commonsense idea. But as the gentleman said 16, 16 of 23 major Federal agencies cannot issue a simple audit of their books. Worse, the Federal Government cannot account for $24.5 billion it spent in 2003. Government auditors should be doing a better job of tracking taxpayer dollars, and the Blue Dog Coalition proposes a budget freeze on any Federal agency that cannot properly balance its books. Another point the gentleman from Utah raised was requiring a balanced budget. As he pointed out, 49 States in America require a balance budget. I served for 10 years in the Senate in Arkansas. We were required to provide for a balanced budget. My wife makes sure that we have a balanced budget at the Ross household in Prescott, Arkansas. And our banker requires us to have a balanced budget at our family pharmacy that we own back home in Prescott, Arkansas. As members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we support a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget every year except in times of war or a national emergency. The Blue Dogs believe a balanced budget amendment is the only way, the only way to ensure fiscal discipline in Congress. The Blue Dog balanced budget amendment would require a three- fifths vote of both the House and Senate to increase the debt limit or to waive the balanced budget requirement. In addition, the Blue Dog balanced budget amendment protects Social Security from benefit cuts and forbids increases in Social Security payroll taxes in order to balance the budget. Let me repeat: our amendment protects Social Security from benefit cuts and forbids increases in Social Security, payroll taxes in order to balance the budget. Madam Speaker, again, the Blue Dog Coalition, who are we? We are 37 members strong. We are a group of fiscally conservative Democrats who are trying to offer up some common sense, some new direction, and some leadership on fiscal issues in this Congress. Madam Speaker, if you have any comments or questions for us, I would invite you, Madam Speaker, to e-mail us at BlueDog@mail.house.gov. That is BlueDog@mail.house.gov. At this time in this Special Order on the budget, the debt, the deficit, and the manufactured homes in Hope, Arkansas, a good example of a lack of accountability in this administration and this Republican- led Congress, I am pleased to call on the co-chair for communications within the Blue Dog Coalition. Someone that has been elected to a leadership position in the Blue Dog Coalition. Someone that I have a great deal of respect for, and that is the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza).

Mr. ROSS. Oh, yeah.

Mr. ROSS. Madam Speaker, on behalf of the 37-member strong fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 37 fiscally conservative Democrats that have a common goal, and that is to restore some common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government, and on behalf of the Blue Dog Coalition, I rise this evening as I do every Tuesday evening to discuss the debt, the deficit, the budget and accountability within our government because I believe, as Members of Congress, Members of this body, we were sent here by the American people to be good stewards of our tax dollars. I grew up at Midway United Methodist Church just outside of Prescott, in Hope, Arkansas. Heard a lot of sermons growing up about what it meant to be a good steward. And what I learned growing up at Midway Methodist Church about stewardship I believe also applies to being good stewards of our tax dollars. And, Madam Speaker, I rise this evening because today the U.S. national debt is $8,270,385,415,129 and some change. Again, that is a lot of numbers, and sometimes I get them a little confused. $8,270,385,415,129. For every man and woman and child in America, including those being born right now, each individual in America's share, every man, woman and child's share of the national deb, comes to some $27,000 and some change. It is hard to believe now, but from 1998 through 2001, we had a balanced budget in this Nation. And yet for the last 6 years, this administration and this Republican Congress have given us the largest budget deficit ever, ever in our Nation's history. It is time to restore some common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government, and it must start with accountability. Madam Speaker, we all, our heart goes out to all the people that were impacted as a result of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Our heart goes out to so many people who lost their home and literally everything that they owned. It has been 7 months since that storm, and yet there are still so many things that are not happening the way they should within this administration and within FEMA, and one of those things is happening in my back yard. I grew up in Prescott, Emmett and Hope, and went eighth through 12th grade at Hope public schools, graduated from Hope High School in 1979. I will be back there this coming Monday evening to keynote their annual chamber of commerce banquet. But shortly after Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency showed up at the mayor's office at city hall in Hope, Arkansas, saying this. They showed up and they said, you know, Mr. Mayor, you have got this old World War II Army airport facility at your airport, these inactive runways, inactive taxiways, inactive tarmacs; and we want to use this as a FEMA staging area. And we are going to have manufactured homes, these 60-and 80-foot-long manufactured homes, 14- foot wide, two and three bedroom fully furnished manufactured homes coming and going, coming into the staging area at the airport, these inactive closed military runways from the World War II days; and then they will be coming in, they will be going out. Well, Madam Speaker, they came and they came and they came and they came and they came, but they never left. Well, now some 300 have left. 10,777 brand new, fully furnished manufactured homes arrived at the airport in Hope, Arkansas, with the theory being that they would all be stored on these inactive runways. Today about 25 percent of them are stored on these inactive runways. 75 percent of them are stored in a pasture. In the past I have referred to it as a cow pasture. And the mayor down there in Hope reminded me there have not been cows in that field in a long, long time. But the point I am trying to get across is 75 percent of these manufactured homes are just sitting there on grass. Someone told me the other day to start calling it a hay meadow. 75 percent of them are just sitting there on the grass. In fact, Madam Speaker, if you have ever wondered what 10,777 manufactured homes look like, that is just a sampling of them with an aerial view. This is the active runway at Hope. These are the inactive runways. As you can see, they tried their best to store them on them, but then they ran out of room. If you wonder why I call it a cow pasture, this gives you a pretty good close up view of it. There is your barbwire fence. There is the pasture. And there is the manufactured homes just sitting there. These were actually parked in my home town of Prescott waiting to get into the FEMA staging area in Hope. Now in all fairness, when I raised this issue there were 10,777 manufactured homes sitting in Hope, Arkansas. They have since moved 300 of those to Louisiana. 300 out of 10,777, which obviously if you do the math means we have still got 10,477 manufactured homes sitting in Hope, Arkansas at the airport and in this pasture, this hay meadow. And what is appalling about that is that 7 months after this storm in the middle of winter, in places like Pass Christian, Mississippi, there are still people living in tents, living in tents at a time that we have 10,477 brand new fully furnished manufactured homes sitting in Hope, Arkansas, 450 miles from the eye of the storm To put it another way, if you stack them end to end, they will stretch from Texas to Mississippi. There are $431 million worth of manufactured homes sitting at the airport. I was down there with the Democratic Leader of the Senate, Senator Reid, and Senator Pryor just this past Saturday urging FEMA once again to get moving, urging FEMA once again to get these manufactured homes to the people that need them. What does FEMA say? Well, we will not put them in a flood zone, we will not put them in a floodplain. And under a normal situation, I would say that makes sense. But the reality is, that everybody that lost their home that needs a home, their land is in a flood plain. And surely to goodness FEMA knew that before they purchased 10,000 of these brand new fully furnished manufactured homes. So what is FEMA's response? FEMA's response is that this week they have awarded a bid, just in the last few days at least, they have awarded a bid, and they are beginning to gravel, they are beginning to gravel 170 acres of this pasture land, costing the taxpayers $4.2 million, so that they can continue to store these manufactured homes out of fear that sitting on the pasture they are eventually going to begin to sink. Madam Speaker, that is an example of the lack of accountability within our Government. That is how our Government, this Republican Congress, this President, is spending our tax money. And all I can tell you, Madam Speaker, is all it takes is an executive order of the President to require FEMA to locate these 10,477 manufactured homes to the people who need them who lost their home and everything they own in Louisiana. The President can do it with one signature on one piece of paper. But since he has refused to do that, I am proud to share with you that I have written a bill, introduced a bill into this session of Congress, that would basically require FEMA to get moving, to require FEMA to temporarily locate these to the people who need them in Louisiana. Finally, the most important part of this is that these manufactured homes are not permanent housing, they are temporary housing for 18 months. What is worse? To have these 10,477 manufactured homes spread over multiple flood plains in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, or have them all sitting there in this pasture at the airport in Hope, where there will be a tornado watch or a tornado warning every 10 days for the next 3 months. This area is commonly referred to as Tornado Alley. My home county is one county over. We had tornado watches just this weekend. This is an example of how taxpayers are fed up with our Government. This is an example of the lack of accountability in our Government And as a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 37 fiscally conservative Democrats, we rise this evening to ask the President, to ask this Republican Congress, to exercise some common sense and good judgment and join us in trying to get FEMA to get these manufactured homes out of Hope and to the people who so desperately need them. Now for the rest of this hour, we are going to be talking about accountability. We are going to be talking about the debt, we are going to be talking about the deficit, we are going to be talking about the budget. Madam Speaker, I am extremely pleased this evening to be joined by a real leader within the Blue Dog Coalition, someone who has been elected the co-chair for administration within the Blue Dog Coalition, the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Matheson).

Mr. ROSS. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California, and to clarify, it is about half a billion dollars. I believe it is about $431 million worth of manufactured homes sitting there in that pasture at the airport.

Mr. ROSS. Some of those are in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, several staging areas, but by far, 10,477. When you were there, there were 10,777, and the good news is 300 have left. There is still 10,477 manufactured homes, brand new, fully furnished sitting there in a pasture at the airport in Hope. The Inspector General had indicated they were sinking in the mud. Not true. Our farm families can just tell you, we have just faced the worst drought ever. Our farmers are used to 50 inches of rain. We did not get 25. We are not sinking in the mud yet. Instead of getting them off the pasture before winter weather sets in and spring weather sets in and they do begin to sink, instead of getting these homes to the people who need them, FEMA's response is we are going to spend $4.2 million graveling, graveling, 170 acres out here so they will not just sit here on the pasture like they are doing right there. Again, people like this in places like Pass Christian, Mississippi, continue 7 months later to live in a tent while our Federal Government, this administration, has 10,477 brand new, fully furnished manufactured homes sitting at the Hope airport in Hope, Arkansas. I am convinced there is a lot more wrong with FEMA than Michael Brown, its former director, and I can tell you that if I was President of the United States I would be finding me a new FEMA director. The gentleman from California pointed out the real United States 2005 deficit is $760 billion and explained how we come up with that. Again, the deficit for 2005, based on a cash-basis accounting is $319 billion. We do not need to make it any worse than that. I mean, that is one of the worst budget deficits ever in our Nation's history. Again, it is hard to believe we had a balanced budget for the first time in 40 years from 1998-2001, but we did. In 2005, on cash-basis accounting, which is what our government, our Congress, this administration, uses when it comes to the budget, the deficit was $319 billion. When we say the real United States deficit for 2005 was $760 billion, that is based on accrual accounting. Again, it was former Senator John Glenn when he was a Member here in the United States Congress that passed the law that said the Secretary of Treasury must issue a financial report of the United States Government every year. Again, when they issued the budget, the budget is delivered with a lot of fanfare to Capitol Hill. You see it on the news and read about it in the paper and hear about it on the radio. Thousands of copies are delivered. There is at least one copy delivered, usually several, to every congressional Member's office. But when it comes to the financial report of the United States government, only about 20 copies are delivered to Capitol Hill, and that is because this administration, this Republican Congress, does not want you to know the truth about the debt, the deficit and the budget. Now, do not take our word for it. This is David Walker, who is the Comptroller General of the United States General Accountability Office. What did he say: The current financial reporting model does not clearly and transparently show the wide range of responsibilities, programs and activities. It provides a potentially unrealistic and misleading picture of the Federal Government's overall performance, financial condition and future fiscal outlook. That is David Walker, and obviously, as I indicated earlier, he is the Comptroller General of the United States General Accountability Office. Now, when we talk about instead of using cash base accounting and accrual base accounting, what is all that about, well, I can tell you our government, our Congress, demands every business is required to use the accrual method of accounting if the business has inventory, if the business is a C corporation, or if there are annual sales of $5 million dollars. This accrual accounting is the method that this Congress demands businesses in America to use, including our family business back home in Preston, and if I do not use accrual accounting, I am trouble in with the IRS and our government, and yet, our own government that sets these rules in place does not use this method of accounting. They use the cash-base accounting method which is a way for them to play games with the numbers and indicate that the deficit for 2005 was $319 billion instead of $760 billion. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. ROSS. I would like to invite the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Matheson), co-chair for administration within the 37-Member strong fiscally conservative Democratic coalition to join us. And one of the things we talked about is we want to point out the problem, and there is a problem. Madam Speaker, if you have comments for the Blue Dogs, I would encourage you to e-mail us at bluedog@mail.house.gov. That is bluedog@mail.house.gov. We welcome, Madam Speaker, your comments, concerns, or questions. One of the things that we have talked about is this debt, and let me just say that the reason the debt should matter to you is because our Nation is spending a half billion dollars a day. A half billion, with a ``b,'' dollars a day simply paying interest on the national debt. You know, I have got a lot of folks in my district that have been waiting for longer than I have been alive for I-69 to be completed through Arkansas. It is going to take about $1.5 billion to do that. I could build I-69 across Arkansas, across my district, and create jobs and economic opportunities with just 3 days' interest on the national debt. On the western side of my district, everybody has been waiting since I was a small child for I-49 to come through that part of my district, which my district is about half of Arkansas. Again, it is about $1.5 billion. Just with 3 days' interest on the national debt, I could build I-49 through Arkansas. We could build 100 brand-new elementary schools every single day in America just on the interest we are paying on the national debt. So it is what we refer to in the Blue Dog Coalition as the debt tax, D-E-B-T. The debt tax. And that is one tax that cannot go away until we restore some common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. As long as we have these massive interest payments hanging over our head as a Nation, then America's real priorities and America's future will hang in the balance waiting for an opportunity for us to meet America's real priorities. Now, the gentleman from Utah indicated to us about the fact of what we are all about. We are not just here to criticize. We do have a problem. We have to acknowledge the problem, and we have to point out the problem; but we are here to offer up a solution. We have a plan, a plan for meaningful budget reform, a plan for curing our Nation's addiction to deficit spending. I would welcome the gentleman from Utah to go through the other 10 points with us. And I would welcome the gentleman from California to jump in at any point, and I would love for us to just have a discussion here about the Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan. I yield to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Matheson).

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Madam Speaker, I only see one Member standing on this motion.

Mr. ROSS. Madam Speaker, I do not see a sufficient number standing.

Mr. ROSS. Madam Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Madam Speaker, as the sponsor of this legislation, I rise in support of H.R. 4192, a bill to designate the William Jefferson Clinton birthplace home located in my hometown of Hope, Arkansas, as a national historic site and unit of the National Park System. First, I would like to thank Chairman Pombo, Chairman Saxton and Ranking Member Rahall and Ranking Member Christensen for their support and their assistance in moving this bill from the Resources Committee in a bipartisan manner to the floor of the United States House of Representatives. Madam Speaker, what we have just witnessed from the gentlewoman from Florida is an example of the kind of partisan bickering that the people back home are sick and tired of. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue. This is about America, and it is about our Nation's history. Madam Speaker, what the gentlewoman from Florida obviously does not get is the fact that this is about history. We have only had 42 Presidents in the history of this Nation; and I believe all of them, Democrat and Republican alike, if their birthplace home is still standing, it should be an historic site because it is a part of history. I am pleased to have the entire Arkansas congressional delegation supporting this bill in a bipartisan manner including Congressman Boozman from Arkansas, Congressman Berry from Arkansas, Congressman Snyder from Arkansas; and I am proud that this bill was passed out of the Resources Committee and placed on the suspension calendar by our leaders in both parties that recognized it for what it is, about history, not about politics. So I am deeply, deeply saddened that one Member out of 435 has chosen to try to divide us once again by taking a history lesson and turning it into a partisan ball game. In my mind and in the minds of my colleagues from Arkansas there is no doubt this important property in Hope, Arkansas deserves Federal recognition. I believe the preservation of properties of historical significance is a necessary and important function of our government. The designation as a national historic site and unit of the National Park System will open the doors for further economic opportunities and prosperity for the city of Hope and all of southwest Arkansas. This site will celebrate, it will celebrate the history and educate thousands of visitors on the early life of our 42nd President of the United States of America, President William Jefferson Clinton, who came into this world on August 19, 1946, as William Jefferson Blythe, III, in Hope, Arkansas, just 3 months after his father tragically died in a car accident. I mentioned that this has bipartisan support, Madam Speaker. This is about economic development. It is about tourism. It is about history. It is about maintaining and protecting and preserving an historic site, the birthplace home of the 42nd President of the United States of America. Our Republican Governor in Arkansas gets it. And I want to thank him for that, and I want to share with my colleagues and make a part of the Record a letter I received dated yesterday from our Republican Governor, Mike Huckabee who, too, grew up in Hope, Arkansas. It says: ``Dear Congressman Ross: Thank you for your efforts to honor and recognize the birthplace of our 42nd President, William Jefferson Clinton, by naming his birthplace in Hope, Arkansas a national historic site. As is customary in this country to honor our former Presidents with libraries and other accolades, I cannot think of a better tribute to President Clinton than this recognition. The lasting impact this will have for the State and country is immeasurable. Not only would it provide future generations an educational look into our 42nd President and the times he lived in, but it will provide the region of our State, and specifically my native home of Hope, Arkansas, added economic opportunity and prosperity. ``H.R. 4192 is an important piece of legislation for not only the reasons mentioned above, but also for the preservation and protection of this historical site which is currently reliant upon private donations. President Clinton will forever be a true Arkansan, and this piece of legislation will allow not only Arkansas but the country the ability to properly honor him and his service. ``Again, thank you for your work on this legislation. I look forward to working with you to see its passage out of Congress this year. ``Sincerely yours, Mike Huckabee, Governor of the State of Arkansas.'' Might I add, a Republican Governor, who like myself, grew up in Hope, Arkansas. Finally, Madam Speaker, I would like to at least read a part of a letter from Mack McLarty who was President Clinton's first White House Chief of Staff and someone who commanded respect from both sides of the aisle during those early Clinton years. ``Dear Mike: I'm writing today in support of H.R. 4192, your bill authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to designate President William Jefferson Clinton's birthplace home in Hope, Arkansas as a national historic site and unit of the National Park System. This step would be a fitting recognition of President Clinton's birthplace home in our Nation's Presidential history and ensure the preservation of the site for future generations. This site will celebrate history and educate thousands of visitors and perhaps, most importantly, it will bring jobs and economic development opportunities to southwest Arkansas. ``As you know, I was born and raised in Hope myself. My lifelong friendship with President Clinton dates back to Miss Mary's kindergarten. Not surprisingly, then, my attachment to 117 South Hervey Street is personal and heartfelt, but, more than that, I believe the Clinton birthplace stands for something larger than itself.'' Mack McLarty goes on to write that, ``As I wrote some years ago in an essay for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, I believe that white frame house is worthy of more than a nod of nostalgia because the values President Clinton learned there and in Hope formed the core of his political philosophy. ``In 1946 when President Clinton and I were born, Hope was the essence of small-town America. Family and faith were at the center of people's lives. Commitment to work was expected. From the schools to the churches, local businesses and charities, knowing and caring for one another was part of daily life. And as our friend, Joe Purvis, later wrote, `It bred a sense of responsibility, because if you misbehaved, your mama knew about it before you got home.' '' Mack McLarty continues in his letter, ``For a small boy growing up in that era, Hope lived up to its name. We had won the war. The economy was booming. The American Dream was alive. People had confidence in a future they believed was theirs to shape. It was a time of infectious optimism and seemingly limitless potential. ``I do not mean to suggest that our hometown was perfect. We never thought it was even then. Hope was segregated like the rest of the South. It had its share of human frailty and vice, but kids were taught, growing up, to respect the dignity of each individual. There was a genuine sense of community in Hope that crossed income lines and, in many ways, race as well.'' Mack McLarty continues in his letter in support of this bill, ``The young Bill Clinton, who was then Billy Blythe, understood this perhaps better than most. His father had died before he was born. His mother, determined to provide for her son, was in nurse anesthetist school in New Orleans, a brave step in an era when single mothers and working women were uncommon. Young Billy was raised those first few years primarily by his grandparents who owned a grocery on North Hazel Street across from Rose Hill Cemetery.'' I could continue, Madam Speaker, but there are others who want to speak in support of this bill on both sides of the aisle, and I applaud them and thank them for helping me restore and maintain and preserve this piece of history, as we should do for all 42 former Presidents, Democrat and Republican alike. State of Arkansas, State Capitol Building, Little Rock, AR, March 7, 2006. Hon. Mike Ross, House of Representatives, Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC. Dear Congressman Ross: Thank you for your efforts to honor and recognize the birthplace of our 42nd President, William Jefferson Clinton, by naming his birthplace home in Hope, Arkansas a National Historic Site. As is customary in this country to honor our former Presidents with libraries and other accolades, I can not think of a better tribute to President Clinton than this recognition. The lasting impact this will have for the state and country is immeasurable. Not only will it provide future generations an educational look into our 42nd President and the times he lived in, but it will provide this region of our state and specifically my native home of Hope added economic opportunity and prosperity. H.R. 4192 is an important piece of legislation for not only the reasons mentioned above, but also for the preservation and protection of this historical site, which is currently reliant upon private donations. President Clinton will forever be a true Arkansan and this piece of legislation will allow not only Arkansas but the country the ability to properly honor him and his service. Again thank you for your work on this legislation and I look forward to working with you to see its passage out of Congress this year. Sincerely yours, Mike Huckabee, Governor.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. It is about accountability.

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor of the United States House of Representatives this evening as a member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 37 fiscally conservative Democrats who are outraged, absolutely appalled by these record deficits, record debt and the lack of common sense and fiscal discipline that we are seeing in our Nation's government these days. I come to the floor and raise these issues not out of partisan politics because, Mr. Speaker, I do not know about you, but I am sick and tired of all the partisan bickering that goes on at our Nation's Capitol. It does not matter to me if it is a Republican idea or Democrat idea. My people back home want a commonsense idea, the kind of ideas that make sense for them in their everyday lives. So I raise these issues, Mr. Speaker, quite frankly because I am concerned about the future of our country. As you walk the halls of Congress, it is easy to spot one of the Blue Dog Coalition Members' offices, because we all have this poster beside our front door. Today, the U.S. national debt, just as I got ready to come up here this evening, the U.S. national debt is $8,270,909,436,190. For every man, woman and child in America, including those being born as we speak, the amount of money that each person in America shares in the national debt is $27,000 and some change. It is hard now, Mr. Speaker, to believe that from 1998 through 2001, our Nation for the first time in 40 years had a balanced budget; and yet, this administration, this Republican Congress, has given us the largest budget deficit ever in our Nation's history for what amounts to 6 years in a row. This is the budget that the President of the United States has presented to Congress. It is always presented under a lot of fanfare; a lot of publicity surrounds this budget. This budget for fiscal year 2007 totals $2.8 trillion, but what is alarming about it is that the deficit totals $423 billion. If that is not disturbing enough, Mr. Speaker, as a Nation, we spend about a half a billion a day simply paying interest on the debt we already have, and on top of that, our national debt is increasing to the tune of about $1 billion a day. Our Nation is spending about $1 billion more a day than it is taking in; $260 million a day going to Iraq, $33 million a day going to Afghanistan, and a whole lot more going not to fund programs that matter to people because there are record cuts in this budget. Just yesterday in Booneville, Arkansas, I was at the Dale Bumpers Research Center, one of 26 agriculture research centers that are not being cut, but being eliminated, under the President's budget for fiscal year 2007. Only in America can the President give us a budget that cuts the programs that matter to people, Medicaid, Medicare, veterans benefits, agricultural programs, and also give us the largest deficit ever in our Nation's history at the same time. So as an American, I rise this evening out of concern. As a small business owner, I rise this evening out of concern about these record debts and these record deficits. And at the end of this hour, Mr. Speaker, we will change this number to show how much the national debt has risen just in the hour we have been on the floor this evening trying to talk about accountability and fiscal responsibility. The numbers I have presented to you are bad enough. Lord knows we don't need to make them any worse. They are already the largest budget deficits in our Nation's history that this Republican leadership has given us, but what we have recently learned is, actually, when you look at America, the way that America requires corporations to look at accounting, the deficit is even worse than what we thought. At this time I would call on the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper), the co-chair for policy in the Blue Dog Coalition, who has helped discover this little-known publication, which is very, very disturbing.

Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for bringing this to the attention of America, the ``Financial Report of the United States Government for 2005,'' printed by our government, signed by our President's appointed Secretary of the Treasury, John Snow. And as the gentleman from Tennessee has explained quite well, when our government says we have a $319 billion deficit for 2005, that is based on a form of accounting known as a cash-basis form of accounting. Now, I am a small business owner; and as a small business owner, our government does not allow me to base my business on a cash-basis form of accounting. I am required by our government to use an accrual-based form of accounting. And if I do not, I am in a lot of trouble with the IRS and will probably end up in jail. However, our government, when we talk about the budget and the debt and the deficit and we talk about it in terms of this $319 billion, we find in this publication, the ``Financial Report of the United States of America for 2005,'' that it does not use a cash-basis form of accounting. It uses an accrual-basis form of accounting, and we know this only because the government, by law, requires the Secretary of the Treasury to print this document. He does not print tens of thousands of copies the way he does the budget. Only a handful are printed because they do not want the taxpayers of this country to know what is really going on here. The truth is this: when we look at our government, the way our government requires businesses to report their dealings with the IRS, our deficit was not $319 billion in 2005. Again, there is no reason for us to try to make these numbers any worse than they already are. They are already as bad as they have ever been in the history of our country. And these are not our numbers. These are numbers from the Secretary of the Treasury, John Snow. The deficit for 2005 was not $319 billion when using the accrual-basis form of accounting; it was $760 billion. That is a difference of $441 billion. Now, John Snow, Secretary of the Treasury, in this report said: ``Including these future financial responsibilities in this report gives a more complete and long-range look at the government's finances.'' That is the Secretary of the Treasury, appointed by President Bush. That is John Snow, in his words, which can be found on page 1 of this report. Mr. Speaker, I yield once again to the gentleman from Tennessee.

Mr. ROSS. Well, every business in this country is required to use the accrual method if the business has inventory, if the business is a C corporation, or if gross annual sales exceed $5 million. So for any corporation, any business that meets one of these criteria, our government says you must use the accrual method of accounting. Our own government, however, though requiring businesses to use the accrual method of accounting or you go to jail and get in a lot of trouble with the IRS, that is what the government says to businesses, but the government says, well, that makes us look like we are being even more fiscally irresponsible than we want, so we will not use this accrual business. We will go back and trick the taxpayers by using the cash basis of accounting. At this time, I want to recognize a real leader within the Blue Dog Coalition, my friend and colleague from Georgia (Mr. David Scott).

Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott) for his knowledgeable input about this debt and deficit and budget process. I might add, in defense of the President, the President, during his tenure in office, it is true that he has borrowed more money from foreign central banks and foreign investors than the previous 42 Presidents combined. But in fairness to the President, he could not do that alone. It took this Republican majority in this Congress to give him a budget to allow him to continue to raise the debt limit to allow him to borrow more money in the last 5 years than the previous 42 Presidents combined. I think the American people are starting to get it at the youngest of ages. My teenage daughter was reading the paper today and she sent me an e-mail, and I will just read to you what my teenage daughter said after reading the paper this morning. She wrote, ``I read that they are wanting to increase the limit of the debt. Please do not let them do this. Make them start paying it back.'' That is a message from a 17- year-old junior in high school who is concerned about the reckless spending, the fiscal irresponsibility going on in our government because it is her generation, it is our children and grandchildren's generation that gets saddled with these bills. I encourage folks every Tuesday night, as members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we are here on the floor talking about fiscal responsibility and about our ideas to balance the budget. We have a 12-point plan for meaningful budget reform that will allow us to have a balanced budget and allow us to get our fiscal house in order. For folks that are interested in e-mailing us their thoughts, opinions or questions, I encourage them to do so at BlueDog@mail.house.gov. We are the Blue Dog Coalition, 37 members strong, fiscally conservative Democrats that are here to hold this Republican Congress responsible for a record deficit and a record debt. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper).

Mr. ROSS. I appreciate the co-chair for policy of the Blue Dog Coalition and a very important member of the Budget Committee bringing to the taxpayers' attention this little-known document, the financial report of the United States Government. Again, our debt is $8,270,909,436,190. Now, as members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, we do not come here on Tuesday nights to simply complain about how this Congress is out of control with its spending without also offering a solution. As the gentlemen from Tennessee and Georgia mentioned, we have a 12-point reform plan to cure our Nation's addiction to deficit spending. And I can tell you, one of the problems that taxpayers in this country have with this debt and with these deficits is the lack of accountability. I want to talk about that for a moment. Some of you have heard this before and I am going to continue to talk about it until every one of these 11,000 fully furnished, brand new manufactured homes sitting in a pasture in Hope, Arkansas, get to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.

Mr. ROSS. Those are the FEMA trailers. FEMA has spent an estimated $431 million of our tax money purchasing some 11,000 brand new, fully furnished, manufactured homes.

Mr. ROSS. Nobody. Here is the story. FEMA shows up in Hope, Arkansas, my hometown. I now live 16 miles down the road in Prescott, Arkansas. They show up at city hall and say, we understand you have these inactive runways as a result of World War II. We want to use them as a so-called FEMA staging area. The idea was these manufactured homes were going to come into Hope and then go to the people who lost their homes and everything they owned as a result of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. They started coming. They started coming in October, and they came and they came, but they never went. So as a result of that, 25 percent of them now sit on these inactive, closed military runways, and 75 percent of them are sitting in a cow pasture. That is 11,000 brand new, fully furnished, manufactured homes sitting in a pasture in Hope, Arkansas, and FEMA owns them, they have already bought them. And FEMA at the same time is spending our tax money to provide housing in hotels and motels for some 12,000 storm victims. If that is not enough, we all know about the tent city that is set up near Pass Christian, Mississippi, where families in the winter are living in a tent while FEMA has 11,000 brand new, fully furnished manufactured homes sitting in a cow pasture in Hope, Arkansas. That is an aerial photo of some of the 11,000. There is the barbed-wire fence, and there are the manufactured homes. Most of them are 14 feet wide, 60 feet long. Some are 80 feet wide. And now that the drought is about to end and the rains are starting to set in, I do not have to tell you that they are going to be sinking. They are going to be sinking. They are going to be damaged. What is FEMA's response? Oh, no, not to get them to the people that need them, the people living in hotels and motels and tents 6 months after the storm. Their response is we are going to spend $6-8 million graveling this 290-acre cow pasture so we can store these manufactured homes for a future disaster. FEMA refuses to move these manufactured homes into a flood zone. Normally I would say that makes sense, but the reality is in this instance, everybody that lost their home as a result of Hurricane Katrina lost their home because they lived in a flood zone. FEMA says if you have land, we will give you a manufactured home. Everybody that lost their home as a result of Hurricane Katrina, they had land but it is in a flood zone. That is why they lost their home. Mr. Speaker, I appeal to the President and to the director of FEMA, what is worse, to have 11,000 brand new, fully furnished manufactured homes spread out over Mississippi and Louisiana and Alabama with the storm victims who lost their homes and everything they owned in a bunch of different flood zones, or have them all grouped together in a cow pasture at the Hope airport, an area prone to tornadoes, an area that is going to have a tornado warning probably about every 10 days for the next 3 months? Mr. Speaker, I am going to come to the floor of this Chamber and talk about this until FEMA gets moving, until FEMA comes to Hope, Arkansas, picks up these 11,000 manufactured homes they have purchased, and gets them to the people who desperately need them, people who for the sixth and seventh month in a row are living in hotel and motel rooms, people who are living literally in tents in Pass Christian, Mississippi. This ran on the front page of the Arkansas Democratic Gazette back in December. I do not know if this gentleman is still living in this tent or not. He was in December. I can tell you about 100 families are living in tents in Pass Christian right now. It is appalling to know as a country we are allowing people to live in tents. He has found a job. He is back at work, doing the best he can for himself and his family. He is waiting on housing, and yet we have 11,000 brand new, fully furnished, manufactured homes purchased by FEMA, sitting in a cow pasture in Hope. Mr. Speaker, I submit that as a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, this is the kind of government waste that turns people off. I grew up in a little country church outside of Prescott, Midway United Methodist Church, and I heard a lot of sermons about being a good steward, and I can tell you FEMA is not being a good steward of our tax money with what they are doing. It is a total disgrace. It is an outrage. Mr. Speaker, I yield to Mr. Scott.

Mr. ROSS. In 60 minutes, in 1 hour, our national debt has increased to the tune of approximately $41,666,000 and some change. And so you can see an hour ago what the debt was: $8,270,909,436,190. That is no longer true. It is now $8,270,951,102,190.

Mr. ROSS. Again, it takes a lot of skill for this administration, this Republican-led Congress, to give us the largest budget deficit ever in our Nation's history while also managing to cut all the programs that matter to people at the same time. How do they do that? By tacking on tax cut after tax cut. Following us this evening, I am pretty confident that the other side will show up, which I think probably is an indication that we are making progress here in getting our message out about trying to restore some fiscal discipline and common sense to our Nation's government, and they will probably talk about how we had an opportunity to cut, to cut, $40 billion in spending and how we voted against it. But what they will not tell you is that it was $40 billion in cuts to the most vulnerable people in our society. Medicaid, eight out of 10 seniors in Arkansas are on Medicaid. One out of five people in Arkansas are on Medicaid. Cuts to Medicaid, cuts to student loans to the tune of $40 billion, followed by what are we doing this week and next week? About $90 billion in additional tax cuts for those earning over $400,000 a year. I wasn't real good at math back in high school or college, Mr. Speaker, but the last time I checked, $90 billion in tax cuts from borrowed money because we don't have a surplus and $40 billion in cuts from the poor, the disabled, elderly and college students equals $50 billion in new spending. Only in Washington would you entitle a bill that increases the national debt by $50 billion the Deficit Reduction Act. Yet that is exactly what we will probably hear more about tonight, just as we did last week. I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper).

Mr. ROSS. In the last hour.

Mr. ROSS. If the gentleman would yield, the point is we are not trying to make this any worse than it is. We wish it wasn't bad. We wish we had a balanced budget. We wish the debt was being paid down. We wish we were not deficit spending. We don't have to try to make the numbers any worse than they already are. They already are setting records. Just to clarify, the difference between these numbers and your numbers, the difference between the numbers in the budget and the numbers in the financial report of the United States Government is basically this simple: our government, our budget uses a cash-basis form of accounting, which gets you to these numbers.