Mike Ross

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I am certainly supportive of tax cuts, targeted tax cuts that help working families. But when we are borrowing money from foreigners, when we are borrowing money to fund a tax cut, that is nothing more than a tax increase on our children and grandchildren because they have got to pay that money back. And no one understands this issue any better than one of the founders of the Blue Dog Coalition, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Tanner). I will yield to the gentleman from Tennessee, and following the gentleman's remarks, we will go through these 12 points one by one until we run out of time this evening. And for folks who happen to be seeing this this evening, do not be confused. This is not recorded. This is live. Congress is meeting on a Saturday night here in our Nation's Capital. And we are here on the floor to try to hold this government responsible and accountable and restore some common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's Government because this debt is out of control. And with that, I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee.

Mr. ROSS. I just wanted to confirm that with you.

Mr. ROSS. Now, these $50 billion in cuts, including the $600 million in cuts to orphans and foster care, went to help pay for a $56 billion tax cut, which mostly benefited those earning over $400,000 a year, 50 percent of which went to those earning over $1 million a year; is this correct?

Mr. ROSS. How much were these cuts?

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from California for his comments. Can the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza) verify this for me now? We talked about the cuts to Medicaid, $11.4 billion; the cuts to Federal student aid, $14.3 billion; $3 billion in cuts to our farm families, commodities, conservation, many other agriculture programs; $700 million in cuts to food stamps. But you are saying there are also cuts to orphans and foster care?

Mr. ROSS. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Boyd), and I would encourage the gentleman to stay with us for the remainder of this hour. You helped write these 12 points. You have got a lot of expertise on ways that our Nation can once again return to a balanced budget. And I hope you will be able to stay with us as we go through the 12 points. It is hard to believe now that from 1998 through 2001 this Nation had a balanced budget, because for the fifth year in a row, we have got the largest budget deficit ever, ever in our Nation's history. Again, our debt is $8.137 trillion. And that is why, as Members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, we are here to address this issue that is critical to our Nation, to our children, to our grandchildren, and certainly to their future. At this time, I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from California, the cochair of the Blue Dog Coalition, Mr. Cardoza.

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor this evening as a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, a group of 37 fiscally conservative Democrats that are concerned about our Nation and its future due to the rising cost of our debt, our deficit. We believe it is time to restore some common sense in fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. Mr. Speaker, I stand here today on the floor of the United States House of Representatives as a voice for the people of Arkansas' Fourth Congressional District. It is one thing for all of us to have the title U.S. Representative, but it is another thing to be one, and I believe it is important that we go back to our respective districts; I go home every weekend to places like Hot Springs and Texarkana and Pine Bluff and El Dorado and Mena and Hope and Arkandelphia, and throughout the 29 counties and 150 towns that I so proudly represent, and listen to the people. And then I do my best to bring their voice back here to the floor of the United States House of Representatives. The people are telling me that it is time that our Nation get its fiscal house in order and stop this reckless spending that has resulted in the largest deficit ever in our Nation's history for a fifth year in a row and has resulted in a debt that totals $8.137 trillion. That is $8 trillion, 137 billion and some change. In fact, for every man, woman, and child in this country, if we all had to get our checkbooks out tonight and retire this debt, everybody, including the children, the babies being born today, would have to write a check for some $27,000. You hear a lot of talk these days about this being a Democratic idea or this being a Republican idea. And, Mr. Speaker, I am here to tell you that I believe the people in this country like me are sick and tired of all the partisan bickering that goes on at our Nation's Capital. It should not matter if it is a Democratic idea or a Republican idea. In fact, the American people are concerned not about petty partisan politics, but they are concerned about paying for the high cost of their children's college education, the skyrocketing cost of health care and how to pay for prescription drugs. They are concerned about their retirement security, about privatizing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, skyrocketing natural gas and energy prices, the war in Iraq and thousands of Katrina victims who nearly 4 months after the devastating hurricane still today remain homeless. Let me tell you about my America. My congressional district back home in Arkansas ranks 415 out of 435 among congressional districts throughout the country in average income per household. Half the children in Arkansas are on Medicaid. Eight out of ten seniors in nursing homes are on Medicaid. One in five people in my home State of Arkansas are on Medicaid. Yet, around 1 o'clock in the morning on November 18, Congress nearly passed the so-called Deficit Reduction Act that would directly and adversely impact the poor, the disabled, the elderly. This bill mandates nearly $50 billion in spending cuts, including $11.4 billion in cuts to Medicaid, the only health insurance plan for the poor, the disabled, the elderly; $14.3 billion in cuts to Federal student aid programs; over $3 billion in cuts to our farm families; and over $700 million in cuts to food stamps. Then the Republican leadership turns around and passes $56 billion worth of tax cuts, $50 billion in spending cuts, $56 billion in tax cuts. Only in Washington do you add $6 billion to the Nation's debt and call it the Deficit Reduction Act. Mr. Speaker, I will never stop fighting for the conservative smalltown values that I was raised on and still believe in, and I cannot help but reflect on one of the memory verses that I learned growing up at Midway United Methodist Church just outside Prescott, Arkansas. It is from Matthew 25:40, and it goes like this: I tell you the truth. Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. Mr. Speaker, the idea of cutting programs that would negatively impact the poorest among us does not resonate with the principles on which this country was founded. These budget cuts are indicative of misguided priorities and do not reflect the values I learned growing up in places like Emmet, Prescott and Hope, Arkansas. As members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we believe we have the answer to this massive debt, this ongoing deficit, and we believe we can get it under control without harming and cutting programs for the poorest among us. It is called the Blue Dog 12-Point Plan. It is 12 simple points, quite frankly, that, if implemented, would truly restore some fiscal discipline and common sense to our Nation's government. This evening, Mr. Speaker, we plan to spend the remaining part of this hour going over these 12 points. So many people criticize what is going on, but they do not offer up a solution, and what we are trying to do as members of the Blue Dog Coalition is offer up an alternative, offer up a solution to this massive debt and deficit, this budget problem our Nation has today. With me to help do that I am real proud to have John Tanner, one of the founding members of the Blue Dog Coalition from the State of Tennessee; Dennis Cardoza, one of the co-chairs of the Blue Dog Coalition from California; and Allen Boyd from Florida, one of the founding members, long-time members, former chairman of the Blue Dog Coalition. So we come to you this evening from all across America, from Arkansas and Tennessee and California and Florida, to offer up what we believe are commonsense ideas to truly try to get this Nation's fiscal house back in order. As 37 members of Congress, we have come together, and we have written this 12-point reform, and we are encouraging Democrats and Republicans to join us as we try to get this Nation back on track. And the reason this is so important and why this should matter to everybody across our land, $8.137 trillion in debt. That is very important for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is our Nation today. The first $500 million we collect every day in taxes from taxpayers does not go to better roads, better education, better health care. It simply goes to pay interest, to pay interest on the national debt. It is not getting any better. In fact, our Nation is borrowing another $907 million every 24 hours. As Members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we want to fix this, and we can do it with our 12-point plan. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlemen from Florida (Mr. Boyd).

Mr. ROSS. Where I come from, most people think we ought to have a vote if we are spending a dollar. We cannot even get the leadership here to give us a vote when we spend $50 million. It is time for that to change. I yield to the gentleman from Florida.

Mr. ROSS. Finally, number 12, Mr. Cardoza, if you want to share that with us.

Mr. ROSS. Number four, require agencies to put their fiscal houses in order. Again, 16 of 23 major Federal agencies cannot issue a simple audit of their books. The Federal Government cannot account for $24.5 billion it spent in 2003. The Blue Dogs propose a solution, to put a budget freeze for any Federal agency that cannot properly balance its books. You are talking about waste. You are talking about a government agency that cannot get it together. If the gentleman will pause with me for just a second here, I want to point out something. You know, all of us all across America, our hearts went out for the people when the hurricanes hit in places like Louisiana and Mississippi and I know the gentleman from Florida has experienced this in the past as well. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, has purchased over 20,000 manufactured homes, they are 14 feet wide, 60 foot long. You can see some of them right here. For some reason, they are not getting them, FEMA is not getting these homes to the people who need them, the people who lost their home and everything that they owned. In fact, I was with Congressman Gene Taylor from Mississippi earlier tonight, and my heart goes out to him and his family. He has done all he knows how to do to help his constituents while also trying to rebuild his life. He even lost his own home in that horrible tragedy in August with Hurricane Katrina. But he was telling me tonight, I believe he is like living with his brother or something, but he was telling me there are people still living in tents, people living in small campers, people that do not have homes, people living in hotel rooms. Yet FEMA has now moved 5,000 brand new unoccupied manufactured homes to an old Army World War II airport at Hope, Arkansas. They just showed up one day and told the mayor they wanted to give him $25,000 a month for the next two years to use it as a ``staging area,'' and then they have since delivered somewhere close to 5,000 homes. FEMA has told the mayor they may have as many as 12,000 homes. Yet these homes are not getting to the people. These are not even at the Hope airport. They are running these homes down the interstate at well above the speed limit, I know, because they passed me before, with a sign they usually put right here on the back, a banner, that says ``urgent FEMA delivery.'' I guess urgent for what? To get to a cow pasture in Hope, Arkansas, 450 miles from where they are needed? If one shingle blows off in transit, they will not accept it at the FEMA designated staging area they opened down at Hope. So they have come back to Prescott, which is where I now live, a town of about 3,500 people, and they are renting this cow pasture. They did no site preparation. When we have a good rain these things are going to sink to the axle. We have over 200 of them in Prescott. They filled up the pasture in Prescott now. There is a story from the Arkadelphia Siftings Herald on December 16, that was yesterday, they have now got 200 of them stacked up at truck stops in Gurdon, and I suspect that the folks in Arkadelphia in the next day or two are going to start seeing them there. So my point, Madam Speaker, is this: To the acting director of FEMA, why cannot we get some 5,000 homes that FEMA has purchased, why cannot we get them moved from Hope and Prescott, Arkansas, 450 miles south to where they need them, where people tonight are going to bed in camper trailers and in tents? This is a good example of what we are talking about when we talk about wasteful spending and agencies that cannot get their act together. At this time for point number five I recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Cardoza.

Mr. ROSS. Number one, and it is kind of like David Letterman's top 10. This is the top 12, and I do not know if it is going to be as good as Letterman's top 10 or not, but it is very important. Point number one to the 12-point reform plan is: Require a balanced budget. And I think we all get that one. I mean, I was in the State senate for 10 years. Forty-nine States, including my home State of Arkansas, must live within its means. They constitutionally require a balanced budget. I know at the Ross home in Prescott, Arkansas, we sit around the kitchen table and we have to have a balanced budget. At the small town family pharmacy my wife and I own, we have to have a balanced budget. It should not be asking too much to ask this Congress and this government to also tighten its belt and learn to live within its means. And that is what we mean when we talk about requiring a balanced budget. The second point that I think is very important also, do not let Congress buy on credit. Now, back when Congress had a balanced budget in the Clinton administration from 1998 to 2001, they had a thing in the House called PAYGO rules, pay-as-you-go basically is what it meant, meaning if you are going to cut taxes, you got to cut spending, and if you are going to fund a new program, you got to cut another program. You have got to make it fit within your budget, like most of us do in our families at home and with our businesses and certainly like 49 States in this country are required to do. That, I believe, is something we must do in this House Chamber, is restore the pay-as-you- go rules. The third point, I will yield to the gentleman from Florida. Anytime you all want to jump in on any of these points, please feel free to do so.

Mr. ROSS. We are out of time this evening. I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza), the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Tanner), the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Boyd) for coming to the floor of the United States House of Representatives with me this evening to discuss our Nation's debt and deficit and the Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan to restore some integrity, some common sense, and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government.

Mr. ROSS. Number 11, make sure that new bills fit the budget. Basically, we are proposing the Budget Committee strengthen its oversight role in preparing budget-compliant statements for every bill that is reported out of committee. Does anyone want to add anything on number 11?

Mr. ROSS. We have about 5 minutes left in the Special Order, as we come to the floor of our Nation's Capitol here, the floor of the United States House of Representatives, to discuss this overwhelming debt that is saddling our country and jeopardizing its future. Mr. Tanner, if you would, number 10, require honest cost estimates for every bill that Congress votes on. The Medicare bill, there are a lot of bills that are good examples. The Congress, the people of this country need to know how their money is being spent. They need an honest cost estimate for every bill they vote on.

Mr. ROSS. If we are going to spend the tax money, the people need a voice in it and we need to make sure that money is going to benefit them to create jobs, economic opportunities; and that is what we are trying to do here, and that is why we say justify spending for pet projects. Number nine, ensure that Congress reads the bills it is voting on. That seems quite silly, but the reality is that many times they will bring bills to the floor of the House that are thousands of pages, thousands of pages thick and give us less than a day or less than an hour, in fact, at times, to actually read the bill we are voting on. Our point is this, what we are proposing is a minimum of 3 days to have the final text of legislation made available before a vote. We cannot require Members of Congress to read a bill before they vote on it; but I can promise you this, if you give us less than an hour, if the leadership gives us less than an hour to read a 3,000-page bill, no one is going to be able to read that.

Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Florida for sharing the issue of the debt limit with us. He is right, and that is why it is one of the 12 points. We should have a vote any time we are going to raise the debt limit. I mean, the debt limit today is currently at $8.184 trillion, so it will not be long before we raise it again. This number right here is increasing to the tune of about $41 million an hour. In other words, in the time we have been speaking here on the floor of the United States House of Representatives this evening, the national debt has increased by about $41 million because of this year's deficit. So it will not be long before we will be raising the debt limit here in the Congress. And unless we are able to get them to start allowing us to have a vote on it, they will just put it in some other bill and try to hide it from the public. We believe that is wrong, and we want to put a stop to that. Number eight, justify spending for pet projects. I think that pretty much speaks for itself. We always from time to time pick up the paper and read about some outrageous project that is being funded with Federal funds. There are a lot of good projects that are funded across this Nation, but we are saying that you should have to justify a project. You should not get a project because of who you are. You ought to have to justify a project for your district.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed the gulf coast as a category 4 storm. Due to the massive damage caused by one of the most costly natural disasters in our Nation's history, thousands of Louisiana and Mississippi residents whose homes were destroyed were forced to relocate to areas such as my home State of Arkansas. Many are still there today. As a result of Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, commonly referred to as FEMA, purchased at least 20,000 brand- new manufactured homes; and thousands of these homes, nearly 4 months later, have not reached those who need them, citizens of this country who lost their homes and everything that they owned on August 29, 2005. Instead, these homes are being stored by FEMA in five different so- called staging areas, including staging areas in my congressional district near my hometown at the Hope Municipal Airport in Hope, Arkansas, at Red River Army Depot and Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant near Texarkana, all of these staging areas some 450 miles from where the eye of the storm hit the gulf coast. Due to the inability of FEMA to provide displaced families with manufactured homes in a timely manner, staging areas are overflowing. For instance, at Hope Airport, the inactive runways and tarmacs are overloaded with manufactured homes, forcing the excess homes to be placed in the surrounding fields and pastures. These pastures and fields were not effectively prepared by FEMA for staging or storage, if you will. When the winter rains hit the inadequately prepared sites, many of the trailers carrying the manufactured homes will sink. This will result in even more unnecessary delays and additional work for a system that is badly flawed. I have written a letter to the acting FEMA director, David Paulson, requesting that he immediately review the apparently ineffective process of distributing the FEMA-purchased manufactured homes to the Hurricane Katrina evacuees who so desperately need them. As I drive throughout Arkansas's Fourth Congressional District, and in my very hometown of Prescott, Arkansas, I see these manufactured homes sitting empty; and I am appalled at the waste of taxpayer money and the lack of a timely response on behalf of FEMA and the Federal Government for those who desperately need housing for their families, with many residents literally still living in tents on the gulf coast nearly 4 months after the detrimental hurricane hit our gulf coast. As winter approaches and deadlines for all displaced residents from Louisiana and Mississippi living in hotel rooms to be moved into temporary housing quickly approaching, this process must be streamlined. It is unacceptable for American citizens who lost their homes and everything they owned in the hurricane to still be sleeping in tents when FEMA has thousands of brand-new empty manufactured homes for occupancy. Take a look here, Mr. Speaker. This is not in Hope, Arkansas. In fact, this is in my hometown of Prescott, Arkansas, some 16 miles away. Here is what is going on. They deliver the homes to this staging area in Hope, Arkansas, 450 miles from the gulf coast. And as they deliver them down the interstate, they have got a banner on the back that says, Urgent, FEMA delivery. Urgent for what? To deliver it to a cow pasture? And a shingle blows off in transit. If one shingle is missing, they will not accept it at the FEMA staging area in Hope, Arkansas. So they turn around, drive back to my home town of Prescott, and they are leasing, literally leasing cow pastures, as you can see here, to store these homes until they can be repaired, while at the same time we have got families, we have got families, as Christmas approaches, as the holidays approach, sleeping in tents in Louisiana and Mississippi. Dennis Ramsey, the Mayor of Hope, Arkansas, was quoted in the Texarkana Gazette, December 15, saying FEMA estimated that 12,000 mobile homes would be staged at the Hope site while FEMA leases the land at $25,000 a month for the next 2 years. The Associated Press said a FEMA spokesman said last week that 5,840 mobile homes and 80 travel trailers are at Hope and the Texarkana sites along with more than 4,400 mobile homes and 4,200 travel trailers at the other staging areas. Mr. Speaker, I am asking this body, I am asking the acting director of FEMA: Please come to my home town, get these mobile homes and get them moved 450 miles down the road to the families who are living in tents and who so desperately need them in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, it is with tremendous pride that I rise today to recognize Arkansas's 2005-2006 Teacher of the Year, Marsha Petty of Texarkana, Arkansas. A cum laude graduate from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Marsha has been teaching for 29 years and is an 11th grade chemistry teacher at Arkansas High School in Texarkana. There are few jobs more important, more rewarding, and more difficult than that of a teacher. I have always held a public school education in the highest regard. As parents, educators, and public officials, we have an obligation, a moral duty, to ensure that students, from pre-school to high school and beyond receive the highest quality education possible. By properly educating our students and providing them with the tools they need in order to become successful adults, they will thrive in today's fast- paced and technological world. The most important component to our children's education is our teachers. Today more than ever, our educators face new obstacles and challenges. As the son of public school educators, I have a deep respect and gratitude for all educators and their personal commitment to our children. America is deeply indebted to top-notch educators, such as Marsha Petty, for their continued excellence in the classroom and commitment to our students. Today's teachers shape the very foundation of America's future. It is an honor to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Marsha as the 2005-2006 Arkansas Teacher of the Year.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from California makes an excellent point. In Arkansas I was in the State senate there for 10 years. It has grown since then. I have been here 5 years now. But the Arkansas State budget is somewhere around $5 billion a year, is what the Arkansas State government budget is. That means that just the amount of money we are spending as a Nation on interest on the national debt in 10 days equals the budget for the State of Arkansas for a year; and I think it really drives on the point of how much a half billion dollars is. Our Nation, again, is borrowing $500 million every 24 hours simply to service the debt, simply to pay interest on the debt; and that is $500 million that cannot go for better schools, better education, better health care, increasing teacher pay. These programs are going unmet, and they will continue to go unmet until we get our fiscal house in order. As I was mentioning earlier, as Blue Dogs we are tired of all the partisan bickering that goes on in our Nation's capital, and we are not here to condemn the Republican leadership, the majority, this Republican administration for failing the American people by giving us the largest deficit ever in our Nation's history without also offering up the solution. And as Blue Dog members, the Blue Dog Coalition has a 12-point plan for budget reform, 12 points. We will be discussing some of them tonight. We will be discussing them every Tuesday night. Twelve points that we believe have to be implemented by this Congress before we can have meaningful and truthful budget reform. So we are not here as conservative Democrats to simply say Republicans are bad. We are here to offer up two things: we are here to demand accountability, to put our fiscal house back in order, restore some common sense to our Nation's government; and we are also here to offer a plan. We have a plan of action, and we are calling on this Republican Congress and this Republican President to embrace our 12 points for budget reform. Let us come together and let us fix this problem for the American people before this number, this $8.121 trillion debt, gets any bigger.

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, for the next 60 minutes, me, along with other Members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, will come to the floor of the United States House of Representatives to talk about the debt, the deficit, the budget, the cuts in spending as well as tax cuts that will be proposed on the floor of this House this week. Mr. Speaker, let me begin by explaining what the Blue Dog Coalition is all about. It is a group of 37 conservative moderate Democrats. Democrats that are concerned about this country's future, because of today's reckless spending, 37 conservative to moderate Democrats that are concerned about what today's reckless spending means for tomorrow's generation, our children and our grandchildren and their future. For those who come to our Nation's Capitol, as you walk the halls of the House office buildings, the Cannon House Office Building, the Longworth House Office Building, the Rayburn House Office Building, it is easy to identify an office that houses one of the 37 conservative Democrats that belong to the Blue Dog Coalition, because by the door to each of our offices you will find a sign like this right here, the Blue Dog Coalition reminding every taxpayer in this land of the national debt. Today, the U.S. national debt is $8.121 trillion and some change. And if you break that down to every man, woman and child, including those who are born today, every citizen of this country would have to pull out their checkbook and write a check to the tune of $27,000 and some change to pay off this national debt. There are those in this administration and within this Republican Congress that say debts do not matter. We all know that is not true. We all know that the larger the debt, the more demand there will be for money and the higher interest rates will go. We are already starting to see it happen. We all know during the last 4\1/2\ years that one of the things that kept us out of a recession, just barely, was low interest rates that allowed people to refinance their homes and have some extra cash to buy things and encouraged people to become and be able to afford to become first-time homeowners; and it allowed others to either add on to their house or to sell their house and buy a new one. Those low interest rates are rapidly disappearing as we see interest rates continuing to go up and up and up. It is hard to believe now, but from 1998 through 2001, this Nation had a balanced budget. This Nation did not deficit spend from 1998 through 2001. And now this President, this administration, this Republican Congress has given us, American citizens, the largest budget deficit ever, ever in our Nation's history. For what? For a fifth year in a row. Put it another way. The total national debt from 1789 to the year 2000 was $5.67 trillion. But by 2010, the total national debt will have increased to $10.88 trillion. Tonight, it stands at $8.121 trillion. That is $8.121 trillion and some change. This is a doubling of the 211- year debt in just 10 years, in just the past decade. Interest payments on this debt are one of the fastest growing parts of the Federal budget, and the debt tax, I did not say death tax, the debt tax, a phrase coined by the Blue Dog Coalition, is one tax that cannot be repealed. And let me tell you what I mean by that. Every day in this land, our Nation is spending a half a billion dollars. That is right. $500 million every single day simply paying interest on the national debt. How much is that? We could build 100 brand new elementary schools every single day in America just with the interest we are paying on the national debt. It is what we call the debt tax, D-E-B-T, and it is one tax that cannot go away. It is one tax that will prevent us from being able to meet the priorities of this Nation when it comes to education and health care and the economy and so many other important areas until we get our fiscal house in order and pay down this debt and stop this deficit spending. Deficits do matter. Deficits reduce economic growth. They burden our children and grandchildren with liabilities. They increase our reliance on foreign lenders who now own 40 percent of our debt. That is right. Foreign lenders now own 40 percent of our debt. Let me put it another way. This President, this administration, this Republican Congress, in the last 4\1/2\ years has borrowed more money to run the United States of America than the previous 42 presidents of the United States combined. Now, let us think about that. This President, this Republican Congress has borrowed more money from foreign governments, foreign lenders and foreign central banks to operate our government than the previous 42 presidents combined. Congressman John Tanner, a founder of the Blue Dog Coalition from Tennessee, said it best when he said if China decides to invade Taiwan, we, the United States will have to go borrow even more money from China to defend Taiwan. What has happened to this country? What has happened to the fiscal responsibility that leaders of this country should share? It is a duty and an obligation that we keep, or at this point, put back, restore fiscal discipline to our Nation's government, and that is what the Blue Dog Coalition is all about. The United States is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign lenders. Foreign lenders currently hold a total of $2 trillion of our public debt. You see here, we owe $8.121 trillion. That is how much money, more money we have spent than we have taken in as a government. That is how much money we have borrowed. In fact, we are borrowing to the tune of about $907 million a day, we are sending about $188 million every day to Iraq, $33 million every day to Afghanistan. And the list goes on and on. Two trillion of our public debt has come from foreign lenders or 45 percent of our total debt. Some people may wonder where the other 6 trillion is coming from. The majority of it is coming from money that the politicians in Washington are borrowing from the Social Security trust fund with no provision on how or whether that money ever gets paid back. Now, when I go to my banker to get a loan, he wants to know how I am going to pay it back, when I am going to pay it back and where the money is going to come from to pay him back. And yet, our government continues to borrow money from Social Security with no idea on how or when that money is going to be paid back or where it is going to come from to be paid back. No wonder this Republican leadership and this Republican Congress refused, refused to give me a vote or to give me a hearing on my bill that basically told the politicians in Washington to keep their hands off of the Social Security trust fund. I mentioned that we were going to have a number of Blue Dogs join us this evening. 37 Members in the Blue Dog Coalition. We are conservative to moderate Democrats and we come from all across this Nation. And at this time, it gives me great honor to be able to introduce a real leader in the Blue Dog Coalition, someone that understands fiscal responsibility, someone that came from a state legislature where he helped balance a state budget, and that is the gentleman from Georgia, David Scott.

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott), a fellow member of the 37-member strong fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, for joining me here on the floor this evening, as we will do every Tuesday night, to talk about the Nation's debt and deficit and what it means not only for today's generation but for our children and grandchildren and for future generations. And, again, Mr. Speaker, I remind the Members that outside the office of every Blue Dog Member of Congress, every fiscally conservative Democrat in the Congress, there are 37 of us. We are 37 strong. And as one walks the Halls of Congress, it is easy to spot a Blue Dog Member because beside their front door next to that welcome mat is a poster that will demonstrate and remind the taxpayers of this Nation of a number that unfortunately changes and goes up every day. Today, the U.S. national debt, when we went to work this morning, was $8.121 trillion-and-some-change. Again, for every man, woman, and child that is a citizen of this country, for us to get this Nation out of debt tonight, they would have to write a check for $27,000. Our Nation is spending a half billion dollars every single day in this country simply paying interest on the national debt. Give me 3 days' interest on the national debt, and I can finish I-49 through the western side of Arkansas. Give me 4 days' interest on the national debt, and I can finish I-69 across southeast Arkansas. These are priorities that will continue to go unmet until we get our Nation's fiscal house in order. And that is why we are here, to try to bring about some accountability within our government. We are not here to point fingers or to criticize this Republican Congress for the fact that they have given us the largest budget deficit for the last 4\1/2\ years ever in our Nation's history. Again, we had a balanced budget from 1998 through 2001. This Republican administration, this Republican Congress has given us the largest budget deficit ever in our Nation's history for 5 years in a row. As Blue Dog Democrats, we are sick and tired of all the partisan bickering that goes on in our Nation's capital. It should not matter if it is a Democratic idea or a Republican idea. It ought to be about is it a common-sense idea and does it make sense for those who send us here to be their voice and to represent them. So this discussion, this debate here on the House floor is not about pointing fingers. It is about accountability. It is about accountability to the American citizens. It is about accountability to the taxpayers. And this Congress is not being accountable when it has driven up the largest deficit ever in our Nation's history for the 5th year in a row and given us the largest debt ever in our Nation's history. I am pleased to yield to not only a fellow member of the Blue Dog Coalition but a real leader in the Blue Dog Coalition, one of the co- chairs of the Blue Dog Coalition, and that is the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza).

Mr. ROSS. I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza).

Mr. ROSS. Well, it is the most fascinating thing for me. Ever since I was a small child growing up in Emmett and Hope and Prescott, Arkansas, my dad was a public school educator and a principal and a superintendent. And, well, that is a profession kind of like preachers and coaches; we moved around some, but we never got too far from home. You know, growing up as a small child in rural south Arkansas, I always heard it was the Democrats who spent the money. And yet it was a Democrat named Bill Clinton who gave us the first balanced budget for the first time in 40 years. Of all things, a Democrat from Hope, Arkansas, my home town, where I graduated high school in 1979. And so I think it is important that the American people recognize that this Republican-led Congress, you know it is the first time in 50 years they have controlled everything, the White House, the House, the Senate. And what are they giving us? They are giving us the largest budget deficit ever in our Nation's history for 4\1/2\ years. It is time to restore some common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government and stop this reckless spending. Again, today, the U.S. National debt is $8.121 trillion.

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott) makes an excellent point, that is, that this is not about politics. It is not about who is a Democrat or who is a Republican. It is about accountability. It is about a group of us that want to restore accountability to our Nation's government and want to restore some common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. And, quite frankly, this debate is about priorities. It is about values. On November 18, at 1 o'clock in the morning, this Congress passed, on a 217 to 215 vote, barely passed, something that they deceptively titled the Deficit Reduction Act. It cut spending $50 billion to prepare for another $70 billion in tax cuts. Only in Washington can you increase the national debt $20 billion and call it a Deficit Reduction Act. Do not take my word for it; it is H.R. 4241. Look it up. So this budget reconciliation package, this so-called Deficit Reduction Act, it cut Medicaid, the health insurance plan for the poor, the disabled, the elderly. Half the children in Arkansas are on Medicaid. Eight out of every 10 seniors in the nursing homes are on Medicaid. One out of every five people in my home State are on Medicaid. You know, that is my America. People count on Medicaid. A lot of people think, oh, that is for poor people that are on welfare; it will never affect me. Well, let me tell you something. If you got a quarter of a million dollars in the bank the day you retire, and where I come from most people do not, and if you go in the nursing home the day you retire, not 5, 10 or 20 years later, in less than 8 years, folks, you are on Medicaid. And yet this Congress voted to cut Medicaid $11.4 billion on November 18. $14.3 billion in Federal student aid programs. Our future generation. The largest cut to the Federal student aid program ever. $3.7 billion in cuts to farm programs, including cuts to commodity programs, conservation programs, renewable energy programs, and rural development and nearly $700 million in cuts to food stamps. For what? There are some in this Chamber who wanted you to believe that it was to help pay for the war in Iraq. Not so. There was some in this Chamber who wanted you to believe it was to help offset the cost of the hurricanes, Katrina, Rita, Wilma. Not so. It was to help offset $70 billion in tax cuts that mostly benefit those who earn over $400,000 a year. Only in Washington. Only in Washington can you call something the Deficit Reduction Act that increases the national debt by $20 billion, $50 billion in cuts to the poor, the disabled and the elderly, to pay for another $70 billion in tax cuts for those earning over $400,000 a year. You want to talk about values; you want to talk about morals. Growing up at Midway United Methodist Church just outside of Hope, Arkansas, and listening to the preachers every Sunday, and listening to my parents, great role models for me as public school educators, I can tell you that that does not represent my morals, and it certainly does not represent my values, the kind of conservative small-town values that I was raised on and still believe in. Mr. Speaker, with that I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper), another one of the co-chairs of the Blue Dog Coalition, a real leader in this Congress, someone who has been around for quite some time, a real leader in the Blue Dog Coalition, a co-chairman of the 37- Member-strong fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition.

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper) and would invite him to stick around as we continue this debate about restoring fiscal responsibility to our Nation's government. I think it is important to note not only that we have an $8.121 trillion debt this evening, not only important to note that we are spending $500 million of American citizens' tax money every day simply paying interest on the national debt, or the fact that we are borrowing about $907 million a day. I think it is also important to contrast and make the American people aware that these $50 billion in cuts came from Medicaid, came from student loans, came from farm programs, came from food stamps to fund tax cuts for those earning over $400,000 a year. In fact, this week, this week, we are going to vote on legislation that would provide the majority of tax relief to the most fortunate. That is on the heels of November 18 at 1 a.m. when we voted, they voted, the Republican leadership voted, on a 217-to-215 vote, that I might add not one Democrat voted for, to cut Medicaid and student loans and farm programs and food stamps. They voted to do those cuts to do what? To pay this week for a tax cut, $70 billion in tax cuts. The reduced tax rates on capital gains and dividends, something most of the folks in my district do not have to worry about, they wish they did, the reduced tax rates on capital gains and dividends will cost over $20 billion, or 36 percent, of the bill's total, nearly 50 percent. I talk about how these tax cuts will benefit those earning over $400,000 a year. Nearly 50 percent of the benefit of these rate reductions will be received by those with annual incomes of over $1 million. We are not talking about people who have $1 million in the bank. We are talking about annual incomes of over $1 million. That is where 50 percent of the $70 billion will go; and the majority, the rest of it will go to those earning $400,000 a year. Look, as Members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, we are conservative Democrats. A lot of us support tax cuts when we can afford them. I was a Democrat that voted for tax cuts. It was before 9/ 11. It was before Iraq. It was before Afghanistan. We really had a surplus. We really were giving people some of their money back. Since then, I have opposed these tax cuts for a simple reason. I will give them this. It might make for good politics, but it makes for bad fiscal policy and it is the wrong way to treat our children and our grandchildren because now with every tax cut, that mostly benefits those earning over $400,000 a year, how are we paying for it? Not by cutting spending. That is one of the 12 points in the Blue Dog plan. If you are going to cut taxes, cut spending. That is what we do at the Ross home in Prescott, Arkansas, around the kitchen table. If we want to buy something, we have got to make sure we have got the money in the checkbook to pay for it. If we want something really bad that costs more than we can handle that month, we have to cut something else. As a State Senator for 10 years, Arkansas like 49 States in this Nation, I had to help balance the budget. And we did it. There is no reason why this Nation cannot have a balanced budget. We are not against tax cuts. We are against borrowing the money from China and Japan and the Caribbean banking center and OPEC nations to pay for tax cuts. Yet this week another $70 billion will be borrowed, mostly from foreign lenders, foreign central banks, foreign investors, to pay for tax cuts to the tune of $70 billion that mostly benefits those earning over $400,000 a year, at a time when we have a record debt of $8.121 trillion that continues to increase every hour. I yield to the gentleman from California.