Mike Ross

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for her comments. And you are right, it is about priorities. And you can see where the priorities lie with this Republican Congress and this administration. Again, in the red, in the red you will see the amount of your tax money that is going to pay interest on the national debt. In the light blue you will see the amount of money going to educate our children. In the light green you will see the amount of money going to homeland security. That is right, there is a lot of talk these days about homeland security. That is the new buzz word. But look at the reality. In the green, that is the amount of your tax money going to homeland security. One out of every five packages in the belly of a plane on commercial flights today that are defined as freight, that is right, a lot of freight moves around this country on the belly of commercial airplanes, one in five packages today go unchecked. We feel safer. We feel safer because I take off my boots and take off my belt and go through a metal detector, and proud to do it. And I see all the suitcases and mine going through the x-ray machine. But the American people I don't believe realize that one in five packages on the belly of a commercial airplane is freight that goes totally unchecked. And the terrorists know this. What is more important, protecting the American people or giving another tax cut to people earning over $400,000 a year? Ninety-four percent of the containers that enter America by way of ports go totally unchecked. Is America really any more safe today than it was before 9/11? Again, in the green, the amount of your tax money that is going for homeland security. Finally, in the dark blue, the amount of your tax money going to keep America's promises to our veterans. Again, in the red, the amount of money going to pay interest on the national debts. I raise this issue because the debt and the deficit should matter to the American people. It should matter to all of us because our Nation is spending over $.5 billion every 24 hours simply paying interest on the national debt. I have got folks who have been waiting over 25 years for Interstate 49 in Arkansas. Give me just 4 days' interest. Give me just 4 days' interest on the national debt and I can build I-49. I have folks that have been waiting on I-69, which was first announced in Indiana 5 years before I was born. I am 45. I have got folks that have been waiting 50 years for Interstate 69. Give me 3 days' interest on the national debt and I can build I-69 across south Arkansas. I got a call today from Fred Denton in McGehee, Arkansas. They have a really nice port there on the Mississippi River. They are losing industrial prospects and economic opportunities and jobs, like biodiesel plants, because they do not have rail. They need $10 million to get rail to that port. Give me just a few hours' interest on the national debt and we can get rail to Yellow Bend Port on the Mississippi River. These are America's priorities: Improving our infrastructure, educating our kids, honoring our veterans, protecting our homeland, honoring our troops by giving them the equipment and supplies they need to do their job as safely as possible, investing in our Nation's infrastructure, which creates jobs and economic opportunities. Those are America's priorities, but your tax money is not going toward them. Your tax money is simply going to pay interest. For the most part, it is going to pay interest on the national debt, and that is why I believe it is important that we get our Nation's fiscal house in order. The administration claims that its deficits are manageable, but mainstream economists agree that large persistent deficits undermine the long-term strength of the economy. Government borrowing raises interest rates. And the cost of capital crowds out private investment and diminishes sustained economic growth. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan last year warned that if these large budget deficits are not addressed, at some point, in his words ``at some point these deficits will cause the economy to stagnate or worsen.'' That is from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Now, I have set the stage this evening for the problem at hand, but I told you I was also going to offer up, on behalf of the 37 Member strong fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, some common sense solutions. We are not here just to criticize the Republicans for the way they have managed and controlled this Congress under this President for the past 5\1/2\ years. We have talked about the facts and we have showed the numbers. And numbers don't lie. But I also promised this evening we would talk about a number of common sense solutions that we encourage and have asked Republicans to join us, as conservative Democrats, in embracing and in passing in this Congress for the sake of our country, for the sake of the American people. We have a 10-point plan in the Blue Dog Coalition. Ten points to budget reform, common sense budget reform, that can get these record deficits under control and restore us to the days of balanced budgets. We will go through those 10 points, but at this time I would like to introduce one of the founders of the Blue Dog Coalition, a real role model for me in my 5\1/2\ years here, and that is Mr. Tanner, the gentleman from Tennessee, who has developed a plan which includes legislation, which includes bills that we all got together and we wrote and I am cosponsoring. They are endorsed by the Blue Dog Coalition. They are common sense proposals that will restore accountability to our government. So I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee, a founder of the Blue Dog Coalition, Mr. Tanner, to discuss House Resolution 841, a common sense piece of legislation to restore accountability to this Congress and to these United States of America and our government.

Mr. ROSS. That is right. I didn't get into the details. I was saving it for you.

Mr. ROSS. Did you say there were 16?

Mr. ROSS. I want to thank the gentleman from Tennessee, one of the founders of the Blue Dog Coalition, for being here this evening on the floor and outlining House Resolution 841, a commonsense proposal to restore accountability to our government. We are 37 members strong. We are Democrats, fiscally conservative Democrats, who want to restore some commonsense and fiscal responsibility to our Nation's government. Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments or concerns or questions for us, you can e-mail us at BlueDog@mail.house.gov. That is BlueDog@mail.house.gov. At this time, I yield to our co-chair for communications within the Blue Dog Coalition, a good friend of mine and a leader of our group, Mr. Dennis Cardoza from California.

Mr. ROSS. I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza), co-chair for communications for the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, for his leadership within the Blue Dog Coalition and for his efforts through legislation to restore accountability to our Nation's government. Mr. Speaker, no business in our country could succeed financially if it failed to fully report back to its shareholders on how it is spending its money. However, that is exactly, as we have learned tonight from Mr. Cardoza and Mr. Tanner, how our Federal Government is operating. The administration is not telling its shareholders, the American taxpayers, how it spends the money coming into Washington. In 2004, $25 billion of Federal Government spending went absolutely unaccounted for according to the Treasury Department. The Bush administration was unable to determine where the money had gone, how it was spent, or what the American people got for their tax money. Even worse, the Republican-controlled Congress failed to hold the executive branch accountable for this omission. And through these common sense pieces of legislation, we plan to hold every Federal agency accountable for how it spends America's tax money. The next year, the GAO reported that 18 of the 24 Federal agencies have such bad financial systems that they don't even know the true cost of running some of their programs. Yet Republican leaders in Congress did not force these agencies to fully account for how the money was being spent before doling out billions more of your tax money to the same programs. Clearly, Congress has failed to ask serious questions about the Bush administration's fiscal irresponsibility and record-high deficits 4 years in a row that have now pushed the Federal debt to well over $8.5 trillion. Mr. Speaker, the time has come to hold this administration and this Congress accountable for its reckless behavior. I believe Congress must act now to renew its constitutional responsibility to serve as a check and balance for overspending, waste, fraud and financial abuse within the executive branch. Again, Mr. Speaker, tonight in the past hour this number here increased by a little over $41 million. Our national debt is $8,518,180,439,082. The national debt in America is $8,518,180,439,082. And that number, Mr. Speaker, during the hour that we have been here talking about restoring fiscal discipline and commonsense to our Nation's government, has increased by over $41 million. It is time for this Congress to restore accountability to our Federal Government. This is not about beating up Republicans. I don't care if Democrats or Republicans are in control; I am going to hold them accountable. I am going to hold them accountable for how they spend American taxpayers' dollars. Mr. Speaker, tonight we stand before you not only talking about the problem but offering up common sense solutions that demand accountability within our government. The time has come to restore commonsense and fiscal discipline and accountability to the government of the United States of America.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Army Sergeant First Class Richard Henkes, who died on September 3, 2006, fighting for our country in Mosul, Iraq, supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Richard Henkes, 32 years old, was killed during combat when a roadside bomb struck his military vehicle. Richard Henkes was assigned to the U.S. Army's C Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division in Fort Lewis, Washington. Following a family tradition of service in U.S. Armed Forces, Richard Henkes enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1992 and had been serving in Mosul for the past two months. His father served in the Air Force, both grandfathers were in the Army and fought in World War II and a great grandfather fought in World War I. While not serving our country, Richard Henkes enjoyed spending time with his five year-old daughter and had a passion for snowboarding. I am deeply saddened by the tragic loss of soldiers who have died while supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. These brave Americans lost their lives while making the ultimate sacrifice to serve our country, and I will be forever grateful to them for their courageous spirit. Richard Henkes gave his life to serve our country and will forever be remembered as a hero, a son, and a father. My deepest condolences go out to his daughter Isabel; his parents Chris and Jim Stanton and Richard and Karen Henkes; his sisters Tamara Henkes Bass, Dana Harmel and Karen Henkes; and his brothers, Mark Holmgren and Paul Stanton. I know Army Sergeant First Class Henkes was proud of his service to the U.S. Army and to our country. He will be missed by his family, fellow soldiers, and all those who knew him and counted him as a friend. I will continue to keep Richard Henkes and his family in my thoughts and prayers.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the career of Coach Eddie Jackson. Coach Jackson has been a guiding light to the youth of Arkansas and Texas for more than 35 years. On July 21st he was honored with an induction into the Arkansas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame. After graduating from Fairview High School in 1963, Coach Jackson went on to receive a BSE from Southern Arkansas University and an MSE from Henderson State University. Within months of graduating college he joined the Prescott High School football and track staffs, winning district championships in his first year. In 1973, his first year as a head football coach, Coach Jackson won the first of three state championships at Prescott. His last state championship came in 1995, his final year as head coach. Track and field has always held a special place in Coach Jackson's heart. During his distinguished career, he has amassed numerous titles and honors. While at Prescott, Coach Jackson won 15 district titles, was state runner-up twice and won an impressive three state championships. He has also served as the state track meet director twice and was an official at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championships. After leaving Prescott, Coach Jackson went on to coach one season at Hampton before moving to Texarkana and coaching one year at Texas High and two at Liberty-Eylau. In 2002, Coach Jackson became middle school athletic coordinator in Hooks, Texas while also coaching middle school football and track. Since Prescott is my hometown, I had the privilege to see first-hand the lives this man touched not, only in sports but in the community as well. On July 21st Coach Jackson joined 10 other outstanding coaches to be inducted into the Arkansas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame. I am so pleased to have the opportunity to properly recognize Coach Eddie Jackson before the United States Congress for his outstanding contributions to the communities and youth he has touched in Arkansas and Texas. Please join me in congratulating Coach Jackson on his induction into the Arkansas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Judge John W. Goodson, a true treasure to the community of Texarkana, Arkansas, and to the entire state of Arkansas. Judge Goodson passed away August 18, 2006, in Texarkana, Arkansas, at the age of 80. John W. Goodson began practicing law in 1951 and was known as a ``gentle giant'' in the courtroom because of his imposing height, booming voice and tender heart. Throughout his distinguished career as a lawyer and Circuit Judge, John Goodson was a mentor and a friend to many. Some of those he mentored moved on to become international lawyers, elected prosecutors, Circuit Judges, Arkansas Supreme Court Judges and a federal Judge. Judge Goodson served as the presiding Circuit Judge in courts in Miller, Lafayette, Hempstead and Nevada counties in Southwest Arkansas. Judge Goodson was a World War II Air Force Veteran, a member of the Arkansas Masonic Lodge, and a board member and former Sunday school teacher at the First United Methodist Church in Texarkana, Arkansas. Nothing meant more in the life of John W. Goodson than the love he had for his family. This love was evident in all he did, from his active involvement in his church to his role as a community leader. My condolences go out to his wife, Doris; his daughters Jan Murphy and Mary Jane Briggs; his son John Goodson; and his three granddaughters, Jane Anne Murphy, Wesley Hana Goodson and Mary Claire Briggs. Judge Goodson will be sorely missed in Texarkana and throughout the state of Arkansas.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Mack Ball, Sr., who passed away August 8, 2006, in Eudora, Arkansas at the age of 75. Mack Ball, Sr. was dedicated to improving his home community of Eudora, Arkansas. He served the community as Mayor for 12 years and was the presiding Chicot County Judge. Mack Ball, Sr. was also a committed member of the Eudora Chamber of Commerce. He took a particular interest in improving public education opportunities in Eudora and served on Eudora Public School Board. In addition he was a past national board member of the Beefmaster Breeders Universal. Mack Ball, Sr. was a man devoted to his faith and was a member of the Eudora Baptist Church where he served as a deacon and as a Sunday school teacher. My deepest condolences go to his wife, Leila Ball; his son Mack Ball, Jr.; his daughter Sally Tisdale and husband Stephen; his daughter Kathryn Phillips and her husband Doug; his brother Fred Felts, Jr.; his five grandchildren Mary Kathryn Gilfoil, Allan Phillips, David Phillips, Meg Phillips, and Elizabeth Cooper; and his two great grandchildren. Mack Ball, Sr. will be greatly missed in Chicot County and throughout the state of Arkansas.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Army Staff Sergeant Kenneth Jenkins of Fouke, Arkansas, who died on August 12, 2006, fighting for his country in Baghdad, Iraq, supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Kenneth Jenkins, just 25 years old, was killed during combat while conducting a checkpoint operation. Kenneth Jenkins was assigned to the Army's 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division in Fort Hood, Texas. Kenneth Jenkins enlisted in the Army in July of 1999, was on his second tour of duty in Iraq and was scheduled to return home in less than 90 days from his death. Kenneth Jenkins was a decorated soldier with a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. He had previously completed tours to Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Cuba. While not serving our country, Kenneth Jenkins enjoyed working on his car and physical fitness, but his family and friends always came first. I am deeply saddened by the tragic loss of soldiers from Arkansas, who have died while supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. These brave Americans lost their lives while making the ultimate sacrifice to serve our country, and I will be forever grateful to them for their courageous spirit. Kenneth Jenkins gave his life to serve our country and will forever be remembered as a hero, a son, and a husband. My deepest condolences go out to his wife Brandy; his mother Theresa; his sister Stephani Richard, and his brother, Mack. I know Army Staff Sergeant Jenkins was proud of his service to the U.S. Army and to our country. He will be missed by his family, fellow soldiers, and all those who knew him and counted him as a friend. I will continue to keep Kenneth Jenkins and his family in my thoughts and prayers.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, again, on a Tuesday evening, I come here on the floor of the United States House of Representatives on behalf of the 37-member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. We are a group of 37 Democrats that are fiscally conservative, that want to restore some common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. We are a group of 37 that are sick and tired of all of the partisan bickering that goes on in this Chamber and in our Nation's capital. Mr. Speaker, it should not be about whether 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 the people who send us here to be their voice at our Nation's capital. Mr. Speaker, I contend that this Republican leadership, this Republican administration, is not leading us down the correct path. Our country is not on the right track when it comes to our Nation's finances, when it comes to being good stewards of the American people's tax money. As you can see here on the Blue Dog Coalition poster, today the United States's national debt is $8,419,336,525,769. For every man, woman and child, including the children born today, every United States citizen's share of the national debt is a staggering $28,129. And the sad reality is that during this hour, during this Blue Dog Special Order, during the next 60 minutes, this number, the U.S. national debt, will go up by approximately $41,666,000. As fiscally conservative Democrats, we believe the time is now to restore common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. This $28,129 number, each citizen's share of the national debt which is what we in the Blue Dog Coalition refer to as the debt tax, D-e-b-t, that is one tax that cannot be cut. That is one tax that will not go away until we get our Nation's fiscal house in order. Mr. Speaker, now, a lot of public opinion surveys say debts and deficits do not matter. The Republican leadership of this Congress says that debts and deficits don't matter. Well, they do matter because we will not be able to meet America's priorities until we first get our fiscal house in order. What does it mean? It means that our Nation is spending, our Nation is spending a half a billion dollars a day, $500 million every 24 hours, simply paying interest. Interest. Not principal. Just interest on the national debt. Folks in my district back home in Arkansas, they want to build I-49, and I do too. We need $1.5 billion to complete that interstate that will connect Winnipeg, Canada, with the Port of New Orleans. It is a very large amount of money. If you look at it another way, if we had our Nation's fiscal house in order, we could build that interstate through Arkansas with just 3 days' interest on the national debt. Folks in my district want to build I-69, and so do I. We need $1.6 billion to finish that interstate that will stretch down through Arkansas and through much of the Midwest, from Canada all of the way down through Texas. $1.6 billion sounds like a lot of money and it is a lot of money; but put another way, we could build that Interstate 69 with a little over 3 days' interest on the national debt. Hot Springs Expressway, four-laning U.S. Highway 167, four-laning U.S. Highway 82, completing I-530. So many, so many needs, so many infrastructure needs that are going unmet, not just in Arkansas but across America. Those infrastructure improvements will create economic opportunities and jobs to build those interstates and other infrastructure projects, and they will also create economic opportunities and jobs once they are built. But those top priorities, educating our young people, ensuring that they get a world-class education, helping the 46 million people that are trying to do the right thing and stay off welfare, but are working the jobs with no benefits, the health care access they so desperately need and deserve, these are the types of priorities that are going unmet in America because of the lack of fiscal discipline in our Nation's government. It is hard now to believe that we had a balanced budget from 1998 to 2001. Because year after year we have record deficits. Now, why should deficits matter? I have given you a few reasons. Others, the deficits reduce economic growth. We have seen that. People lost their jobs under these enormous deficits that we have seen since 2002. Some of them are now beginning to find jobs again, but they are finding jobs at a much lesser salary than what they were making when they lost their jobs, and often times they are finding jobs with few or no benefits. These deficits burden our children and grandchildren, because it is they who will be forced to pay back this out-of-control spending that we are seeing occur today at our Nation's capital in Washington. And, yes, they increase our reliance on foreign lenders who now own 40 percent, 40 percent of our debt. The U.S. is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign lenders. Foreign lenders currently hold a total of about $2.089 trillion of our public debt. Compare this to only $623.3 billion in foreign holdings back in 1993. Who are they? Here is the top 10 list of foreign central banks and foreign investors that the Republican leadership of this Congress has borrowed money from, that this administration has borrowed money from in order to fund tax cuts for those earning over $400,000 a year. Japan. Our Nation has borrowed $637.9 billion from Japan. The United States of America has borrowed $326.1 billion from Communist China. The United States of America has borrowed $174.7 billion from the United Kingdom. You will really love this one, Mr. Speaker. The United States of America has now borrowed $102.8 billion from OPEC. And we wonder why gasoline is now $2.89 a gallon in south Arkansas today. The United States has borrowed $68.9 from Korea, $67.5 billion from Taiwan, $61 billion from the Caribbean banking centers, $51.2 billion from Hong Kong, $47 billion from Germany, and finally, last but not least, rounding out the top 10 current foreign lenders, foreign central banks and foreign investors that are loaning money to run our government is Mexico with $43.4 billion they have loaned the United States of America to finance this out-of-control spending. There are a lot of things we are going to talk about tonight. We are going to talk about accountability. As members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we are not about partisan politics, we are not about just criticizing the Republican leadership for this out-of-control spending. We are about holding them accountable just as we would hold our own party accountable if we saw and witnessed this out-of-control spending. The last time I checked, when a Democrat was in control we actually saw the first balanced budget in this Nation and the first surplus from 1998 to 2001 that this country had experienced in over 40 years. We are also not just about accountability, but as members of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally conservative Democrats, we are also about offering up commonsense solutions. And we are going to talk this evening about the Blue Dogs' 12-step plan for restoring fiscal responsibility to our government, and we are going to talk about our accountability legislation to make this government, to make the Federal agencies accountable for the tax money that they spend. We will be talking about all of these issues over the next hour, Mr. Speaker, but at this time, I would like to recognize a fellow Blue Dog member from the State of Georgia, a real leader in the Blue Dog Coalition on these issues, and that is my friend, Mr. David Scott.

Mr. ROSS. The gentleman from Georgia raises an excellent point that gets to our point about accountability within our government. If you ask a hundred different people what they think about this post-war Iraq policy, you get a hundred different answers. One of the things that I most proud of is that this time, and I think it is one of the painful lessons we learn as a Nation and as a people from Vietnam. But this time, this time we are seeing the American people united behind our men and women in uniform, and that makes me proud to be an American. I have a brother-in-law who spent Christmas refueling Air Force planes over Afghanistan. My first cousin, his wife gave birth to their first child while he was away serving our country in Iraq. And I am not one of those that believe that we can simply pull out and come home tonight, but I will tell you this, I do believe in accountability. This President, this Republican Congress, is spending $8 billion a month in Iraq; $2 billion a week, $11 billion an hour in Iraq. But if you ask this President to be accountable for it, if you ask him what his plan is to win the peace and eventually bring our men and women in uniform home, he will tell you that you are unpatriotic. And that is where I disagree with this President. Accountability. Accountable for the money, the tax money that is being spent in Iraq, and having a plan that will eventually bring our people home. I have got to tell you that in August of 2004, it is a day I will never forget, August 11, 2004, I went to Iraq. We had some 3,000 Arkansas National Guard soldiers in Iraq at the time. And I talked to some soldiers, including some from my hometown of Prescott, Arkansas, soldiers that I duck hunted with, soldiers that I had taught in Sunday school. And in talking with these soldiers, they told me there were two things we ought to be doing in Iraq if we wanted to eventually be able to leave: Number one, we need to be hiring more Iraqis to rebuild their infrastructure, instead of sending corporations like Halliburton over there to do it with non-Iraqi citizens who were being kidnapped and oftentimes had the threat of being beheaded. They told me that Iraqi citizens were taking money from the insurgents to lob cheap bombs at our soldiers not because they believed like the insurgents believe, but because they needed to feed their family. They begged me to come back home and to let our government know that we needed to put Iraqis to work rebuilding their infrastructure. The other thing they told me was that we weren't doing nearly enough in terms of training Iraqi citizens to be able to take control of their police and military 4th. August 11, 2004. I am a member of the NATO parliamentary assembly. In February of this year, February 2006, I was at Victoria Nuland, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO's residents in Brussels, Belgium, and the Iraqi ambassador to the EU and the NATO was there. Many members of his family died under Saddam's evil dictatorship. I asked him the same question, and, Mr. Speaker, I am here to tell you I got the same answer in February of 2006 about what we needed to be doing differently that I got from U.S. soldiers when I was on the ground in Iraq in August 11, 2004. We clearly do not have a plan. We clearly do not have the right plan to win the peace. Tomorrow in this very Chamber, we will hear a speech from the Prime Minister of Iraq. I am anxious to hear that speech. I also want him to know that we stand with his country; we want to see a democracy work in Iraq, we want to see an end to terrorism in Iraq. But if we are going to send $8 billion a month to that country, our government must be accountable for it, and his government must begin to work harder toward trying to win the peace and restore stability in that war-torn, in that terrorist-torn region. So what could we do with the $8 billion a month that we are spending in Iraq? One month and 3 days of what we are spending in Iraq would fund the missile defense system budget for the United States of America. 12 hours of the money we are spending in Iraq would fund for one year the commodities supplemental food program for the poor and elderly in this country. We could secure all commercial planes with missile defense systems. And if you believe we are safer now than we were pre-September 11, 2001, you are kidding yourself. They are screening our suitcases, but they are not screening the freight that goes in the belly of those planes; and, as I understand it, half of the belly of the plane is filled with freight. We could secure all commercial planes with missile defense systems with 5 weeks of the money we are sending to Iraq. With 5 weeks worth of money that we are now sending to Iraq, we could provide health insurance for all 9 million children currently without it. With 3 weeks of the money we are sending to Iraq, we could double the number of Navy ships we are buying in fiscal year 2007 from 6 to 12. In 4\1/2\ months of the money we are sending to Iraq we could restore cuts to Medicare and Medicaid in the President's fiscal year 2007 budget. In 3 weeks, the amount of money we are sending to Iraq would pay to secure all public transportation systems in this post-9/11 era. In 9 days, 9 days of the money we are sending to Iraq could eliminate the VA health care premium increases in this year's budget for America's veterans. And, 5 days worth of money that we are sending to Iraq could provide all, all United States ports with radiation detectors. Now, I am not saying don't send the money to Iraq. As long as we have got troops there, I am going to support them, and I want to make sure they are properly taken care of and got the equipment needed to do the job. I am talking about this administration being accountable, because these other priorities that I just listed will continue to go unmet until we get our fiscal house in order, until we have a plan to win the peace and bring our troops home from Iraq. These are the type of priorities that are going unmet, and that is why we are here tonight to talk about accountability. We are not here to argue theories over whether we should or should not be in Iraq. We are here to talk about accountability. That is a lot of tax money we are sending to Iraq every hour. I am happy to yield to the gentleman.

Mr. ROSS. I should have provided the gentleman a copy. There is good news. You mentioned the 19 of 24 Federal agencies could not produce a clean audit. That number has actually changed. There is good news. The General Accountability Office now reports that 18, not 19, 18 of 24 Federal agencies have such bad financial systems that they do not even know the true cost of running some of their programs. Yet, as we know, Republican leaders in Congress did not force these agencies to fully account for how the money was being spent before doling out billions more in taxpayer dollars to the same programs. In the Blue Dog Coalition, we have a bill to deal with that. We have a bill to deal with accountability. We have a bill that says if, Mr. Secretary, if your Federal agency cannot produce a clean audit, you should go back to the Senate for reconfirmation hearings. We are trying to get to the root of this problem by passing legislation that requires accountability, accountability within our government. I yield back to the gentleman.

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott), an active member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition for joining us this evening. I might point out here that on July 11, President Bush, with a lot of fanfare, announced that the deficit for 2006 was not going to be $300 billion. With a lot of fanfare, he announced that it was only going to be a projected $296 billion, which is still the fourth largest deficit ever in our Nation's history. Our largest deficit ever occurred in 2004. It was $413 billion. The second largest ever occurred in 2003; it was $378 billion. The third largest deficit ever in our Nation's history occurred in 2005; it was $318 billion. And now this administration is announcing with a lot of fanfare and a lot of excitement and a lot of enthusiasm that the deficit for fiscal year 2006 is now only projected to be the fourth largest ever in our Nation's history, $296 billion. Even the Los Angeles Time did an editorial on this entitled: ``Another Mission Accomplished.'' At this time, I would like to yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper), our cochair for policy within the Blue Dog Coalition, our think tank part of the Blue Dog Coalition, if you will, my friend.

Mr. ROSS. I welcome you both to continue with me in this dialogue in this Special Order on restoring fiscal discipline and common sense and accountability in our Nation's government. Since President Bush took office, the amount of foreign held treasury debt, we talked about it earlier, Mr. Scott, but I think it is important to note, that since he took office, the amount of foreign held treasury debt has more than doubled, increasing from $1 trillion to $2.1 trillion. Put another way, this administration has borrowed more money from foreign central banks and foreign investors than the previous 42 presidents combined. Unlike deficits in earlier years, I think it is important to note that current deficits have been primarily financed by foreign investors, with the rise in foreign-held debt equaling three-fourths the increase in publicly held debt since the start of the current administration. The rise in foreign held debt is troubling because it makes our economy beholding to foreign creditors and foreign investors and foreign central banks and, yes, foreign countries, and represents another financial burden passed on to our kids and grandkids, our children and grandchildren. Foreign held debt is fundamentally different from domestically held debt since the interest payments on foreign held debt flows outside the United States and reduces America's standard of living. As you can see here, the amount of money that was being borrowed from foreign countries in 2001, during this Republican leadership in the House and Senate, was $988 billion. It has gradually gone up to a whopping, for fiscal year 2006, a whopping $2.66 trillion. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott) and then Mr. Cooper.

Mr. ROSS. People ask us all the time, if the Democrats are put in control of this body, what are they going to do differently? These are two commonsense Blue Dog Coalition-backed proposals about how we will restore accountability to the Federal Government. At this time, I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper) to spend time on this or any other subject we are talking about this evening.

Mr. ROSS. I thank our co-chair for policy of the Blue Dog Coalition Jim Cooper from Tennessee for his insight on these many issues. And what I am so proud of is that we are not here to be partisan, we are not here to beat up the Republicans. We are here to hold them accountable for these out-of-control debts and deficits, but we are also here to offer up common sense solutions. Mr. Scott of Georgia talked about the Blue Dog backed accountability plan that will hold Federal agencies accountable when they cannot account for the taxpayer money that we provide them to assist taxpayers and to run our government on. He talked about our bill to make cabinet level secretaries go back to the Senate for reconfirmation when they fail to produce a clean audit. Mr. Cooper talked about our plan for a balanced budget. Forty-nine States require a balanced budget. I can assure you my wife requires a balanced budget at the Ross household in Prescott, Arkansas. My banker requires we have a balanced budget at our family-owned business back home in Prescott, Arkansas. And it is not asking too much for the United States of America to have a balanced budget, which is one of the 12 points that we have provided, that we have offered up, a 12-point plan for curing our Nation's addiction to deficit spending. Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments, questions or concerns about this special order this evening on accountability and common sense and fiscal discipline, I would encourage you to e-mail us, Mr. Speaker, at bluedog@mail.house.gov. Again, you can e-mail us at bluedog@mail.house.gov. Let me just mention a few of the other points to the 12-point plan for budget reform. Don't let Congress buy on credit. Back when we had a balanced budget for the first time in 40 years, from 1998 to 2001, we had what was called PAYGO, pay-as-you-go rules, in place. Meaning if you had some idea for a wonderful new Federal program, you had to show us which other program you were going to cut to pay for it. If you wanted to cut taxes for those earning over $400,000 a year, you had to show us which Federal program you wanted to cut to pay for it. It was called PAYGO, pay as you go. Something that is very common to most Americans. Put a lid on spending is another idea that we have. Stop these massive increases in the amount of money being provided to Federal agencies. Require agencies to put their fiscal house in order, which goes back to our accountability bill. Make Congress tell taxpayers how much they are spending. Believe it or not, billions of dollars are spent in this Chamber without a roll call vote. Simply by voice vote. We want to put an end to that. Think about this one, you want to talk about commonsense ideas? Set aside a rainy day fund. We know there is going to be a natural disaster somewhere in these United States every year, and we ought to be prepared for those type of natural disasters and emergencies. Don't hide votes to raise the debt limit. Instead of increasing the Federal Government's credit card limits, instead of increasing the debt limit hidden in some other bill, let us have a stand-alone bill so that the American people know much the debt is being increased and for what purpose. Justify spending for pet projects. Ensure that Congress reads the bills it is voting on. Now, that is a good one, isn't it? We can't pass a law to require Members of Congress to read a bill they are voting on, or the bills they are voting on, but I can tell you this. The Medicare prescription drug bill, there has been a lot of talk about it. It is now estimated to cost well over $700 billion over the next 10 years. It went to a vote at 3 a.m., barely a day after the final version of the 500-plus-page bill was made available for Members of Congress to read. Now, I can promise you we cannot pass laws to make Members of Congress read the bills they vote on, but I can promise you that when you have got a 500-page bill and you give them less than a day to read it and study it, it is impossible to read it and thoroughly examine it. We are saying give Members of Congress a minimum of 3 days to have the final text of legislation made available to them before there are votes. And you know what, Mr. Speaker? If we have made it just fine since 1776 without whatever piece of legislation we are dealing with at the time, we will probably be okay for another 3 days. Give Members of Congress time to read the bills they are voting on. Require honest cost estimates for every bill that Congress votes on. Make sure new bills fit the budget, and make Congress do a better job of keeping tabs on government programs, which again goes back to our accountability legislation that is Blue Dog-backed, written by Mr. Tanner and Blue Dog members that we have talked about a great deal this evening. We are not here just to criticize. In fact, we are not here to criticize at all. We are not here to be partisan. We are here to hold the Republican leadership and the Republican administration accountable for this reckless out-of-control deficit spending, the largest deficits ever in our Nation's history, and they are borrowing to the tune of about $1 billion more. The debt is going up about $1 billion every 24 hours, nearly half of which is being borrowed from foreign central banks and foreign investors. We are here to hold them accountable and to offer up what I call commonsense solutions. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia for joining me for this lively discussion this evening as we talk about these issues that are so important not only to our future but our children and grandchildren's future. I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper).

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank both of these fine gentlemen, very active leaders in the Blue Dog Coalition, for joining me this evening. We raise these issues, the largest debt ever in our Nation's history, largest deficit ever in our Nation's history, borrowing $1 billion a day, spending $.5 billion a day paying interest on the national debt, we raise these issues because as long as we are spending $.5 billion in interest payments each day that America's priorities are not going to be met, you can see here the red is the amount of money going to interest in our Nation. The light blue is the amount going to ensure that our children receive a world-class education. In green, a lot of talk about homeland security. Here is the truth: not much money in green that is going to fund our homeland in this post-9/11 era. And, finally, a lot of talk about supporting our troops, and I hope we all do. I certainly do. But isn't the way to honor our troops, isn't one of the ways to honor them to support our veterans? Because we are creating a new generation of veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan and across the globe as we stand here this evening, and yet you can see compared to the red, the amount of money going to pay interest on the national debt, you can see what is going to cover the amount of money to fund our veterans. It is time our government keeps its promises to our veterans.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, this evening as I do each Tuesday evening that the United States House of Representatives is in session, I rise on behalf of the 37-Member-strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. As you walk the halls of Congress, as you walk the halls of the Cannon House Office Building, the Longworth House Office Building and the Rayburn House Office Building, it is easy to spot an office that belongs to one of the 37 Members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, because you will find this poster as a welcome mat by each door of a Blue Dog member. As you can see, today the U.S. national debt is $8,419,147,820,878 and some change. Your share of the national debt, that is every living man, woman and child, including the children born today, every American citizen's share of the national debt is $28,134. As Members of the Blue Dog Coalition, it is what we call the debt tax, d-e-b-t, and that is one tax that cannot go away until this Republican Congress and this administration gets our Nation's fiscal house in order. Last week, the President made a big announcement about how the deficit really was not as bad as what his White House had first thought and reported it would be. I think the best way to sum up the events of last week can be found in an editorial, July 11, 2006, from the Los Angeles Times entitled ``Another Mission Accomplished,'' And I will not read the entire editorial, but I think it sets the stage for what we plan the spend the next hour discussing this evening. It starts off like this: ``The release of the White House mid-session budget review is an annual event normally marked by a few wonkish observations and the routine updating of various spreadsheets, not by a full-dressed Presidential dog-and-pony show. But President Bush plans to preside today with Members of Congress and invited guests in attendance. By all indications, including his own, in his weekly radio address last Saturday, he plans to turn this into a celebration just in time for the fall campaign.'' The editorial from the Los Angeles times dated July 11, 2006 continues. ``This is proof, if anyone still needs it, that this administration is desperate for something to boast about. On Mr. Bush's watch, triple-digit budget surpluses have turned into annual triple- digit budget deficits. ``There is no information in the mid-session report to alter that utterly dispiriting fact. Yes, the report is expected to project that this year's deficit will be somewhat less gargantuan than last year's, probably somewhere between $280 and $300 billion versus a $318 billion shortfall in 2005.'' And it concludes, that part of the editorial, by saying, ``That is not much to crow about.'' Well, they are right. Last week the administration released its mid-session review of the budget. And after further examination, let's take a closer look at what the report actually tells us. The report actually tells us that what we have here is another record deficit. The administration's updated estimate of $296 billion deficit makes 2006 one of the four largest deficits in our Nation's history. It is hard now to believe that we had a balanced budget in this country from 1998 to 2001. But it did not take this administration and this Republican-led Congress very long to turn fiscal responsibility into record deficits. As you can see, the largest deficit ever in our Nation's history occurred in 2004 when the Republicans controlled the White House, the House, and the Senate. It was $413 billion in red ink, in hot checks, if you will. The year 2003 was the second largest deficit ever in our Nation's history, where, for the first time in over 50 years, the Republicans controlled the White House, the House and Senate, and they gave us the second largest deficit ever in our Nation's history, $378 billion. The third largest record deficit ever in our Nation's history again occurred while the Republicans controlled the White House, the House, and the Senate. It was in 2005, and it was $318 billion deficit, the third largest deficit ever in our Nation's history. Then this year, the President has a press conference, has a grand ceremony and event to announce that the deficit for fiscal year 2006 is only $296 billion, the fourth largest deficit ever in our Nation's history. I think the editorial in the Los Angeles Times had it right when it said that is not much to crow about. The administration's updated estimate of $296 billion deficit, as I indicated, makes 2006 the fourth largest deficit ever in our Nation's history. While this number represents an improvement over the 2005 deficit of $318 billion, it still ranks as the fourth largest deficit ever in our Nation's history. These revised estimates do not account for the extent of our budget problems, because they include in the calculation the annual surpluses in Social Security. The first bill I filed as a Member of Congress when I got here in 2001 was a bill to tell the politicians in Washington to keep their hands off the Social Security trust fund. This Republican Congress refused to give me a hearing or a vote on that bill, and now we know why, because they are raiding the Social Security trust fund to fund tax cuts for those earning over $400,000 a year. They are raiding the Social Security trust fund to fund this out-of- control deficit, this out-of-control debt, this reckless spending that we are seeing occurring in our Nation's capital and the way the Republican leadership is running our government and this country. In fact, when the Social Security surplus is excluded, as it should be, the 2006 deficit is not $296 billion; it is $473 billion. Now, throughout the evening we are going to be talking more about this, including projected surpluses, and how they became huge deficits. I will talk more about that in a little bit, but I have been joined this evening by the cochair for policy for the Blue Dog Coalition, Jim Cooper from Tennessee. Glad to have you with us this evening.

Mr. ROSS. The gentleman from Tennessee makes an excellent point about how we have gotten into this mess with these record deficits. This Republican Congress, this administration, gave us a so-called Medicare part D prescription drug plan. We all want our seniors to be able to have access and be able to afford the medicine that they so desperately need. I thought that we were going to pass a bipartisan meaningful benefit for our seniors, but instead we passed a bill that was written by the big drug manufacturers. In fact, the chairman of the committee writing the bill at the time left the committee and took a multimillion dollar job as the head of PhRMA, the association in Washington D.C. that represents the big drug manufacturers. Now, every State in America, through its Medicaid programming was negotiating with the drug manufacturers to reduce the cost that those States paid for the Medicaid program. When this Medicare part D program became law, they shifted Medicare- eligible seniors that were poor enough to be on Medicaid away from Medicaid and on to Medicare and into a bill that actually has language in the legislation. I thought this was going to be a bill to help our seniors with the high cost of medicine. But this legislation included language that said the Federal Government shall be prohibited from negotiating with the big drug manufacturers to bring down the high cost of medicine. So we shifted that cost from the States and, more importantly, from the big drug manufacturers, because every manufacturer out there was giving rebates to the States to help offset the costs to the program and to a Federal program where the Federal Government is prohibited from negotiating with the big drug companies to bring down the high cost of medicine. We are seeing, as a result of that, our seniors not really getting that good of a benefit, and yet it is a program that is causing these deficits to go up.

Mr. ROSS. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thought we would go through a few other charts that we have here and talk a little bit more about this entire discussion about the projected surpluses becoming huge deficits. When the administration took office in 2001, it had an advantage no administration in recent times has enjoyed, a 10-year projected surplus of $5.6 trillion. The administration has replaced that surplus with recurring deficits and a record debt. When the cost of items omitted from the mid-session review are included, the deterioration in the budget between 2002 and 2011 is about $8.5 trillion. Although these numbers are more positive than the administration's February forecast, which some would argue they inflated again so they could boast now about not having the largest deficit in our Nation's history, but rather having the fourth largest deficit in our Nation's history, they unfortunately do not represent any significant improvement in the long-term budget picture. Even the administration's 5-year forecast, which omits the cost of certain planned policies, never shows a deficit smaller than $123 billion. You can see here in 2000 we had a real, actual surplus of $236 billion. In 2001, we had a projected surplus of $281 billion, which in the end result ended up being $128 billion. And then as you can see, when the Bush administration came here, surpluses were projected for year 2002 through 2006; but, instead, we got deficits, including four of the largest deficits ever in our Nation's history. This was a $610 billion swing from having the first balanced budget in 40 years to having the largest debt ever in our Nation's history and having the largest deficit ever in our Nation's history for 4 years in a row. I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee.

Mr. ROSS. This administration has told us for 5\1/2\ years now that if you cut taxes on folks earning over $400,000 a year, I do not have a lot of folks in my district who earn that kind of money, but this administration, this Republican-led Congress, for 5\1/2\ years has been telling us about that trickle down business, that if you cut taxes on those earning over $400,000 a year, it will eventually trickle down to everyone else and stimulate the economy and bring in new revenues and, therefore, a stronger economy and a stronger government. Well, as you can see here, the realistic estimate shows a bleak deficit outlook for those tax cuts for people earning over $400,000 a year. All they have gotten us is in the business whereas of today our Nation is borrowing $1 billion a year, 45 percent of which we are borrowing from places like China, Japan, Hong Kong and Korea and, oh, yeah, OPEC nations. In fact, these tax cuts for folks earning over $400,000 a year, what they have gotten us is not only a record debt and record deficit and in the business of borrowing $1 billion a day. It has also resulted in our Nation spending a half a billion dollars every day simply paying interest on the debt we have already got. Again, as Blue Dog members, fiscally conservative Democrats, we coined the phrase the ``debt tax,'' D-E-B-T, which is one tax that cannot be cut, cannot go away until we get our Nation's fiscal house in order. As you can see, we had actual deficits back in the 1980s and the 1990s; and then in 1998, under the leadership of President Clinton, we popped into a surplus, first time a Democrat or Republican had done that in 40 years. We saw a surplus. We saw a balanced budget from 1998 through 2001, and then look what happened, and then tax cuts for those earning over $400,000 a year, and we started seeing record deficits. This administration, this Republican-led Congress have given us four of the largest deficits ever, ever in our Nation's history. The administration's estimated future deficits failed to include the full cost of items on its agenda; and once likely costs are included, the deficit is never better than $229 billion for the foreseeable future. The true state of the budget is worse than the administration's forecast depicts because it omits certain costs. When realistic adjustments are made for omitted items, annual deficits never improve to better than $229 billion for any year over the next decade, and by 2016, the deficit grows to $444 billion. I think it is important to note that the administration's new estimates for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan reflect a total of $110 billion for 2007, $60 billion more than the President's February budget. However, beyond 2008, the administration provides no further funding for these efforts. It is like the White House is telling us that everything will be rosy in Iraq, Afghanistan and all of our troops will be able to come home by 2008. It is time for some truthful budgeting in our government. Based on a model presented by the Congressional Budget Office, CBO, costs for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan could run as much as $371 billion over the next 10 years, from 2007 to 2016, and this calculation is likely conservative. I have Middle East experts at the State Department telling me that we will be in a situation that is costing us billions of dollars in Iraq at least for 10 years, some believe for as much as 30 or 35 years; and yet this administration can look the American people in the eye with an honest look and an honest face and say that there is no reason to budget for the war beyond 2008. It is time for this administration and this Republican-led Congress to be truthful with the American people and to give this government, to give the people of this country an honest budget. The report also estimates that the President's plan to partially privatize Social Security will worsen the unified deficit by $721 billion over the next 10 years. Finally, the report does not include the cost of addressing Medicare physician payments which must be addressed. A long-term fix could cost from $127 billion to $275 billion over the next 10 years in the absence of other policy changes, another omission from the numbers presented to us in this mid-year report that the President presented last week. I am also joined this evening by our cochair for communication with the 37-member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, and that is the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza) who I yield to.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I, along with my colleagues from Arkansas, all four of us, rise this evening to remember the life of our Lieutenant Governor, Winthrop Paul Rockefeller. This is a sad day for Arkansas and for Arkansans. As a State Senator in the Arkansas legislature, I had the privilege to serve with Lieutenant Governor Win Rockefeller for nearly 5 years. In presiding over the State senate, I can remember that he was always fair and ruled without political bias. I had the distinct pleasure to know him personally as a result of our work together in the State senate. And I can tell you he was a generous man. He was an unassuming man. He was a family man. I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that he loved the State of Arkansas and its people. The people of Arkansas will deeply miss his leadership and his vision, his vision to make our State a better place for all of us. His family is in my prayers during this difficult time.