David Scott

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be on the floor to set the record straight. I, too, heard what the Republicans were just saying. The American people are a lot of things, but they are not fools. They know that the President is a Republican. They know that the Senate is in the hands of the Republicans. They know that this House of Representatives is in the hands of the Republicans. The Republicans are leading the country. When Democrats were leading this country, at least one of our Presidents, President Truman, said, the buck stops here. Not these. They say the buck stops with the Democrats when we are the minority party. There is not a bill we can get passed here because we are the minority party. It is wrong as wrong can be for the Republicans to point fingers and try to blame the Democrats for this huge increase in prices. This belongs where it ought to be: On the failed policies of the President. Now, I like the President. I find the President to be a very fine person, and I hold him in great personal esteem, but I totally disagree with his policies. And the people of this country disagree with his policies. Now let us talk about the truth. We have had the Truth Squad just speak, and I am sort of reminded of this story of a good friend of mine. Her name was Isabella. One day in New York City Isabella had a vision, and so she changed her name to Sojourner Truth. She went all over this country speaking, and everywhere she went, people would ask her about her funny name. She would say, Let me tell you about my funny name. The Lord gave me ``Sojourner'' so I could travel the world showing the people and speaking to them. But I told the Lord I needed another name, and he gave me ``Truth'' so I could tell the truth to people. Mr. Ross, that is what the American people are expecting us to do tonight, to be sojourners of truth and to tell the truth. There is no more burning issue. Yes, we must talk about the deficit, but we have to talk about this gas price. We have to talk about the raising of it because it is what is on the hearts and minds and souls of the American people. They are fed up to here with these huge, gigantic gas spikes and gas prices. Many people can't even make it. I was just out in my district in Douglas County down on Dorsett Shoals Road this past Sunday. And one of my constituents, a little lady, came out and said, Congressman, please do something about these gas prices. Where is our country headed? Where are we going? Please do something about securing our borders. Where is our country going? I am here to tell you, Mr. Ross, the American people are very, very concerned about the lack of direction and going in the wrong direction that this country is headed in. Nowhere is it more startling than in these gas prices. Now, let me bring this to your attention, Mr. Ross, because this really gets to me. And I want to talk about this for a moment. In this article, I think it was from one of the media, the New York Times or Washington Post. I don't have it correct. But they began to talk about something that brings home the point. Now, let me preface this by saying, I am a capitalist. I was trained at the best school of business in the world, the citadel of capitalism, the Wharton School of Finance where I got my MBA. Served on the board of directors there for 6 years. So I am a capitalist. I believe in the profit motive. I understand all of that. But listen to this that we hear about the CEO at Exxon-Mobil. For his efforts, Mr. Lee Raymond, who retired in December, was compensated more than $686 million from 1993 to 2005, according to an analysis done for the New York Times by Brian Foley, an independent compensation consultant. That amounts to $144,573, every day. Now, I am for profit. But there is a difference between profit and greed, and that is what is upsetting the American people. At a time when we have diminishing oil resources, at a time that the fuel prices are skyrocketing, these oil companies are making huge profits. Now, all I say is this: Don't we owe it to the American people to ask these executives from these oil companies to come before Congress and explain this to us? The American people are asking questions. I know your constituents are asking questions: How can it be? And not only that, if we move over to Chairman Ray Irani of Occidental Petroleum, He received $63 million in total compensation just last year. And over the past 3 years, Irani has reaped more than $135 million. I am not kicking anybody for making money. This is a free enterprise system. It is a capitalistic system. But we are not dealing with peanuts. We are not dealing with renewable stuff. We are dealing with a life and death, very valuable diminishing resource called oil that we are dependent on, not just for us to make our economy go. It also is the juice that enables us to fight our wars, protect this country. There is a lot at stake with this. Meanwhile, we want the truth. Here are the facts: the price of gas, while all of these profits are going on, the price of gas has doubled. Profits for big oil and gas companies have quadrupled at the time that gas prices have zoomed up, while American families' incomes have been stagnated. Many small independent gas stations are reporting that they are being gouged by big oil companies. Now, if they are saying that, shouldn't we investigate? Shouldn't we take a look? That is all that I am saying. I am saying we need to bring the oil industry individuals in and get them under oath to provide us with some answers. No, this is not a Democrat or Republican situation. It is all of our situation. But I tell you, when they are in charge, it is wrong to blame us.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to be on the floor with Mr. Schiff. I commend his leadership on the national security issue. It is so important for the American people to be able to understand and know wholeheartedly that Democrats are the strongest party on national security. Our record speaks to it, all the way from Franklin Delano Roosevelt who shepherded us through World War II and built up our Army, to Truman, all the way up to John Kennedy. No stronger Presidents have we had on national security. Democrats are very strong on national security. I want to spend my remarks here speaking from my own experience. I have been overseas visiting our troops on four different trips, to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and to Lithuania, into Germany, visiting them at Ramstadt Hospital and the air force base. I have been to Camp Victory at Baghdad on the front lines, as well as with our group on national security to which every Thursday we bring in the experts. We bring them in whether they are Republicans or Democrats, from Newt Gingrich to Sam Nunn to Andrew Young. We have had people there with experience because we want the American people to know that this Nation is secure, has been secure, and will be secure in the future in the hands of Democrats. I want to spend just a few moments in talking about where we are in this 21st-century of our military. We have the finest military in the world, but since 9/11 our Nation's Armed Forces have become overextended. There is no mistake about it. Some of our recruiting goals have not been met. But under Democrats we will make sure, and we have already begun the process to make sure, that our Armed Forces are not overextended and to make sure we have policies and procedures in place to help us meet our recruitment goals. As you well know, Mr. Schiff, we have an all-volunteer Army. The draft is no longer applicable, nor will it be in the foreseeable future. With the advances in technology, we are going to be competing at a high level with private industries and others to get those high- caliber individuals to volunteer. Even the M-116 rifle is basically a computer. We must have soldiers who are well equipped, well prepared. So we have to go out and compete for those soldiers, and we have to realize what this 21st century means. The men and women of America's Armed Forces and our first responders here at home have met every challenge with skill, with bravery, and selfless dedication. They along with veterans, military retirees, and the families of those who have given their lives to defend our country deserve our utmost gratitude; and we give it to them with our support. That is why we Democrats are launching our effort here. We want to make sure that America knows this country will be safe with us, that we have the record and we have the program. Much has been said and, yes, we have criticized the President. We have criticized the Republicans because it is due, because there has been failure after failure and bad planning. We know that now. And bad intelligence. But I assure you, if Democrats are in control, we will never send our troops into harm's way with inaccurate intelligence and not equipped with the body armor that they need to do their job. It is important for the American people to know what we are doing now and what we plan to do. The whole world sees what is wrong step by step with our policies. I want to point out to the American people some facts they may not know about what Democrats are doing now and what our record has been. We are committed to strengthening our military, but we have been fighting to make sure, we have been at the leadership in making sure that our troops have been fully equipped. Every step along the way, it has been Democrats who have sought to ensure that our troops were fully equipped for this war in Iraq. It was not a war of our choosing, but it was a war that was decided upon based upon incomplete and inaccurate information that we know now, but did not know then. And Democrats stood strong and said we have to go based upon our information. But once our troops were in harm's way, once they were sent and it was found out that they did not have the body armor and their Humvees did not have the equipment to sustained the underbellies for the improvised explosive devices, it was Democrats who provided the leadership. For example, because of Democratic efforts, the 2003 Iraqi supplemental budget included more funds for Humvees, body armor, and jammers to prevent the detonation of explosive devices. It was Democrats who offered amendments to shift $322 million from reconstruction for safety equipment for U.S. troops in Iraqi. It was Democratic Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut who led that fight, and to shift $4.6 million from Iraqi reconstruction for support and safety of our troops, including critical funding for repairing and replacing the critical equipment for combat in Iraq. That was Mr. Obey, our ranking member on the Appropriations Committee that led that fight. Although both of those efforts were at the need, when they needed that armor, that is when Democrats stepped forward. It was Republicans who rejected those amendments. But we Democrats did succeed in requiring the Department of Defense to at least reimburse those servicemembers for the cost of their protective safety and health equipment that had to be purchased by them and their families. You remember the newscasts. We had our soldiers searching through dung heaps, land fields and junkyards in Iraq and the Middle East trying to find metal to protect themselves. It brought tears to my eyes to think that this Republican administration would send our young men and women in harm's way and not have them armed with body armor. They were writing back home to mom and daddy saying, send me some money so I can buy something to protect myself. Never again can we let that happen, and it is we Democrats that are providing the way on this. I want to make sure we cover one other point. We are going to vote on a budget at some point. Luckily, they didn't have the votes tonight; but just to show you cut after cut after cut, $1.5 billion cut to veterans. The Democrats will treat our veterans with the respect they deserve, and we will put together a GI Bill of Rights. We will get rid of the military tax on widows. We will increase the benefits, and we will make our military proud and strong. And we will make sure that the rotation cycle is not two and three and even four tours of duty at a time, because our military is stretched thin. We will strengthen our military. We will move us into the 21st century, and Democrats will provide that leadership. I am proud to be with you here tonight and my colleagues.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Absolutely not. Our President, it brings chills to me when I remember what President Roosevelt said: ``We have nothing to fear but fear itself,'' to raise people, our people, to that level. Or President Kennedy saying: ``Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.''

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Excellent point. And there is no greater emergency in this country than addressing the plight of African American males. No group in this country has paid the price, has made the contributions, has gone through the struggles, and has faced the vicissitudes of racism as the African American community. Structure, discipline, sanctioned by law. And yet if there was just one tenth of the effort to correct that imbalance, but on every score, you go down the line, and you mentioned them, education, the college grant. They say No Child Left Behind. An excellent idea but underfunded by 3 or $400 billion, not putting the money in. Black college Presidents have come up to this Congress hat in hand, begging, pleading for money for scholarships, and have not gotten a response. In this budget itself, do you know that the fastest growing part of this budget is the interest we are paying? And the interest we are paying is more than all that we are spending totally on primary education, secondary education, college education, everything education, as well as the environment and veterans. This is dastardly wrong.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. The American people are expecting us to. I just share with you my own experience. Every weekend I get home, by the time I get off the airplane, I get in my tee-shirt and my jeans and I get out and walk door to door in my district, about 50 percent of which is new out in Cobb and Douglas Counties. And there is a certain experience that you get when you go knock on doors and you talk to your constituents and they say, Oh, the Congressman is here. And, Mr. Ross, let me tell you America is worried. The people in America are worried about the direction of this country. At one stop a lady comes out and she says, Yes, put a yard sign in, and I give her a tee-shirt. And she says, Congressman Scott, what are we going to do about our education? I am not just talking about the money, but I am talking about the fact that my kid is sitting in a hallway because there is no room, there is no classroom. And in many of our counties across this country, they are meeting in trailers because we have not put the money in the budget in order to deal with it. Now, I got the latest figures because I think it is very important that the American people know why we must vote down this budget come tomorrow or Thursday. The budget provides $15.4 million less, a cut in funding for education, than promised by the No Child Left Behind. No Child Left Behind. No Child Left Behind, but we are leaving them behind and not only leaving them behind but we are leaving them on the floor, in the hallways to study, overcrowded classrooms, teachers without adequate pay to do all the paperwork and not paying them for it. They are meeting in fire stations. They are meeting down the road in an old church basement. They are meeting in trailers. Damp, unsafe, unsanitary trailers. This is what this budget is doing to our American children. Under this Republican budget, the cumulative funding shortfall for No Child Left Behind is $55 billion. This Republican budget, as we talked about before about the need, especially in some of our hard cases, this Republican budget completely eliminates several important education programs, including vocational education State grants, educational technology State grants. We are talking about those institutions that are actually taking our youngsters and training them with jobs that are being cut. Americans are worried about that. Veterans are worried. Down the street another one says he is standing in line, not being able to get his treatment at a VA hospital. We are calling and he says if it was not for this congressional office calling, what would happen? But there are literally thousands of Americans out there, veterans, who are facing these dilemmas every single day. And they are upset about these unwise, foolish, mean, and unnecessary cuts to vital programs not because we cannot afford it, not because we are not wise to do it, but we are doing it just to offset costs for a tax cut for the wealthiest 1 percent in this country. Even them, even Bill Gates and others at that level, are saying, ``We don't need it.'' But our veterans need it. Our teachers need it. Our children who are in these trailers, they need it.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. And here is the danger. Here is the danger when you put your financial security in the hands of foreign nations at the rate that we are doing it. Now we have to worry that some of these nations could very well sell their U.S. dollars in their reserves and then they could switch their currency into other nations. They could do a lot of things when they have our debt. What happens if they lose patience here? By having so much of our debt in the hands of foreign interests, we place our whole financial security in great peril. China now has $250 billion of our debt, Japan has $687 billion of our debt, Taiwan has $117 billion of our debt and Hong Kong has $67 billion of our debt. I mention these because these are countries in the Asian Basin. If collectively they came together, for surely geography puts their direct interests more at stake than it does us over here in the Western Hemisphere, if they came together with a pact and just made a decision on what to do with our debt or whether they are going to sell U.S. dollars or reinvest in other countries or do things that will drive down our financial security, look at the bad position that places us in. And when you combine that with the fact that India and China have taken over our manufacturing capabilities, it shows the seriousness of the situation.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Always a pleasure to be with you, Mr. Ross, and with you, Ms. Bean. It is always a pleasure. You were talking about the young kids, and you have got to think about those young kids. You have got to think about the generations coming behind us. Some of those are watching C-SPAN tonight as we speak, and hopefully all across America they are beginning to pay attention to what is happening here on the floor of this Congress. And as I stand here, I am reminded of what happened on the floor of a Congress and a Senate a few centuries back and is captured really greatly in a play by the great William Shakespeare. William Shakespeare wrote a brilliant play called Julius Caesar. And in that play, a very important part was as Caesar was on the floor as the senators were surrounding him and knives going into him, he looked out at all of the senators and saw them, Cicero and Cassius, and then he leaned over and he looked over caught the eye of Brutus and grabbed him as Brutus stuck the knife into his ribs. And he said ``Et tu, Brutus. Yours is the meanest cut of all.'' Well, I am here to tell you and tell America, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ross, Ms. Bean, that the meanest cut of all in this budget is the cut to those law enforcement folks, those people that are on the front lines at home, who have our security in their hands, our police officers, our firemen, our first responders and the military, our veterans, our Air Force, our Navy, our Marines, who are being cut unmercifully, Brutus- like, in this budget. I just want to highlight for the American people so they can actually see and hear how this budget is devastating those that we place our security in their hands. Just think that this budget includes a cut in the funding of first responders by 25 percent at a time when we are in such great need. Police Departments nationwide do not have the protective gear to safely secure a site after a detonation of a weapon of mass destruction in this country. Fire Departments have only enough radios for half the firefighters on a shift. And yet, this budget, this Republican budget that they are asking us to vote on in the next day or two, includes a cut in first responder funding within the Department of Homeland Security of $573 million, 25 percent. And within this total, the budget slashes the Firefighters Grant Program by $355 million and eliminates all funding for the law enforcement terrorism prevention, reduction of $385 million. When we look at our veterans, we are treating them so badly under this budget. It increases the health care costs for one million veterans. America, we need to pay attention to what this Republican budget is doing. For the fourth year in a row, the budget raises health care costs for 1 million veterans by imposing new fees on veterans, costing them more than $2.6 billion over 5 years and driving at least 200 veterans out of the system. It doubles the copayment for prescription drugs from $8 to $15, America, and imposes an enrollment fee of $250 a year for Category 7 and 8 veterans who make as little as $26,000 a year. This is the truth. This is what they are asking us to vote on. And I pray and I hope that we will have enough Republicans to stand with us Democrats and reject this as not in the best interest of the American people. It fails to address the strain on our troops. Now, Mr. Ross, I have been over to Iraq, just came back in January; went over to Afghanistan. I have been in the hot spots. I have seen our military, and they are doing a fantastic job in extraordinary circumstances. We are talking about 19- and 20- and 21-year-old kids out there handling extraordinary pressures. And I will tell you an experience that I had that I will never forget. When I was in Iraq, I went into Camp Victory, standing in the middle of Camp Victory, and I met and was hugged by a soldier. And both of us in the middle of Camp Victory hugging, tears coming down my eyes and down his, and he says to me, ``Congressman Scott, when I am hugging you, it's like I am hugging a piece of home.'' I vowed in Iraq on that spot that night, having dinner with those soldiers in Iraq, that I would fight tooth and nail on this floor to treat our veterans and to treat our military right. And, Mr. Ross, as I told it to you, what is in this budget, it refuses to end the disabled veterans tax. This Republican budget fails to repeal the veterans tax, which forces disabled military retirees to give up $1 of their pension for every dollar of disability pay they receive. Added to that it fails to end the military family tax, the survivor benefit plan, penalizes survivors, mostly widows, of those soldiers who are killed as a result of combat. That is what this budget does. That is why I say that the meanest cut in this budget is to our military, to our veterans, to our law enforcement people who put their lives on the line for little or no pay. And the only reason to do it is to offset this tax cut for the 1 percent wealthiest people in this country and then have to go borrow the money to pay for that at the sacrifice of our first responders. This is why I am praying with every ounce of strength in me that this body will stand up to this Republican budget and vote it down because it is not in the best interests of our Nation's security, our national security, or our homeland security.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Thank you very much, Mr. Ross. And, as always, it is indeed a pleasure to be with you on these special orders. I want to agree with our distinguished majority whip, who has distinguished himself in his years of leadership here, who has been fighting this fight for so long. And our whip pointed out an important point that is registering with the American people, and that is this: There is great concern all across the breadth and the depth of this country concerning the degree of foreign ownership of our country. Mr. Ross, we have time and time again been on this floor pointing out the danger of foreign investment that we are overwhelmingly dependent upon. We are not critical of being an open, free society in which we are open for investors from all around the world to come and participate in our great economy. We are certainly not against the trade policies that involve all of the globalization. That is very important. We are very much involved and in support of opening up free markets so that our goods and our products are being traded. But, Mr. Ross, it is a dangerous, dangerous situation when we are overwhelmingly now dependent for our wherewithal on foreign interests. The fact that now that foreign investors control and own over 52 percent of our debt is not a healthy position for us to be in, for the mere fact that right now we are borrowing at a rate, that we are spending more just on interest to these countries than what we are spending on our own homeland security, our veterans, and our education, combined. Here is the question: What will happen if this dries up? What will happen, let us say, in our negotiations and our dealings with China, from whom we are borrowing and who holds $250 billion in our debt? Or with Japan, that controls over $658 billion of our debt? Or with Taiwan, who controls over $117 billion? Or Hong Kong at $80 billion? Or the OPEC and the Middle Eastern countries, who control, combined, over $75 billion of our debt? The issue here is that these are countries in which we have severe differences with who can use this at an inappropriate moment of strategic blackmail in so many financial areas and national security areas. Speaking of which, we cannot have any national security if we do not have financial security. Mr. Ross, I am glad you mentioned your trailers. I had a town hall meeting back home in one of my communities called Riverdale in Clayton County, and my Uncle Eugene said, You know, I was watching you all on television. I want you to ask your partner there, Mr. Ross, have they moved those trailers yet?

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. I just want to say, because we are going to get ready for our Republican friends, some of them, to come and try to refute what we are saying, but as the good book, the Bible, says, ``Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.'' We have done that tonight. And even Mr. Armey, the Republican's former leader of this House, complained bitterly about the Republican leadership and the direction they were going when he said, ``They are in control. They control this town,'' he said. There is no reason for us to have these deficits. They cannot refute the fact that under this Republican administration, under this Republican-led Congress they have borrowed more money, they have run up this debt, they have borrowed more money from foreign governments than all of the last 42 Presidents and administrations combined. They cannot argue that point. They put forward a budget that slams right into the face of homeland and national security by cutting our veterans, by refusing to deal with the concurrent receipts measure, by cutting aid to veterans by a million dollars, and education up and down the line. So the truth is speaking tonight, Mr. Ross, and it has been indeed a pleasure for us to be here to tell the truth and set America free.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Just to add to that point, just to add to that, in addition to all of what you just said, when you add the fact that this country is borrowing $2 billion every day from foreign governments, just to finance our trade deficits, we have just been talking about the budget deficits. But when you turn and you add our trade deficits to that, and Mr. Ross, again, a point that came out of my agriculture hearing just today in Valdosta, Georgia, was the point that now for the first time, just 10 years ago, the United States, on our agriculture we controlled or held 17 percent of all of the world's exports on agriculture products. Now, do you know that that is down to less than 10 percent? And the fact of the matter is, we are now exporting more of our foodstuffs into this country than we are exporting out. This is not good for our national security, for this country, not only depending upon our finances from abroad; but, good Lord, if we get to the point where we are depending on our food from abroad, we are in serious trouble.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. We are in a very, very delicate situation financially and a very insecure position financially, particularly as the world is looking at us. But the most important point that I want to make, as I turn it back over to one of my other colleagues, is this. In my office today I had a visit from a group of my constituents who run a program called TRIO. TRIO is the overlaying umbrella of a series of upward-bound programs that help young people who need a helping hand to get them into college. And that program is being axed by the President. I just left this morning, a group of us in a CODEL, with Congressman Jerry Moran, who is a good friend who is on the Republican side, but is a good subcommittee chairman of our commodities group. We had a hearing on the farm bill. And the two most important issues that they were saying is, please, Congressman, do not let the Bush administration cut our farm programs, our conservation programs. We had another visit from another group of folks who were senior citizens: do not let them cut our Medicare and our Medicaid programs. From the veterans themselves: please do not let them cut any more of our programs. So when we look abroad at the foreign situation and we look here at home, we see pressing concerns and threats to our financial security that is at the hands of this administration and its very, very unresponsive, irresponsible and reckless financial policies. And I am just proud to be here with the Blue Dogs this evening to point those issues out and make sure that the American people are aware of the great, great issues that we are faced with.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Three hundred of them are moved. But they have still got so many there.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I thank very much my distinguished friend from Tennessee. It is a pleasure and, quite frankly, an honor to be on the floor with you tonight to talk about this extraordinary problem and crisis that this country is faced with. Without question, you are absolutely right. We cannot have national security if we do not have financial security, and we do not have financial security today. Now, let me just tell you and I hope the American people are paying attention to us tonight because we are here to state some important truths and facts about the financial health of this country, and our financial health is not well. This President, this administration and this Republican-controlled Congress is heading us straight down the path of financial ruin and financial disaster. Let me just give you one very salient point. Under this President, this Republican-controlled Congress, we have borrowed more money from foreign governments and from foreign interests than all of the preceding 42 Presidents in the history of the United States. Hear me again. If that does not wake you up and let you know that we are headed for disaster, this President, this Republican-controlled Congress has borrowed more money from foreign governments and foreign financial institutions than all of the preceding past 42 Presidents. That means that since 1789, the very beginning of this country, to the year 2000, 211 years, through the Revolutionary War, through the foundation of the country, through the Spanish-American War, through the Civil War, through the Mexican War, through World War I, through a depression, through World War II, the Vietnam War, through the Korean War, through all of the upheavals, the economic downturns of this great country, through all of that, yet this President in the last 5 years has borrowed more money from foreign governments than all of our previous Presidents in this history. That is phenomenal. That lets you know that we are in serious, serious trouble. As I have said time and time again, no greater founding father was there than Alexander Hamilton who founded the financial system of our country, and it was Alexander Hamilton who said, Woe be it unto this country if we fall under the heel of our finances being controlled by foreign interests. Alexander Hamilton himself was a foreigner, as were many of the Founding Fathers of this country. They understood that, and here we are today beholden on our financial security. Here are the facts. In the last 211 years, from 1789 to 2000, under 42 Presidents, this country borrowed $1.01 trillion. In the last 5 years, under this Republican President and this Republican-led Congress, we have borrowed $1.05 trillion. That is not healthy. That is not the way you have got to go to have a solid country, and now we are here saying we are going to raise the debt ceiling so that we can borrow more. We are dealing with a budget that is ratcheted with devastating cuts time after time. As the gentleman from Tennessee pointed out, just look at how this Nation is aching and hurting from the mismanagement of Katrina. Families still devastated, an entire important coastline of this country devastated. And we cannot even deal with that. And some of the very programs, community block grants, being cut. Aid to our veterans, talk about national security, being cut by $2.1 billion. Help to our farmers, to help them with the drought, to help them with the devastation of Katrina, cut, all for the purpose of making unwise tax cuts to the top 10 percent of the wealthy in this country permanent at a time of such great uncertainty. And then to borrow the rest of the money for the tax cuts from, guess where, from China, from Japan, from India and from OPEC. Now, let me tell you how serious this is, ladies and gentlemen. The U.S. is becoming too increasingly dependent on foreign lenders for our debt. We are handing over this country on a platter to foreign countries. The Dubai Ports deal was just the beginning, just the tip of the iceberg. And I just want to say how proud I am to say I am a United States Congressman. Because finally this Congress stood up to this administration, both Democrats and Republicans, and said no, no more, and turned down that Dubai Ports deal. Can you imagine? How unwise, to turn our port security over. Even the thought of it. And that is what disturbs me so much when we talk about security. When you talk about national security and financial security, that is the number one issue on the minds of America today. Two things: Can this government keep us safe as a country? Can they keep us alive? Can they keep our lives safe, and then can they keep our money safe? Well, you can't keep our money safe; you certainly can't keep our lives safe. And that is the particular situation we are in today. Let me just tell you how serious this issue is. Foreign lenders hold a total of $2.174 trillion of our public debt. And quite honestly, in the last 10 years, they hold 90 percent of it. In other words, every dime that we are using for our government right now we are borrowing it from China and India. Japan, for example, now owns $682.8 billion of our debt. China owns $250 billion of our debt. England, the United Kingdom, owns $223 billion. The Caribbean Banking Center owns $115.3 billion. Taiwan, $71.3 billion. OPEC countries, OPEC, already in the Middle East we are so dependent on oil that they are holding us hostage on that now, but some of these same companies are holding our debt. America, wake up. We have got to begin to step forward and take responsibility for our financial house. I am here to tell you there is nothing more important than keeping our money straight. Lord knows, if the American people across this country, if they ran their little families, if they ran their businesses the way we are running this government, it would be bankrupt. So I am delighted to be here tonight to join with my distinguished colleague, Mr. Tanner, to talk about this issue. Because I believe that it is the number one issue facing the survival of this country. And let me just say this. If you look through the history books, John, the history books are cluttered with the wreckage of so many great civilizations. And on the wretched bones of those great civilizations are written those pathetic words: Too late. They moved too late to save themselves. Let us not move too late in this country. The American people are expecting us not to move too late, and we must not. And one of the first steps is to follow your lead and get some sanity. Let us instruct the conference committee to not increase the debt and let us not raise the debt ceiling limit.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, first, I want to respond to something my distinguished colleague from the other side said. Now you talk about smoke and mirrors. For him to say on our side that we are talking about raising taxes is so disingenuous. Nobody is talking about raising taxes. We are talking about fiscal responsibility and pay-as- you-go responsibilities. We are saying that we do not want to cut vital services to the American people and then go borrow more money that we have to pay interest on. That, in effect, when you put it altogether, if anybody is talking about raising taxes, it is the Republicans. Somebody has to pay for this. You know who is going to pay for it, our grandchildren and our children based on their proposals. No, sir, you are not going to be able to depend on Democrats this night that we are talking about raising taxes. Democrats are talking about keeping our taxes low and bringing fiscal responsibility back to this House. You talk about responsibility. When Democrats were in control, when President Clinton was there, he left a several trillion dollar surplus. In just 5 years, this President and this Republican-led Congress has squandered that surplus. So when you talk about who is more responsible for the taxpayers' money, it is Democrats, not Republicans. And the American people are not going to be fooled by this smoke and mirrors of consistently trying to paint the Democrats as being for raising taxes and they for not. The Republicans are for raising taxes and raising the debt ceiling. Madam Speaker, I want to show this chart. It is not as big as your chart, but the Republicans have increased the debt limit by $3 trillion. I have been here 4 years, and this is the fourth time that the Republicans have asked to raise the debt ceiling so they can borrow more money. In June, 2002, they asked to raise the debt ceiling by $452 billion. In May, 2003, they asked to raise the debt ceiling by $984 billion. In November of 2004, they raised the debt ceiling by $800 billion, all of which we are borrowing against, against the best national security interests of this country, against the best financial security interests of this country.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Madam Speaker, let me assure the gentleman it was not beating him up. He is a great gentleman, but it is some of the policies that have been emanating from the gentleman's leadership.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Dixon Grove Baptist Church on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. Dixon Grove Baptist Church has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to its surrounding community and the state of Georgia. The late Reverend John Arthur Dixon founded Dixon Grove Baptist Church in 1956 and declared that the church would be built by faith. Reverend James E. Harris assumed leadership of the church in 1979. As a result of their combined leadership and vision the church rose from its humble beginnings in a schoolhouse with a congregation of fewer than 50 members to a multi-acre facility that accommodates the 600 members that attend the church today. Reverend James E. Harris continues to uphold the vision and mission set by Reverend John Arthur Dixon of adhering to Biblical principles while improving the lives of people in the community. Reverend James E. Harris demonstrated his leadership through community, civic, and religious involvement by accepting my request to represent the 13th congressional district at the White House Conference on Aging in December of 2005. Through faith in God and commitment to service, church ministries expanded under Reverend James E. Harris to include: Family Counseling and a Youth Christian Basketball League to reach the youth of the Clayton County community. After the most devastating natural disaster in the history of the United States struck in 2005, Dixon Grove Baptist Church responded to the needs of evacuees by providing assistance through its Community Food and Clothing Co-operative. Please join me in honoring Dixon Grove Baptist Church and Reverend James E. Harris for their commitment to Jesus Christ's example of faith and giving. It is my sincere hope that the ministry and work of Dixon Grove Baptist Church prospers for another 50 years.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ross has so eloquently stated the great failure in our American government today. The whole situation of Hurricane Katrina marks one of the darkest spots in American history. But there is a pattern here of a lack of response. There is a pattern of whatever it goes through, security, homeland security, national security. Hurricane Katrina is just one example. We need look no closer than our port security. What a debacle. That same kind of lack of proper research, proper debate, and you are absolutely right, a lackadaisical congressional leadership, a Republican leadership that simply has just bent over for this administration. We have made a mockery of what our Founding Fathers said we should be doing as checks and balances. That is why they set three branches of government: the judicial, executive and legislative branches. It is our job to provide the oversight, the investigation, the enforcement arm, to be able to make sure that there is a proper check and balance. But this House of Representatives under this Republican leadership has all too often just caved in and caved down, and that is why we are in the shape that we are in today. Now, if we can talk just for a moment, which I want to do, about this port security situation that again points up the same fallacies.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. It is great to be with you, Mr. Ross, and with my colleagues from the Blue Dogs and our distinguished cochairman. I think this startling information that you have just made known to the American people speaks to the fundamental issue at hand, and it is, in one word, security. Financial security. We cannot have national security if we do not have financial security. We cannot even have homeland security if we do not have financial security or health care security. Whatever our security is, it is anchored in financial security. With security comes the word ``confidence,'' and you have just shattered that realization by bringing this information to the forefront and revealing how badly we need to restore the confidence of the American people for this government's ability to handle their financial security. But I will tell you something that really adds and complements what you have brought to the American people tonight, because I have a bit of information that ought to be startling as well. As we look at this report, as we basically see firsthand that the books have been cooked, so to speak, by this revealing document, which almost doubles the $319 billion deficit, because now we know it is $760 billion deficit by the words of the Treasury Secretary, but let me add this to this important discussion we are having this evening. I do not believe the American people know that this President, President Bush, has borrowed more money from foreign governments in his 5 years than all of the preceding 42 Presidents in the history of this country. I know the American people are shaking their heads and asking, is he saying what I think he is saying? Let me repeat it. President Bush has borrowed more money from foreign governments in his 5 years, since 2000, since he first took office, than all of the preceding 42 Presidents from 1789 to 2000, 211 years. Here are the figures. From 1789 to the year 2000 of our Nation's history, 42 U.S. Presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and foreign financial institutions, according to the Treasury Department. And now, just in the last 5 years, President Bush has borrowed a staggering $1.05 trillion, larger than the total from all the previous 42 Presidents. If that does not tell you we have a crisis here, I do not know what does. And you combine that with this information that our co-chairman has brought to us about how the books were cooked; and, in fact, according to the more accurate accounting procedure, it is more than $760 billion. It is remarkable. It is phenomenal. The American people deserve the truth. We have got to give it to them because, as the Bible says, you should know the truth. It is the truth that will set you free. We are going to set America free tonight.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. It is about accountability, and it is also about our budget. For example, if you remember, after 2001 Congress appropriated a total of $765 million for port security programs, including $173 million for FY 2006, to help our seaports adopt important security enhancements. The Coast Guard came and told us they needed more like $6 billion. Yet, like last year, the President's budget once again proposed terminating funding dedicated to port security, and then turned right around and takes that $6 billion and says let's give it over here to a company that is owned by a country that has direct financial ties to terrorist organizations. How do you figure this, that the President's budget would propose terminating that funding that our Coast Guard, the one main element we have checking our ports, asked for, advocate terminating it, and then turn right around and okay a deal that he says he did not even know about? Now, the truth is plain here, and we owe it to the American people. There are some of us in Congress who are willing to stand up and tell the truth and deal with this, because our financial security is vital, is extraordinarily important. I want to just touch upon one additional thing. I want to talk about just for a moment, as my good friend from Tennessee pointed to, this budget and the meanness of these cuts, but where they hurt the most are with our military families, are with our veterans. I do not believe that the American people quite understand this or quite are aware that this budget would increase the health care costs for 1 million veterans. For the fourth year in a row, the budget raises health care costs for 1 million veterans by imposing new fees for veterans, costing them more than $2.6 billion over 5 years, and driving at least 200,000 veterans out of the system. That is what this budget does to our veterans. It would double the copayment for prescription drugs from $8 to $15. That is what this budget does to veterans. It imposes an enrollment fee of $250 a year for category 7 and category 8 veterans, those who make as little as $26,000 a year. If increases health care costs for military retirees. The budget increases TRICARE health premiums for 3.1 million of the Nation's military retirees under 65. The premiums will double. It fails to address the strain on our troops. I just returned from Iraq and Afghanistan. I was there talking with the troops. Despite recent reports of the tremendous strain that the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have placed on our troops, the President's budget fails to fund and plan adequately to recruit the number of forces that are authorized under the law to help with that strain. The budget would fund 17,000 fewer Army National Guard and 5,000 fewer Army Reserve than are authorized by law. But it does not just stop there. It goes on and on. You talk about your folks in Hope, Arkansas, and what they are faced with. Let me tell you what my people are faced with so much in Georgia, in one county, Cobb County alone, just from the cuts in the Community Development Block Grant program. This is what the President has proposed cutting: one center that is in great need of help in terms of being built and being sustained through the Community Block Grant program of $3.1 million, the Ron Anderson Center over in Powder Springs in Cobb County. Another center for senior citizens where they need it the most, cut out of this budget, another $2.5 million. Those community block grants are the lifeblood of many communities in Hope, Arkansas; in Tennessee; and all over. Now, I mention this, as we will mention a few other things. There is so much in this budget that goes at the heart of cutting out almost the heart and the hope of our people. You showed an extraordinary picture there a moment ago, Mr. Ross. You showed a victim down there under just a cover, all he had, just sitting there. It showed great hurt, great need. There is a great hurting and a great need of the American people, and we do not need to pass this budget that cuts the very programs that will help our people in need.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. When you combine this with the startling revelation that half of this debt is being held by foreign countries, I go back to that word ``security.'' Is it in our best security interest to have our financial well-being held in the hands of foreign countries? That is about as ridiculous as holding our port security in the hands of a foreign company owned by a country that had terrorist dealings, that provided nuclear materials to Iran, a country where two of the hijackers came from. This word ``security'' needs to reverberate throughout the American psyche. We are depending too much on our financial security and our national security and port security from foreign interests. We Americans need to control our ports, and we need to have Americans at ports where they are originating shipments coming in. And we need to check 100 percent of our cargo. Mr. Ross, if Hong Kong can check 100 percent of its cargo coming into its ports, and it checks 22 million cargo pieces a year, we check only 11, Hong Kong is not even a terrorist target and we are. Hong Kong checks 100 percent. They are not a terrorist target; we are a terrorist target, do not check but 5 percent. As Ethan Hunt said in Mission Impossible, the NOC list is out. It is out in the open. They know that we do not check but 5 percent of our cargo. But the point I wanted to make in terms of the foreign lenders is, because I think it is important, Mr. Ross, that the American people know who is holding our debt. Let me just tell them for a minute. Japan holds $682.8 billion of our debt. Communist China, Communist China holds $250 billion of our debt. Great Britain, $223 billion. The Caribbean banking centers, $115 billion; Taiwan, $71 billion; OPEC countries, $67 billion; Korea, $66 billion; Germany, $65 billion; Canada, $53 billion; Hong Kong $46 billion. This is not in the best interests of the security of this country and it has to change,

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is very important to point out, and you touched upon it, that just the interest, just the interest alone, is nearly $200 billion. Now just think about that. This money that we are borrowing, we have to pay for. You got to add in the $200 billion in interest on top of that, which is more than five times the amount that we spend on education, the environment, and veterans care put together. I submit to you, my friends in the Blue Dog Coalition, I just hope that the American people have been listening to us tonight, and I believe that they have. I hope that we have awakened a sleeping giant. Because, like I say, we are here and we are gone tomorrow. The President does not have to run anymore. He does not have to go out and face the people. I believe, quite honestly, if he had to go out and face the people, I do not think he would have made that deal with the Arab immigrants. I do not think he would have done that. But the fundamental question we have to go back to is from this startling information that you have brought to us, the question has to be, why? Why are we just discovering it and why is this great discrepancy there? There are some serious questions that have to be answered by this administration. But you know what? They are not going to answer these questions unless and until we in Congress stand up and represent the interests of the American people and put their feet to the fire. Once we do that, then we are truly standing up for America, and America deserves that.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. Yes, sir.

Mr. SCOTT of Georgia. That is what it is right now, yes.