Gene Taylor

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 7(c)(1) of rule XXII, I hereby notify the House of my intention to offer a motion to instruct conferees on the national defense authorization bill which has been in conference since July 26, 2002. The form of the motion is as follows: Mr. Taylor of Mississippi moves that the managers on the part of the House at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the House amendment to the Senate amendment to the bill H.R. 4546 be instructed to agree to the provisions contained in section 641 of the Senate amendment (relating to payment of retired pay and compensation to disabled military retirees).

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, like every one of you, I love my country, but I do not think we serve our country when we lie to the people who sent us here. In the past month I have heard no one less than the Speaker of this House and the majority whip tell the American people we are paying down the debt. A question I pose to the both of you, if that is so, then why did this body schedule a vote in the wee hours of the morning when our constituents slept to raise the debt limit over $6 trillion? If that is so, why is our Nation $440 billion deeper in debt than 1 year ago today, and en route within the next week to have the single largest increase in our Nation's debt in one fiscal year? Mr. Speaker, we have to pass this resolution tonight. But I want to very much commend the people in that party and the people in this party who are working with our budget chairman to try to rein in spending, because not one of you would go buy a car and say, ``Let my kids pay for it.'' Not one of you would go buy a house and say, ``By the way, I don't care what it costs, let my kids pay for it.'' That is precisely what you are doing. By the way, it was a Republican House, a Republican Senate and a Republican President who signed the budget bill last year. Please do not tell me and please do not tell the people I represent that somehow your magical budget is going to solve that, because it was your budget that put us $440 billion deeper in debt in the past 12 months.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, there is something that somehow is not mentioned very often on this floor, and that is our Nation is going broke. We certainly have military threats, but we have an even bigger threat of our Nation going broke. The gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle) last year passed this budget, the President's budget and the President's tax cuts, and the net result of that budget and those tax cuts, passed with Republican votes in the House and Senate, because the other body was controlled by the Republicans then, has increased the national debt by $440,604,894,921 in 1 year. The President was in Iowa last week saying we need a budget. My goodness, if it is another one of those, we do not need it. This is on track to be the largest deficit in American history. The previous record was held by then-President Bush in 1991 where the fiscal year budget increased by $435 billion. If this continues, and we only have 12 days left in this fiscal year, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle) would have orchestrated the single largest increase in the American deficit in 1 year. And according to Mitch Daniels, Director, Office of Management and Budget, just last week in a meeting with a number of conservative House Democrats, only 10 percent of the President's tax cuts have taken effect so far. So how broke will we be when the other 90 percent kicks in? Mr. Speaker, I know the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle) well enough to say that he would not go buy a house and say to the Realtor, I do not care what it is going to cost because my kids are going to pay for it. I guarantee Members the gentleman would not go buy a fancy car and say, I do not care what it costs because my yet-unborn grandchildren are going to pay for it. That is the effect of the gentleman's tax cuts. The gentleman took a Nation that broke even 1 year, and increased the national debt by $440 billion the next there. There is nothing funny about this because the other side of the aisle are sticking my kids with their bill. Yes, some kids, like the Bush kids, are going to get a $10 million tax break out of this; but my kids get stuck with the bill; and until that bill is paid, they are going to pay, like every other American child, $1 billion a day on interest on that debt. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman thinks more of that is a good thing, please tell the American people that more debt is good. I happen to think the national debt is the single largest threat to our Nation at this moment.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I would remind the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle) that the September 11 attacks were 19 days before the end of the last fiscal year. In the last fiscal year, we ran a deficit. It was not because of the last 19 days. By all accounts the war on terror has cost this Nation $20 billion. That means the other $420 billion worth of debt went to other things. Spending increases occurred because the Republican budget passed with Republican votes. Reductions in collections occurred because of the Republican budget. Mr. Speaker, the number is $440 billion. That is a thousand, times a thousand, times a thousand, times 440 further in debt than we were 1 year ago. One would think that Republicans would be looking for ways to balance the budget.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Speaker Hastert, today marked the 1,355th day that you have been Speaker of the House. During that time, in particular, in the past 1 year, while the Republicans have had a majority in the House, my colleagues will recall a year ago, they had a Republican majority in the Senate, and they passed their tax breaks, they passed their budget. They got their spending, they got their taxes. They increased spending by 16 percent and they cut taxes by 8 percent. So in one year, they have now added $440,605,894,921 to the national debt. Those of us who have studied American history will be quick to note that from the day that George Washington became President almost until the beginning of World War II, our Nation did not acquire that much debt in well over 150 years. The Republican Congress, in one year, has increased the debt by that much. One would think that their response to that would be some shame because, after all, all they are doing is sticking our kids with their bills. That is what they did today. They passed a bill to say that some kids can inherit unlimited amounts of money and not pay a penny's worth of tax on it. For those of us who are self-employed as a welder, a logger or a shrimper like some of my friends back home, they pay the employer's share of Social Security, they pay the employee's share of Social Security, so right off the bat they are paying about 18 percent of taxes. Plus they are paying income tax on that. But for the very wealthiest Americans, those who make the biggest campaign contributions, they can now, under the Republican plan, inherit unlimited amounts of money and not pay a dime on it; not pay a dime. Tell me it is fair to the self-employed person. Tell me it is fair to the lady who is going to clean up this building tonight who is going to pay at least 8 percent taxes just for Social Security and Medicare. But what is really unfair is that in order to give the Bush kids and the Cheney kids this huge inheritance tax-free, they are sticking my kids, the Taylor kids, they are sticking the Jones kids, they are sticking the Jackson kids and everybody else's kids with the bill. Mr. Speaker, this is real money, and when America borrows money, it is just like when a citizen back home uses their credit card. As long as you owe it, you have to pay interest on it. I bet not one person watching this realizes that the biggest expense of your Nation is not welfare, it is not food stamps, it is not transportation, it is not taking care of veterans, it is not defense; it is interest payments on the national debt. It is $1 billion a day. Almost every American can visualize $1,000. That is a big rent check, a house note and a car note for some people, but we can visualize a thousand bucks. So what we are spending today on the interest is a thousand times a thousand times a thousand. It is squandered. It does not educate our kids, it does not help the military, it does not help old folks, it does not help kids, it does not help anybody. A third of that goes to Japanese and German lending institutions, the folks that lend us the money. So I am sure our World War II vets are particularly pleased to know that the folks we defeated in World War II now have the ability to crush our economy any time they call in the note. So, Mr. Speaker, one would think that the prudent thing to do in response to running up that debt was come to this House Floor and say, okay, we have to cut spending, and maybe we ought to take a look at some of those gigantic tax breaks the Republicans gave their big contributors but, instead, no, they want to make them permanent, even though just last week, the head of the Office of Management and Budget, Mitch Daniels, told us that even with this huge increase in the debt, only 10 percent of the tax breaks have kicked in. So we are $440 billion broker than we were a year ago today. What do we think we are going to be when the big tax breaks really kick in? Our Nation is now $6 trillion, that is a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 6 in debt. Why does it affect every one of you? Because you folks that I cannot talk to in the gallery under House rules, you pay Social Security taxes. You probably do not know that right now there is not a penny in the Social Security trust fund, and that if we could find the so-called Social Security lock box, all we would discover is an IOU for $1 trillion, 300 billion. That is a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times a thousand. Every one of you who has ever worked paid Medicare taxes. The money is supposed to be set aside to help pay your health care bills when you get older. If you could find the so-called lock box, all you are going to find is an IOU for $263 billion, a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 263. That is your money that they have taken and stolen, because it is borrowed if they have a plan to pay it back, but if you have no plan to pay it back, and there is no plan to pay it back, it is stolen. Mr. Speaker, you have now been speaker for 1,355 days and you will not let this House vote to balance the budget. You will not allow a vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution, and you do not deserve to be speaker, but the American people deserve to know the truth.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, last week the President of the United States went to Ohio and mentioned repeatedly that what this Congress needed was a budget. I agree. I wish he had included one more word in that, what this Congress needs is a ``balanced'' budget. See, Mr. Speaker, last year this Congress, when there was still a Republican majority in the other body and a Republican majority in this body, gave the President his budget and gave the President his tax breaks. They passed both bodies by a fairly narrow margin, but they did indeed become law and the President signed them into law. As a result of that budget, our Nation's debt has increased by $440,605,894,921 in the past 12 months. To put that into perspective, our Nation is now $6,210,481,675,956 in debt. What is particularly disturbing about that is that as our President ponders sending the young men and women in uniform off to fight, most of whom are 23 years old or younger, I think it is particularly significant that in the lifetime of those soldiers and sailors who are 23 years of age or younger, our Nation's debt has increased by over $5 trillion. What is particularly bad about that is, just like any individual who has a credit card, as long as we owe that money, we have to pay interest on it. The single largest expenditure of this Nation is not welfare, it is not food stamps, it is not veterans' health care, it is not building highways, it is not defending the Nation. It is squandered on interest on the national debt. We squander $1 billion a day. That is 1,000 times 1,000 times 1,000 every day is squandered on the national debt. Mr. Bush, I know that all of us are our fathers' sons. All of us are proud of our dads, and you should be particularly proud of your dad. After all, he was the President of the United States. One of the things your dad did not do well was controlling the deficit when he was President. As a matter of fact, the largest deficit in our Nation's history took place during the fiscal year of 1991, when your dad was President. In that year, our Nation borrowed $432 billion. That is 1,000 times 1,000 times 1,000 times 432 to make ends meet. I regret to tell you, Mr. Bush, that you are on the way to breaking your dad's record; that in all probability, at the end of this year, you will have borrowed, with your budget passed through a Republican Senate and Republican House, more than that $432 billion. So as you go to Ohio and tell folks that we need a balanced budget, I would only ask as one of 435 Members of this House that you include the word ``balanced'' budget. Why do you not use your incredible popularity to ask the American people to get their Congressmen to support a constitutional amendment to balance the budget, so that this generation does not burden the next generation with our bills? After all, no mom or dad would go buy a house and say, ``I don't care what it costs, because I am going to stick my child with that bill when they hit 40 years of age, when they reach the maximum income years.'' None of us would go out and buy a fancy car, and say, ``By the way, bill it to my grandchildren, whether they are born or not.'' That is precisely what this Nation has been doing, particularly for the last 23 years, when it borrowed $5 trillion. On an aside, Mr. Bush, you made a very compelling case to the UN last Thursday, and I am in agreement; you have now convinced me that our Nation will be at war unless the Iraqis back down. If that is the case, then I must insist as a Member of Congress that the wise thing for our Nation to do would be to call up the Guard and Reserve. Over one-half of the force of the United States of America is in the Guard and Reserve. If there is going to be a war, then I subscribe to former General and now Secretary of State Colin Powell's theory of the overwhelming use of force, and we cannot have the overwhelming use of force if the Guard and Reserve is not called up. If we are going to do this, let us do this right. The best way to minimize American casualties is to use overwhelming force, and that has to include the calling up of the Guard and Reserves. If this is going to be a war, then it is going to be everybody's war, and the way you make it everyone's war is including the National Guard and the various branches of the Reserves in the effort. I would also hope that this body has an opportunity to vote on it. But, prior to that vote, I would highly recommend that the Guard and Reserve be called up, because the Iraqis watch Cable News Network also, and I think as an American people, we should expect attacks on American soil through acts of terror from the minute that that vote is taken, and we should be prepared for that as a Nation. The only way to be prepared for that as a Nation is to have the Guard and Reserve called up.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to instruct conferees on this motion.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, again I want to thank a great American, a great patriot, someone who served this country well in World War II and still serves this country well in the year 2002, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Stump) for his help on this and for everything he has done. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), the ranking Democrat on the Committee on Armed Services, the father of two young people in uniform serving their country.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, my colleague and former firefighter from Pennsylvania makes an excellent point. There are 32,000 fire departments in this Nation. Do my colleagues not think we ought to have at least one of them in every State that has got the capability to respond to a nuclear or biological or chemical attack? I have no clear conscience that we have even one in the State of Mississippi. Again, it is sort of the difference between the Pennsylvanias of the world and the Mississippis of the world. Over half the cities in Mississippi are 10,000 people or less. They are by design low-tax and, therefore, low-service. There is an incredible turnover, I am sorry to say, because they do not pay as well as they should. So we do need a core competency in every State. No one is going to say that this makes the world safer from a chem biological attack. I can tell my colleagues right now, if a crop duster were to fly over a football field at Old Miss or Mississippi State and release a substance, I really do not think there is anyone in the State of Mississippi right now who can run the test to determine whether or not it was just diesel fuel, whether it was water, or whether it was a chemical or biological agent. There is no one that I know of that can show up in the protective gear to take those tests that I know I will not be endangering their lives just to ask them to go take the test. These are core competencies that every State needs, not just the 30 States that presently have them. Mr. Chairman, I am honored again that so many people from both sides of the aisle have chosen to sign on to this and help us with it. One of those people is helping even though his State already has a weapons of mass destruction civil support team; that has been a big help on this. It is the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz). Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz).

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. There is something I do think needs to be addressed, and the folks who work with me have been good enough to point this out, and I think the public needs to know this. The original time of 12 hours that my friend from Pennsylvania makes reference to was when there were only 10 of these teams to cover the entire continental United States. We are now in the process of going to 30 teams which shortens the distance from the responders to those that need to be helped. What this will do is get us up to 54 teams, which the goal is to have a team within 4 hours; and again, without getting into a spitting contest, the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of the States that were left out are rural States, low-tax States, where we do not have the money to equip 32,000 teams or at least trying to get one in each of these States; but I would also point out that some of those States are very large States, including Connecticut, which has almost 6 million people, and the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Maloney) will be speaking to that in a minute. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bonior) to speak out of order. (Mr. BONIOR asked and was given permission to speak out of order.) Michigan Office Vandalized

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. A lot of people are making this happen, and again this could not happen without the great cooperation of the gentleman from Arizona, so I want to thank him again. The gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) and the 8 million people in that State will benefit from this. The gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton) and the 8 million people from New Jersey will benefit from this. And, Mr. Speaker, I want to correct myself. The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Maloney) and the 3\1/2\ million people from Connecticut will benefit from this. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Maloney).

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. In closing, I do want to thank all the members of the Committee on Armed Services. Again, this passed our committee unanimously. I want to particularly commend the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones); the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton); the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Stump), our good chairman; the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Maloney); and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), our ranking member, for helping to line up those people to cooperate on this. Mr. Speaker, it is a sad fact, but a fact, that in the past year a biological attack on the United States has gone from ``what if'' to ``what is next.'' The person who perpetrated the anthrax attacks that have killed about five people in our country has not been apprehended. The question is, was that a one-time event or was it a practice run for something bigger? I hope it was a one-time event, but in the event that that person or those persons who did that were planning something bigger, I think it is imperative that we have some group in each State that is prepared to respond to that attack. I would ask my colleagues to support this unanimously. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I am sorry that you left the floor, because I would like to remind you that on your watch, our Nation has now squandered a trillion dollars on interest on the national debt. That is a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times a thousand. Did not educate a kid, did not build a road, did not help a veteran, did not help defend our Nation. Just squandered on interest on our now $6 trillion debt. On your watch, we have added $511 billion of new debt. You have been Speaker for 1300 days, yet you will not let us have a vote on one of the most simple laws of all and that will say that my generation will not burden my children's generation and my grandchildren's generation with our debts, that we will spend no more money in this body than we collect in taxes that year, a constitutional amendment that almost every State already has, so that they do not stick their kids and their grandkids with their bills. Mr. Speaker, you have been Speaker for 1300 days and yet you cannot find time for that law to be voted on. I would ask on behalf of my children and my yet unborn grandchildren that you give this body an opportunity to vote on that.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, in newspapers all across this great Nation today, the headline ran that yet another company had declared bankruptcy. This time it was WorldCom, and this time it was the largest bankruptcy in American history. Just a month ago it was Enron. A little time before that, it was Global Crossing. But in every instance, there was a common pattern, and that is little folks lost everything they owned because the big shots at the top lied to them about how broke their companies were. I say this because I think the same thing is happening with our Nation in that the little folks, the average Joes like the great young marine whom the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Meehan) just told us about who lost his life in training at Camp Lejuene. The folks who serve us in the Coast Guard, the Navy, the Army, the folks who serve us every day, I think they are being cheated because the big shots are lying to them about just how broke this country is and just how broke their policies are making us. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) became the Speaker of the House on January 6 of 1999. On that day, our Nation's debt was $5,615,428,551,461.33. He has been Speaker now for about 1,300 days, and in that 1,300 days, we have voted to take care of rhinoceroses, we have named no telling how many post offices after great Americans, we honored the great Lindy Boggs today. But the Speaker somehow could not find time for this body to vote on what I think is the most important rule of all, and that is that one generation does not burden another generation with its bills. That is precisely what has been going on in this country, particularly since 1988. Mr. Speaker, prior to that time, we went all the way from when George Washington was President to 1988 and the Nation borrowed about $1 trillion. That got us through American revolution, the War of 1812, the Spanish American War, the Civil War, the war with Mexico, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and it borrowed about $1 trillion. The debt payment on that was fairly low, the amount of interest payment on that. Something changed during 1988. Somehow the mentality that says we are going to lower taxes, we are going to spend more money and we are going to stick our kids with the bill, and as long as they do not know about it; it is sort of like those little folks who own stock, only this time the little folks own stock in America and the big shots are bankrupting their country. Mr. Speaker, in the 1,300 days that you would not give us a vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment, our debt has increased by $511,040,208,939. Now, what does that mean? I mean some people say well, big debt is okay, because that means that is taxes I did not have to pay. Wrong. This is the equivalent of one generation going out and buying a car and saying, I do not care how much it costs because my kid is going to pay for it when they get to be 30 or 40, plus interest, so I do not care. I am going to go find the fanciest house in my home county and I do not care how much it costs because I am going to stick my grandkids with the bill. It is wrong. No parent would do that, no grandparent would do that, yet it is precisely what the political leadership of this country has been doing and, in the past 12 months, they made it worse. Because just like the folks at Enron and Global Crossing, they looked the American people in the eye and they lied to them about just how broke this country is. Remember the quote from the President of the United States, from the Speaker, from the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas): ``We are awash in money.'' No, we were not. We were awash in debt. Because a year ago right now when those three people were saying that our Nation was $5,726,814,835,287 in debt. Just like anybody else who borrows money, we have to pay interest on that debt. And the biggest expense of this Nation is not defense, it is not health care, it is not taking care of veterans, it is not educating kids, and it is not building highways; it is squandering money on interest on the debt. We get nothing for it, and it costs us $1 billion a day down the rathole, and it is only getting worse. Not only are they stealing from the average Joe, but they are taking from the Social Security Trust Fund. We now owe the citizens of this great country $1,300,000,000,000 of Social Security that has been taken from the Social Security Trust Fund and used for other purposes. There is not a penny there. There is no lock box. From the Medicare trust fund they have stolen another $271 billion, that is a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 271. Yet, they had the nerve to look us in the eye and say, Washington is awash in money. For my military retirees, we owe them $168 billion, a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 168. For our Nation's civil service, the Capitol Hill policemen who are guarding this building right now, the FBI agents, the Customs agents, people who go out and protect our children, people who are looking for our children who have been kidnapped, they pay out of their own pockets into their retirement fund. It is supposed to be set aside for their retirement. We owe them $540 billion. Mr. Speaker, it is time that this body got a chance to vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution so that these shenanigans come to an end before this country dies the way Enron and Global Crossing and now WorldCom did, that the country dies from its own debts.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, in the 1,300 days that you have been Speaker, you will not let us vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, yet you have added through your leadership $511,040,208,939 to the Federal debt. That is more debt than was accumulated from the day this Republic started to 1975. You will not give us an up-or-down vote on base closure. And now you will not give us an up-or-down vote on whether or not you want to reward your buddies who move their corporations overseas in a paper transaction, so while the average Joe in Mississippi pays his taxes, your big contributors do not have to pay theirs. That is just one more reason why you should not be Speaker.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, about a week ago the President of the United States went to Wall Street in the wake of the accounting scandals and the scandals that have caused so many Americans to lose so much money, so much of their life savings, so much money that they were counting on to pay for their retirements. One of the things he told the Wall Street firms was, you have to change the system of hiding your debts, making your balance sheets look better than they are. It is a shame the President did not live by his own axiom a year ago right now. Those of my colleagues who watch television, those of my colleagues who read the newspapers know that starting last January, February, March, we are talking about a year ago, the President was telling the American people, Washington is awash in money, it is awash in money. We have to have this big tax break. Well, it is easy to pay, Mr. President, if you are hiding the debts of the country. You see, because a year ago right now, and I do mean a year ago right now, our Nation was $5,726,814,835,287.17 in debt, and yet you had the American people convinced that we were awash in money. What is even worse than the fact that we owed all of that money was that we owed; and I look into the audience and I look around the country and I see folks who pay taxes and the biggest portion of a lot of folks' taxes is what they pay to Social Security, that is that FICA on your tax bill. The promise was made in the 1980s when they raised those taxes, with a Democratic House and a Republican Senate and a Republican President by the name of President Reagan, they were going to take that money and set it aside and make sure it is used for nothing but Social Security. They lied to us. Mr. Speaker, right now, if we were to find the mythical lock box for Social Security and open it up, all we will find is an IOU that says we owe the people who paid into the Social Security Trust Fund $1,300,000,000,000. If we look a little bit farther down on our pay stub, and again, these taxes were raised in the 1980s, a Democratic House, a Republican Senate and a Republican President, they raised the taxes on Medicare. If you were to find the mythical lock box for Medicare, and I do mean mythical, because there is nothing there, we would find an IOU for $271 billion. Now, for folks like myself from Mississippi, it is hard to imagine $1 billion. I think one of the reasons that the folks in Washington use the term ``billion'' is we think of it as 271 of these things, be it apples or boats or whatever. So let me walk an average Joe like myself through it. Everybody can visualize $1,000. A lot of people pay $1,000 on their house on rent. So we can kind of visualize a thousand times a thousand. That gets us up to a million. Visualize a thousand times that. That is a billion. So a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 271 is what we owe the Medicare trust fund. There is not a penny there. It is spent. The money collected was supposed to be set aside for Social Security, for Medicare. It is gone. How about our military retirees? How many times have we heard since September how proud we are of our troops and how we need to do everything for them? Well, Mr. President, maybe one of the things we ought to do for them is pay back the $168 billion that we owe to their retirement fund. Again, a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 168. There is not a penny there, it is just IOUs. We have heard about our brave Border Patrol, the Customs agents, the FBI agents, the guys who sweep these buildings on a fairly regular basis looking for chemical and biological weapons. They pay into their retirement fund; this young lady right here pays into her retirement fund; her employer, you, the Federal Government pays a portion into her retirement fund. If we were to find the account for the retirement fund, all we are going to find is an IOU for a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 540. Mr. President, it begs the question, how did you tell the American people we were awash in money when we were $5 trillion in debt? You had your budget. You had a Republican House, a Republican Senate, they passed you a budget dollar for dollar the way you wanted it. You got your tax cuts, and in the wake of all of that, in 12 months alone, we have increased the national debt, the debt that all of these young people in this room have to pay, the debt that my kids have to pay, by $399,653,925,113.31. Mr. Speaker, in the time that you have been Speaker of the House, the national debt has increased by $511,040,208,939. That is more money than this country accumulated in debt in 199 years, and yet, for 1,300 days you have not allowed us a vote on a balanced budget amendment. Is this not enough? Is this the legacy you want to leave the American people, or do you want to leave the American people a legacy of a balanced budget? I hope, and I ask, for the latter.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, I rise to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, I do commend anyone who tries to save the taxpayers a buck, and I have actually voted with you guys on these things tonight. But the net effect of what you have done tonight is sort of like a flea biting into the hide of an elephant and saying, I have really got him now. The last vote was for 50 million. To give you some idea of just how broke this Nation is, at the end of last month our Nation was $6,126,468,760,400.48 in debt. When the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) was sworn in as Speaker, the Nation's debts was only, comparatively, $5,615,428,551,461.33. That means in the approximately 1,290 days he has been Speaker, $511,040,208,938 have been added to the debt, and you are worried about 50. See, in those approximately 1,290 days the Speaker has not allowed this body to vote on what really matters, and that is in the cutting a little bit here or a little bit of a tax break there, it is a constitutional amendment to balance the budget. So whether the R's or the D's or the I's or the chickens are running this House, the rules are you cannot cut taxes more than it takes to balance a budget, and you cannot spend more than you have in the bank. See, the biggest problem with this country is that we are squandering a billion dollars a day on interest on the national debt. I really appreciate what the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Callahan) had to say. Where I come from, $44,000 is a heck of a lot of money. So if $44,000 is a heck of a lot of money, what do you think a billion a day is? A billion a day is a thousand times a thousand times a thousand. This year we will spend a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 365 just on interest on the national debt. It will not educate one kid. It will not fight one fire. It will not help the farmers. It will not defend our Nation. It is just squandered interest on the national debt. If you guys want to do something about it, why do you not ask the Speaker for a straight up-or-down vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution? It just says we will live within our means. We passed it 7 years ago through this body. It went to the other body. It only failed by one vote. Maybe some of you think it might interfere with the $50 billion a year that we lose to the estate tax vote. Maybe some think it means we will not have money for social spending. Maybe all of us ought to be willing to give a little something up because all we are doing is sticking our kids with the bill. And in the past 23 years we have added over $5 trillion to the national debt. Just the Speaker's bill alone is more than this Nation borrowed between George Washington becoming President and 1975. That is 199 years of this Republic has been surpassed in debt during the Speaker's watch. I am ready to say enough is enough, but the only way we can do that is get a vote on a balanced budget amendment. I will help you with some of our amendments. I will vote against some of the amendments. If you are really sincere about doing something for the American people, if you want to leave a legacy, let us pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, so that regardless of who is running this House it lives within its means. And before somebody gets too ambitious with tax cuts, they do not do it at the next generation's expense. All we have really done is the equivalent of someone going off to the car lot and saying, I want the most expensive car out there. And by the way, bill my 6-year-old kid. Or I want the most expensive house in the State of Mississippi; and, by the way, I have a 3-year-old grandson; just stick him with the bill, plus interest. That is what we have been doing for the past 23 years in this Nation. I am ashamed of that. I think in your heart of hearts you are too. We have a few days left in this session. We can pass that. We can send it to the other body. If you are really serious about the spending, let us not go after the fleas. Let us go after the real problem. Let us balance the budget.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, as we read about the scandals in the private sector and as we hear the President go to Wall Street to try to get them to do a better job with their accounting practices, it strikes me that the President would have much better spent his time if he had given that speech here in these halls. You see, as we talk about false billing and cooking the books going on on Wall Street, there is no more false billing and there is no bigger cooking of the books than right here in the halls of Congress and in the other body. I guess the average American would be dumfounded to know that the taxes that they pay every month called FICA, their Social Security taxes, they think is being set aside for their Social Security, would they not be surprised to find out that as of this moment, our Nation owes the Social Security trust fund $1.3 trillion. There is not a penny in that account, nothing but an IOU of some government securities. Folks who pay taxes know that on that pay stub is a tax for Medicare. They presume it is being set aside to pay for their medical expenses when they get older. They would be shocked to find out that as of this moment, if you could find that imaginary lockbox, that we owe the Medicare trust fund $271 billion. For folks back home, I realize a billion is a lot of money, so I walk you through it the way I have to remind myself. A billion is a thousand times a thousand times a thousand, and in this instance again times 271 is how much is owed to the Medicare trust fund. Every year money is taken out of the Department of Defense budget with the promise that it will be set aside to pay military retirement pay. I am sure that after what the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Shows) said, and rightly so, that they would be aghast to find out that if you were to find the so-called military retiree fund, all you would find there is an IOU for a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 168. The civil servants, the people on the Border Patrol, the people who work for Customs, the FBI agents who are out there trying to find kidnapped kids, the ATF agents who get shot at on a regular basis trying to keep violent people from building bombs that would harm other Americans, they have a retirement plan. They pay into it. The government pays into it. That money is supposed to be set aside just to pay for their retirement. If they could find that mythical lockbox, they would find that what is missing is a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 540. $540 billion. In fact, I guess the average Joe would be a little surprised that after coming to Congress and promising to balance the books, that in the approximately 1,286 days that Dennis Hastert has been the Speaker of the House, that the Federal debt has grown by $511,040,208,939.15, which is more debt than was accumulated in this country from the day that George Washington became President until 1975. Our Nation went for almost 199 years and accumulated only as much debt since Dennis Hastert has been Speaker. I say that to express my severe disappointment that in those 1,286 days, Speaker Hastert has not allowed, and he sets the schedule for floor debate; only bills that he approves come to the floor and bills that he disapproves do not come to the floor. He has never set a day of debate for a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. So that regardless of which party, be they Democrats, be they Republicans, or whoever is controlling the House, and regardless of which party controls the Senate, and regardless of who is the President, they are going to spend no more money than is collected in taxes. In the 23 years my daughter has been alive, this Nation has added $5 trillion to that debt. We could have gone all the way from the day George Washington became President to the day Ronald Reagan became President and our Nation was only $1 trillion in debt. In just 23 years, this much has been added. I think the American people are rightly demanding that Congress spend no more than they collect in taxes. Because no good parent would go out and buy a car and say, by the way, I have a 6-year-old child and let them pay for it, plus interest, when they grow up. No good parent would go buy a house, the most expensive house, because they are not going to pay for it, they are going to stick their grandkids with the bill. That is what you have been doing, Speaker Hastert; and I think it is time we had a vote on a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution to stop this Congress and stop future Congresses from doing that. This is a message that I am going to deliver every day until we get a vote on the Balanced Budget Amendment. I want to encourage Americans to check my sources. Because unlike those guys who were talking about big budget surpluses last year, but never followed it up with the facts, I want Americans to check these numbers because they will be as shocked and appalled as I am. So please look for the monthly statement of the public debt, June 2002, under http//www.publicdebt.treas.gov, and see for yourselves how broke our Nation is. And then when we hear the politicians ranting and raving about irresponsibility on Wall Street, maybe you will encourage them to look in the mirror.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I know I am not supposed to address folks up there in the balcony, but they have got to find it a little strange that it is about 10:30 here in Washington and Congress is not here. In fact, in the whole of this week, Speaker Hastert scheduled 13 votes, flew 435 Members of Congress back from across the country, majority of them coming from California where there are 52 Congressmen, for 13 votes. Today is the 1,281 day that he has been Speaker, and for not one of those days has he found the time to schedule a vote on what I think is the most important thing facing those young people in the balcony, those young people, my kids, everybody else's kids in America, and that is the national debt. At least one of those people up there is 23 years old like my daughter Sarah; and if a person is 23 years old, on the day they were born, our Nation was less than $1 trillion in debt. It means they have gone all the way from when George Washington became the President until just before Ronald Reagan assumed office, through the Civil War, let us walk through it, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, Mexican- American War, the Civil War, Spanish American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, all the things that have happened along the way, the building of the interstate highway system, the building of the great barge canals in our country, all the great things that have been done for our Nation, the Nation borrowed less than $1 trillion. In the past 23 years, the Nation has borrowed over $5 trillion. Just 2 weeks ago in a straight party-line vote, every single Republican voted to raise the debt limit by an additional $400 billion. When folks stop me at the K-Mart or the Wal-Mart or the local hardware store, they say where does the money go, where does all that money go? They are absolutely dumbfounded when I tell them the biggest expense of their Nation is not defense, not health care, not taking care of our veterans. It is paying interest on this enormous national debt. Our Speaker in the 1,281 days that he has been Speaker has not even allowed us a vote on a simple constitutional amendment that says Congress cannot spend more than it collects in taxes. About half the States have that requirement. That is why most of the States have very low indebtedness. That is why they squander very little of our money on interest on the debt. President Bush introduced the very first $2 trillion budget this year. He increased spending by about 8 percent over last year because of his tax breaks. Revenues are down 16 percent; and the net result of that is in the past 12 months, the national debt has increased by $399,653,925,113.31. Why is that so horrible? How many of us as parents would go out and buy a car, go down to the car lot and buy the most expensive car on the lot and say I do not care what it costs, I do not care what kind of frills are put on it, and by the way, send the bill to my 6- year-old son when he turns 30, plus interest? How many would dream of going to the local Realtor and saying I want the most expensive house in this country, and I do not care what it costs and bill my 7-year-old grandson? That is precisely what our Nation has been doing, and yet the Speaker will not give us in the 1,200-plus days that he has been Speaker even one vote on a balanced budget amendment. It came up in the House about 6 years ago. It passed. We got the two- thirds votes necessary. It went to the other body. It failed by only one vote. So instead of forcing the other body to vote on this again and again and again until we do the right thing for the American people, our Speaker has chosen to run up the debt. Mr. Speaker, since you have become Speaker, our Nation has increased the national debt by $511,040,208,939. That is more debt than was incurred in this country from the day George Washington became President to halfway through World War II, on your watch. You are the man. You schedule the floor debate. You decide what we vote on and when we vote on it and you keep deciding we cannot have a vote on a balanced budget amendment. Mr. Speaker, my name is Gene Taylor. I represent the citizens of South Mississippi. For every day of the rest of this session, I am going to come to this House floor and tell the American people the truth, that you will not give us a vote on a balanced budget amendment and that you are the guy who is responsible for this debt, and I am personally going to make them aware of it, and I am going to let them decide in November if you have managed this House very well.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I believe I am a cosponsor of that resolution, and I am going to vote for it. But what I object to is the continued reference on this House floor, the continued effort on the part of some Members of this body to deceive the American public into thinking that we are balancing our budget. I do not care if a Democrat said it or a Republican said it, or I do not care if Adam's house cat said it. We are not. The fact of the matter is that the President submitted a budget that was passed by a Republican majority in the House and the Senate last summer when the Republicans still controlled both bodies, as they did for 7 years. For 6 of those 7 years, we had deficit spending. As a matter of fact, I find it strange that we have to address the tax problem, because taxes have been addressed four times in the past 20 years when, for 41 of the past 42 years, Congress has run a deficit. So I am going to say this very slowly. The President just submitted the first $2 trillion budget. The Republican Congress passed it. The Republican Congress increased spending by 8 percent last year and decreased revenues by 16 percent. That equated to, and I am going to say this very slowly so that no one misses it, $232 billion. This is the month of March. Actually, the number is, and I do not have it in front of me, but it is on my Web site, because I memorized it. The deficit has increased by $363 billion. That is a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 363 in the past 12 months. The debt is now over $6 trillion. This was just March. It is now over $6 trillion. Two weeks ago my Republican colleagues voted to raise the debt limit by $750 billion; that is a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 750. That is not balancing the budget. Mr. Speaker, my point is, we are bringing the wrong constitutional amendment to the House floor. We have had but one vote in the past 7 years on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. We sent it to the Senate. It failed by one vote. If we are really concerned about the future of our country, and if we have some guilt about sticking our kids with our bills, which is what we are doing; none of my colleagues would go buy a car, a $40,000 Lexus and say, I have a 7-year-old, bill him when he grows up. None of my colleagues would go to the Realtor in their hometowns and say, I want the most expensive house in town and, by the way, I have a 4-year-old grandchild, stick them with the bill, plus interest. But it is precisely what you have been doing with this country; and, guys, I think you are missing the point. My Republican colleagues have run the House for the past 7 years. The ``they'' you keep talking about that is raising spending is you. When you go to shave tomorrow morning, look in the mirror. You all did it. I liked you all so much better when you said you were for a balanced budget amendment, and I like you so much less when you do not do it. Pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. We have found time to take care of nutrea eradication on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. We found time to take care of tigers and rhinoceroses. We have named every post office in the United States of America. We have found time for a debate for all sorts of things that really are not all that vital. But, Mr. Speaker, we cannot find time to bring a debate and have a vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution in the almost 4 years you have been Speaker, because it gets in the way of your tax cuts. Quit sticking my kids with your bills. Quit robbing the 1 trillion, 270 billion dollars that is already owed to the Social Security trust fund. I have memorized that one too. Quit robbing the $228 billion that you have stolen from the Medicare trust fund. Quit robbing the over $500 billion, a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 500, that is owed to the Federal Employees Retirement System right now. There is not a penny in any of those accounts and, for God's sake, as you tell the troops how much you love them, quit stealing the $167 billion, and I memorized that one too, that you owe to the military retirees' trust fund. There is not a penny in any one of those accounts. All you are concerned about is taxes when you ought to be concerned about fulfilling the promises we made to each and every American, because each and every American falls into those categories. Quit stealing from them; pass a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, there is something that has not been mentioned much today. There is something we cannot run away from. Two weeks ago today this body, in mostly a party-line vote, voted to raise the debt limit by $750 billion. Now that is a thousand time a thousand time a thousand times 750. My buddy, and I do say buddy, the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Watts), a couple minutes ago said, hopefully we can leave something for our kids and grandkids. Well, that is what we are leaving them, $6,019,332,312,247.55 of debt. In my daughter's lifetime, she is 23 years old, we have added $5 trillion to that debt. What particularly troubles me is coming from all of my Republican opponents who keep telling me I am from a wealthy family, I am not going to pay any estate tax. So I have a bit of trouble. In order to give truly very, very wealthy families a tax break, you are sticking my kids with the bill. It is that simple. Because not only do we owe this money and not only have you run up the debt by $363 billion in the past 12 months, guys, you control the House, you control the Senate, you control the tax bill, and you control the spending bill. That is how much debt you have run up in 1 year, and you are sticking my kids with the bills. And until they pay off that bill, they are going to squander a billion dollars a day on interest, and your answer to all of this is to stick them with more bills. That is not fiscal responsibility. I liked you guys so much better when you were for a balanced budget. But in the 6 years, the past 6 years, the whole time the gentleman from Illinois (Speaker Hastert) has been Speaker, you have not scheduled one vote on a balanced budget amendment. We found enough time to debate the Nutria Eradication Act. We cannot find time to talk about a balanced budget. Quit sticking my kids with your bills.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, parliamentary inquiry.