Gene Taylor

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

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

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, it is all a little fuzzy, probably by intention.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, is it my understanding that by the passage of this bill the rule allows the debt limit to be increased by $750 billion?

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues who remain awake at 3 o'clock this morning, and for the folks who work for this House, I very much apologize for you keeping awake 5 minutes longer, but I do think that this House has hit what could possibly be the lowest low it has ever hit. Two weeks ago, the House that claims to be for national security refused to give this Member a vote on whether or not we would prevent another round of base closures, because I think that is incredibly stupid and a waste of money. But what is so much worse than that is that, without an up-or-down vote, without having the guts, the courage, the fortitude, and may I say the honesty to say that you are increasing the debt limit by $750 billion, the House just voted to do so. You wrapped it in a package that would help the troops to the tune of $21 billion, but what you really have done is increased the debt limit and put our Nation another $750 billion in debt. Let me tell you why I think that is bad. As of the end of last month, our Nation was $5,984,677,357,213.86 in debt. Sometimes that is just mind-boggling. But let us bring it back to reality. Let us bring it back to one lifetime. Let us bring it back to my daughter Sarah's lifetime. On the day she was born on Christmas, 1978, our Nation was less than $1 trillion in debt. We had gone through the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. We built the interstate highway system, St. Lawrence Seaway. We have done so many good things for the citizens, and we managed to do it and borrow less than $1 trillion. In 1980 Ronald Reagan became President, made the promise that we could somehow cut taxes and increase spending and it is all going to work, in a Democratic House, but a Republican Senate, a Republican President. At the end of those 8 years, he had doubled the national debt to $2 trillion. That is a fact. And he never lost a veto vote. If he thought it was that bad a deal, he could have vetoed those bills and he would have won, but he did not, and that is a fact. So what we have now 22 years later is $5 trillion more debt. What is really bad about that debt is folks back home, when you tell them, they say, where does my tax money go? They think it goes to food stamps or they think it goes to welfare, and they are absolutely appalled when we tell them it is squandered on interest on the national debt, $1 billion a day. It does not educate a kid, it does not defend the country, it does not pave a highway. It is just squandered, and a third of that money goes to German and Japanese lending institutions. Mr. Speaker, $100 billion a year leaves this country in interest payments to German and Japanese lending institutions. So where does it stop? I believed you guys. I really did. I believed the Republicans when they said give us a chance to govern and we will balance the budget, but you lied to me. You were given a chance to govern, and you balanced the budget for 1 year and then you went crazy on tax breaks, because that is where the campaign contributions are. That is what it is all about. Have the honesty to admit it. You passed a so-called death tax repeal because that is where the campaign contributions are. So you reduced revenues, you increased spending, and you are somehow surprised that in 12 months you have increased the national debt by $323,329,559,211.21. And what makes me mad, this son of a television salesman, is that my kids have to pay that bill. I do not like you sticking my kids with your bills. I am for the troops. I did not ask for the Committee on Armed Services; I begged for it. I chose that committee because that is the best way I can serve them. But the best way I can serve those kids in Afghanistan is not asking them to serve their country and then sticking them for the bill for this war when they get home and their kids with this bill for the rest of their lives.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the right to object.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman forgot one other thing. We can rescind the tax cuts that have deprived us of $60 billion in revenue since they were implemented, and I will vote to do that in a heartbeat.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, I would hope that the previous speaker and all other speakers would take the time to look at this. Our Nation is now $5,984,677,357.213.86 in debt. In the past 12 months, since the President talked about this town being awash in money, it is awash in money, we have to have tax cuts because we do not know what to do with all this money, in the past 12 months since the passing of the President's budget and the President's tax cuts, because the Republican majority controlled both Houses when that happened, we have increased the debt by $323,329,559.211.21. Now, what is particularly troubling about this, and I see my colleague, the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker), and we both have daughters about the same age, they are both 23 years old, but on the day our daughters were born, our Nation was less than $1 trillion in debt. We had gone all the way from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, our First World War, the Second World War, we had gone through Korea and Vietnam. We had gone all the way until 1980, and through all of that our Nation only borrowed $1 trillion. In the 22 or 23 years my daughter has been alive, we have borrowed an additional $5 trillion. The fact of the matter is that since the passage of the tax cuts, my colleagues have deprived the Nation of $60 billion in revenue. My colleagues say this bill is just for defense; but on reading this bill, there is $170,000 that is going to go to the Christian Church Homes of Kentucky. A very noble cause, but is it really worth borrowing and sticking my daughter with that bill for the rest of her life? What is particularly bad about this is, just like when Americans borrow money and they have to pay interest on it, if we stop to think about it, the biggest expense of our Nation is not welfare, it is not food stamps, it is not highways or the military, it is interest on the national debt. We squander $1 billion a day on interest on the national debt. That does not educate a child; it does not help a sick person or a senior citizen. It is just squandered. For those World War II veterans, they must love to know the fact that a third of that goes to German and Japanese lending institutions.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Chairman, I would tell the gentleman that that is a sham, and the sham is that the Republican Party paid down public debt. You stole it from the trust funds. If we could get to the Social Security trust fund, if we could somehow open it up, the gentleman knows, as I do, that there is nothing there but an IOU for $1,260 trillion. If we could get to the trust fund for Medicare, coming out of people's taxes, there is a line on their paychecks, the gentleman knows that we have stolen as a Nation $263 billion from the Medicare trust fund. There is not a penny there. Civil servants, border guards, customs people, FBI, the guys we are counting on to defend us right now, those cops out there who are guarding us right now, we have stolen from their retirement trust fund $527 billion. How about the troops? This is supposed to be for the troops. There is a military retirement trust fund. If you were to open it up, it says we owe you $167 billion. And your answer is to borrow more money, $750 billion more money? That is your answer? It is absolutely hilarious because I come from a conservative State. For so long Republicans said, ``We've got to balance the budget. Please let us govern. We've got to balance the budget. We've got to quit running up the debt.'' You are in the majority. We admit you were right. We have got to balance the budget. We have got to quit running up the debt. Now that you have finally convinced us, you are changing your story. You are saying that the answer is more debt. We have to borrow money so we can send Mississippi arts to Pennsylvania to the tune of $150,000. Read the bill.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Under those circumstances, I yield to the gentleman from Mississippi.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, I have the greatest respect for, and I am sorry he is not on the floor anymore, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson). I have the greatest respect for the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne), the former coach. But they have come to the wrong conclusion on this. I think I have been to Colombia more than any Member of Congress in the past 10 years. I do not know that for a fact, but I think so. I have lost track of the trips. And I do not go to Cartagena and take the carriage ride through the tourist section. I have been to Neva, I have been to San Jose, I have been to where the pipeline is that the President wants to spend $98 million of our tax money to protect a pipeline owned by Occidental Petroleum through which Colombian National Oil Company oil flows and, by the way, they had record profits last year. I have got to tell you, every time I come back from Colombia, I come back with the same sick conclusion, and that is that the Colombians are going to do their utmost to get us to fight this civil war for them. You see, what has not been mentioned yet today is unlike the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) who had two sons in Desert Storm, the Colombians just changed their law to where if you have a high school diploma, you are exempt from their draft. All of us can get the gist of that real quick. The politicians' sons are not going to fight this war. The poor bubba from the countryside, he does not have a high school diploma, so he goes and gets shot. The Colombians are in the midst of a 38-year civil war, and yet they have cut their own defense budget in the past three years. Now, that is a fact. Let me tell you what is even worse. When I went to little towns like Neva, it is probably a big deal in a little town like that for an American congressman to show up, so their chamber of commerce came out to meet me. We had a very long visit. We drank a few beers. They were amazingly honest. I said, ``Guys,'' I was trying to compare their tax load to ours. I said, ``What do you all pay in taxes?'' These were bankers, these were lawyers, these were the local mayor, the civic leaders. Their answer was, ``We don't pay taxes. Yes, they are on the books, but we don't pay them.'' You see, Americans do pay taxes, and what I really resent is a country where they pride themselves on not paying taxes, where they pride themselves on their kids avoiding military service, asking people in Mississippi and Alabama and Georgia, whose kids do volunteer to serve our country, to go fight their war for them. I think the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) is exactly right. And I will take it a step further. I want to make this as personal as I can. I think it is insane for this Nation to spend $98 million to protect a pipeline that Occidental Petroleum owns with American lives. I am going to make this as personal as humanly possible. President Bush, I will send my kids to guard that pipeline when you send your kids to guard that pipeline. Because I do not think you are going to see your daughters down there, and I sure as heck do not want to see my daughters or my son down there. If the Colombians do not take their civil war seriously, then we should not either. My God, all day long we have been talking about being for the troops. Is not the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson) proof positive what goes wrong when good kids go off to fight a war that our Nation does not really understand, that a Nation maybe should not be involved in? This is that case. Guys, this is dead serious. I shut down the House two weeks ago because I wanted a vote on this. I cannot go to a funeral in Wiggins, I cannot go to a funeral in Louisville, I cannot go to a funeral in Waynesboro, and look somebody in the eye and say your son or daughter died doing the best thing for America. This is not about America. The FARC and the ELN have gone out of their way not to target Americans. In 20 years, only 10 Americans have died in Colombia. They do not want us in their war. It is their war, and it is not worth sending my kids or your kids to die in. They do not even pay their own taxes. Their kids do not serve. So why on good God's good earth are we going to send our tax money and our kids to fight in it? Please support the Skelton-McGovern amendment. Do not waste one American life needlessly.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, who would be in a position to construe that?

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, that I believe a parliamentary inquiry has precedence over that.

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

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, if I may understand, the passage of this rule would indeed prohibit me or any other Member of this House from offering an amendment that would keep us from raising the debt limit. Does that not in itself constitute a restrictive rule?

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I am under the impression that the Chair has to yield for a parliamentary inquiry.

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

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, we all want to take care of the troops. What a lot of us do not want to do is to lie to the American people and mislead them and tell them we are not borrowing money to do it. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) misspoke, and I am going to leave it at that, when he said they are paying down the national debt. In the past 1 year, the national debt has risen by $323,329,559,211.21. Now that is straight off the Treasury report. Do not tell the people that we are balancing the budget. My colleagues are suggesting that we vote to increase the debt limit by $750 billion. That is a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 750. If we have to pay for this war, and we should, then let us cut spending someplace else, like the American people do. I would tell the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) that on the day my daughter was born our Nation was less than $1 trillion in debt. The gentleman is proposing that we go over $6 trillion in debt, and she is not yet 24 years old. Where does it stop? Where is the shame?

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, it would be my understanding that an open rule would allow me to offer any amendment that I wish to keep the Republican majority from raising the debt limit and plunging us more than $6 trillion in debt.

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

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, my parliamentary inquiry, would the open rule the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) makes reference to allow me to offer an amendment that would remove the language that allows this bill to raise the debt limit?

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, when the Chair is construing whether or not a Member can offer an amendment, is that in itself limiting the rules of the House and, therefore, not an open rule?

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi

Mr. TAYLOR of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to remember the patriotic actions of Mr. John M. McGee, a resident of Pass Christian, Mississippi who passed away on February 23, 2002. As the Korean War unfolded, he enlisted with the U.S Navy and served on the destroyer tender Shenandoah and the destroyer Willard Keith. He was a veteran of the decisive Inchon invasion commanded by General Douglas MacArthur. Mr. McGee earned his college degree in engineering from the Armed Forces Institute. After an honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy, he was certified as a Professional Engineer specializing in petroleum engineering. He then worked for a petroleum-engineering firm in Wyoming, ultimately becoming the petroleum engineer in charge of a five state office. In 1966, he accepted a job with the Department of Defense, and conducted operations in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand until 1969. During his tour of duty in Vietnam, Mr. McGee, discovered and exposed extensive corruption in American military operations. His courageous exposure of a million gallons of fuel destined for U.S. Military forces that had been redirected and used by the enemy led to the saving of many American lives. A Senate Sub-Committee chaired by the Honorable Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin ultimately investigated this conspiracy. This incident and others are memorialized as part of the U.S. Congressional Record, and in the Books Report from Wasteland--America's Military Industrial Complex, by Senator William Proxmire and The Pentagonists, by A. Earnest Fitzgerald. It is for these devoted actions that we remember Mr. John M. McGee.