Supporting the designation of July 20, 2022, as "Glioblastoma Awareness Day".

Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse), who does a wonderful job, as well as my friend, my fellow Pennsylvanian, Mr. Cartwright.

I am glad to be here in this good fight with them, but I wish we didn't have to be here fighting this fight. I mean, why do we do this to ourselves?

Here is what I mean. Congress does a lot of dumb things, historically, year in, year out. I think most people would agree on that.

But of all the dumb things Congress does, this repeated political food fight over the debt ceiling is without question the dumbest, the most unnecessary, and the potentially most dangerous.

Now, I want to point out, for the record, almost no other country on Earth even has this concept of the debt ceiling. In the few that do, none of them--none of them--have this sort of political fight where a figurative sword of Damocles is hanging over the entire country and its economy. It makes no sense, and there is no benefit to it, none.

Now, year in, year out, when we have this, again, dumb and unnecessary debate over the debt ceiling, a lot of people, especially people who have been in town for a while, will say, somewhat cynically: Well, you know, eventually, they are going to raise it. What is the fuss? Eventually, they are going to raise it.

Sure enough, every single time, it has finally been raised. But that kind of fight over seeing which side will give in first, that sort of political game of chicken, has a real cost.

I want to cite this figure. It was 10 years ago, almost exactly 10 years ago, that we came the closest to not raising the debt ceiling. It was in the summer, late summer of 2011. The GAO found that that delay in raising the debt limit, that sort of uncertainty as we approached the deadline, that increased the Treasury's borrowing costs by $1.3 billion.

Just imagine what we could do right now with $1.3 billion, what that would mean for my constituents in Pennsylvania or constituents in Colorado or in any State or any district in the country.

This has a real cost and, of course, if we were to ever go over the edge and fall off, the effects, not just for the United States but for the worldwide economy, would be devastating.

On the Ways and Means Committee, I have had the opportunity to interrogate a number of Treasury Secretaries over the years. Whether it was Trump's Treasury Secretary, Mr. Mnuchin, or President Biden's Treasury Secretary, Ms. Yellen, both have given almost verbatim answers when I asked them about what the consequences would be if we actually did ultimately default.

Here we are again at this point. Madam Speaker, what I want to do then is solve this problem, not just for this latest instance, but for all future ones. So I am introducing legislation this week, along with Budget Committee Chairman Yarmuth, the two of us.

Our bill works like this. It would give to the Treasury Secretary, now and in the future, the ability to raise the debt ceiling. If Congress disagreed with that decision, Congress could always overrule it by passage in the House and the Senate. But the authority would rest where it should, with the Treasury Secretary. This just makes sense.

It would eliminate, once and for all, this dumb political food fight. It would also ensure that this is taken out of the political realm and put where, frankly, it should have rested back in the beginning, over at Treasury.

Now, I have had a bill for years now, in many different sessions of Congress, to just scrap the debt ceiling altogether. The way it is practiced today was in no way envisioned when it came into existence almost 80 years ago.

But I understand the practical political realities of that, so we are pragmatically putting in this alternate approach, this different piece of legislation.

I would urge those in the House and Senate for whom raising the debt ceiling might be a politically difficult vote to consider this piece of legislation so that you, yourself, don't have to vote to raise the debt ceiling, but that the appropriate official, the head of Treasury, would have that authority, again, still reserving for Congress the ability to intervene if, for some reason in the future, we were to ever disagree with the decision of a future Treasury Secretary.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record an op-ed that I wrote on this subject just about a month or two ago, and I would urge all colleagues of mine, in the House and the Senate, to stop playing politics with this issue.

The Debt Ceiling: A Broken Mechanism

Why do we keep doing this to ourselves?

Congress finds itself in an all too familiar position:

working against the clock to reach a deal on the debt

ceiling. Failure to raise the debt ceiling would bring

default on our nation's debt, and likely worldwide economic

collapse.

I can't help but feel a sense of deja vu as I remember this

scene unraveling two years ago, and too many times to count

before that.

The debt ceiling was created to put a cap on what the

government can borrow--in order to pay its own bills. The

government issues debt. Congress sets that debt limit. This

explains why the debt ceiling needs to be raised or suspended

continuously. According to the Congressional Budget Office,

the government currently is $28.5 trillion in debt within

this self-imposed limit. When the limit is reached, the

Treasury Department can no longer pay its bills and risks

defaulting on its own debt obligations.

Looking back at its own history, the debt ceiling has been

raised over 100 times. What once may have been a helpful

lever that could be used in a thoughtful way is no more. That

noble function, if it ever existed, is but a thing of the

past.

Instead, it has become highly politicized, costly, and

downright dangerous.

Even if the debt ceiling is ultimately raised, just the

uncertainty alone is costly. During the 2011 debt ceiling

negotiations, in which a compromise was struck only two days

before Treasury's borrowing authority would be exhausted, the

GAO found the delay in raising the debt limit led to an

increase in Treasury's borrowing costs of $1.3 billion.

The debt ceiling does nothing but create pointless panic,

harming workers and businesses that fuel our economy.

Factoring in our current recovery from the pandemic economy

only exacerbates this self-inflicted Crisis.

Many people have lost jobs or seen household incomes

drastically cut. The June 2021 data from the Census Bureau

revealed there are 25 million people who are unemployed, or

who live with an unemployed family member. There is a lot at

stake out there.

It's clear we need to do everything we can to protect the

integrity and fabric of our economy. Our current process of

``governing by a deadline'' does the opposite. The debt

ceiling, and the recurring havoc it brings, is a completely

broken mechanism.

With Democrats in full control of the White House and

Congress, we must seize the opportunity to finally fix this

flawed policy--by simply getting rid of it. This is why I

have introduced legislation, House Resolution 1041, to kill

the debt ceiling once and for all.

The time is now to make this common-sense change. We cannot

wait a few more years. We need to work together to implement

smart fiscal policies that grow our economy, and don't

threaten to destroy it.

It is long past time to permanently retire this sword of

Damocles.

Yes, that is correct. It would apply to the Treasury Secretary, who currently is a Democrat, but also in the future, for years and years to come. So, inevitably, over the course of the decades and centuries, there would be plenty of Democratic and Republican Treasury Secretaries who would equally have that ability.

If you don't mind, I want to answer in a slightly different way your question. I will tell what you Secretary Mnuchin said because that answer is more memorable to me.

This was a couple of years ago, obviously. It was at least a couple of years ago now, and he was testifying in front of the House Ways and Means Committee, on which I serve.

He was testifying in front of the House Ways and Means Committee, on which I serve. And I asked him: What would the specific tangible consequences be if we failed to raise our debt ceiling?

For a couple of seconds, he just kind of paused, and he said: Congressman, the consequences would be so dire, just so unimaginable, that it is really hard to articulate just how bad it would be.

So even he had difficulty going into the sort of ramifications that it would have.

I was going to remind everyone--of course, as the gentleman knows--this was President Trump's appointed Treasury Secretary who was saying this.

Madam Speaker, one thing I want to make clear, as Mr. Neguse very eloquently did, is that the position on this side of the aisle has been completely consistent, regardless of the political party of the occupant of the White House.

I voted every single time to raise the debt ceiling while Donald Trump was President. I have served for 7 years, so 4 of those years under a Republican President, 3 of those years under a Democratic President. In fact, the majority of the votes I have cast to raise the debt ceiling have been under a Republican administration. For many of my colleagues on this side of the aisle, they can say the same thing.

So I am being completely consistent; those of us on this side of the aisle are being completely consistent. It is the other side, especially in the Senate, that is playing this political game that is so dangerous and so unnecessary.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Madam Speaker, House Democrats are delivering for the people, and let me explain to you how they are doing so.

Under President Biden's leadership, our economy is growing at nearly the fastest rate in over 40 years. The child tax credit is cutting taxes for hardworking middle-class families across the country. And by putting more of working people's own money back into their pockets, it is generating $20 billion in spending in local economies, supporting local businesses and jobs.

Now, Madam Speaker, we are hard at work to deliver even more for working families through the Build Back Better plan and the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

But while House Democrats are delivering for the people, unfortunately, some on the other side of the aisle are promoting misinformation about the coronavirus and opposing overwhelmingly popular vaccine mandates that will save lives and keep our schools open. Some of them, Madam Speaker, have even spread false narratives about the attack on our Capitol and on this Chamber nearly 9 months ago.

As The New York Times reported earlier this month: ``A growing number of Republicans and their media allies have downplayed the riot. Some have begun to treat it as a heroic act.''

Madam Speaker, this dangerous rhetoric from Republicans continues as Senate Leader Mitch McConnell now threatens the full faith and credit of the United States, and Senate Republicans refuse to do their job to ensure that America can pay its bills on time.

Let's be clear, Madam Speaker, raising or suspending the debt limit does not authorize new spending. It is about meeting obligations that the government has already made, including the bipartisan COVID relief package passed last year in December and vital payments to Social Security recipients as well.

In fact, much of the debt was accumulated under President Trump. The massive tax giveaways for millionaires and billionaires that Republicans pushed through under President Trump added $1.8 trillion to the national debt, and a full 97 percent, Madam Speaker, of the total debt subject to the limit was accumulated before President Biden took office.

Madam Speaker, it is no surprise that congressional Republicans voted three times--not once, not twice, but three times--to suspend the debt limit under President Trump.

Leader McConnell and congressional Republicans know what is at stake. In 2019, Mitch McConnell himself said that raising the debt ceiling, and I am going to quote, Madam Speaker, ``ensures our Federal Government will not approach any kind of short-term debt crisis in the coming weeks or months. It secures our Nation's full faith and credit and ensures that Congress will not throw this kind of unnecessary wrench into the gears of job growth and a thriving economy.''

Not my words, Madam Speaker, Mitch McConnell's words. He said it himself. This is about supporting American jobs and our economy. This is about doing our job for the American people.

We urge Leader McConnell: Stop playing games with the full faith and credit of the United States. Stop playing games with American jobs. Do your job to ensure that America can pay its bills on time by addressing the debt limit.

Now, I think it is important for the American people to understand why we are here standing up for the credit of the United States, and I can think of no one better to help explain precisely that than my good friend, the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Cartwright).

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Cartwright).

Madam Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman for his comments. He couldn't be more right.

He raises a real salient point, which is the hypocrisy of the minority leader in the United States Senate and the position that he is taking today in threatening the full faith and credit of the United States of America juxtaposed against the position that he took a mere year ago.

But it just so happens that we have several distinguished colleagues from the State of Pennsylvania who know a thing or two about the debt ceiling, and that includes our prestigious colleague on the Ways and Means Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Brendan F. Boyle).

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks and for showing once again the innovative and creative problem-solving that the good State of Pennsylvania is so well-known for, with respect to the legislative solution that he has proposed.

I certainly agree with his admonition that it is time for our political leaders to stop playing politics with respect to the debt ceiling. I hope our colleagues in the upper Chamber, including the minority leader, are listening.

I do want to zero in on one particular thing that my colleague from Pennsylvania referenced, which is the consequences, right? What happens if, in fact, the United States Government defaults?

I think a lot of folks watching at home are asking themselves that same question, so I would pose to my other colleague from Pennsylvania that same question.

What happens, as a practical matter, if we, God forbid, were to default?

Well, I would just simply say what is so striking about the consequences that you described, Mr. Cartwright, and that Mr. Boyle described, in terms of the warning that was given by Secretary Mnuchin years ago, is that congressional Republicans back then did the right thing. They heard the same warnings that Representative Boyle described, and they voted to increase the debt limit. They did it not once, not twice, but three separate times during President Trump's administration.

What has changed? That is the question that I wish the minority leader of the United States Senate would answer.

But I think we know the answer, that this is ultimately politics and gamesmanship. I would hope that for the good of the country, he and his colleagues would reach the same conclusion that they reached literally less than a year ago.

I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Brendan F. Boyle), because his experience on the Ways and Means Committee, I think, is instructive with respect to how we dispose of this particular question and issue.

Well, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania. Again, he couldn't be more right in terms of the hypocrisy of some on this particular issue and the adherence to, I think, the morally correct and economically correct position that so many on this side of the aisle have taken year after year after year. Our hope is that our colleagues in the upper Chamber will do the same.

Don't you agree, Mr. Cartwright?

Madam Speaker, the gentleman couldn't be more right. And certainly, the good news, for those that are watching, is that House Democrats are committed to doing everything that we need to do to ensure that the full faith and credit of the United States is not threatened or undermined.

We have a colleague who has joined us who has spent her entire career ensuring precisely that, and that is the distinguished gentlewoman from the State of Texas.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) for her to address this Chamber on this subject.

I thank the gentlewoman for her remarks. Those of us who have had the privilege to work with the gentlewoman from Texas know that her ability to speak truth to power really is second to none, and I think her argument is as compelling as it is straightforward. General welfare. Full faith and credit. Pay your bills.

And so I say to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle in this Chamber and in the upper Chamber, it is time for you to do your job. Let's address the debt ceiling and let's get on with the business of this Congress in promoting and protecting the general welfare of our wonderful country.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman from Colorado for yielding.

It is true. Today, in the Congress, the Treasury Secretary of the United States, Janet Yellen, testified that we will run out of borrowing ability on October 18, next month. What this is, is a pernicious, dangerous threat to the United States of America that is happening right now. A lot of people don't realize it because, as Mr. Neguse just mentioned, extending or suspending the debt limit has been a routine, a normal thing for us to do, something that, in the words of Senator McConnell himself, is essential for keeping our economy moving, protecting American jobs, and preserving the livelihoods of many, many Americans.

So the question is, what are we doing? Why do we have to do this? Why do we have to stand here tonight and stand up for the full faith and credit of the United States?

It is because the economy depends on it, not only the economy of America, but the economy of the world depends on the full faith and credit of the United States of America.

Credit is vital to the operation of any economy. Any businessperson knows that. Every businessman, every businesswoman knows that his or her business runs on their credit and their credit rating. They know that credit, every loan, every loan decision, is based on the strength of the promise to repay, and that is what we are talking about here.

If a promise to repay a loan isn't strong, that loan is not made. If the strength of the promise to repay a loan is not there, then either the loan is not made or they have to charge a much higher interest rate to reflect the extra risk in getting repaid. It is all about repaying your loans.

If there is one thing that has been a constant in these United States, and something that we have been really proud of in our Nation for generation after generation, it is that if there is one rock-solid, dependable promise in the world, it is that the United States of America will pay its bills. That is a rock-solid promise, and it is something that reverberates in the world's economies.

That is why we have such a strong economy and a base from which to grow it. That is why we are able to run a government and build bridges and roads, and why we are able to maintain armed services in this country. It is why we are able to function as a nation and as an economy.

It is the foundation for our country's credit and financial systems. It is the source of confidence that powers our national economy. It is what makes our American dollar the currency of the world.

To threaten that by threatening to crash our obligations, to default on the obligation of the United States, it is the most irresponsible thing that I have heard of, even in the words of Senator McConnell himself, who, hours after Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen testified that October 18 is the day when we default on our obligations, hours after that, Senator McConnell over in the Senate whipped a ``no'' vote on suspending the debt limit, doing exactly what he said must not be done, endangering jobs, endangering our economy, threatening Americans savings.

What will happen? We will talk about this a little bit later.

Sure. That is really the big question here tonight.

Before I get to that, I want to commend my colleague from Pennsylvania for that excellent and well-thought-out legislation. If I can, I want to ask Congressman Boyle a question.

Your legislation that would vest the decision on the debt limit in the Treasury Secretary, would that apply to both Democratic and Republican Treasury Secretaries?

When you asked her, Secretary Yellen, about what would happen if we turned our back on our national debt, defaulted on our promises, just went back on our promise to pay, when you asked her that, did she talk about what could happen to the stock market?

I am not surprised. Go ahead.

Sure. Well, it is pretty obvious that every economist that you talk to finds it unthinkable that our Nation would turn its back on our obligations. When you ask them, What happens if we do? The first thing they say is that the stock market crashes.

In fact, it would be so bad that the stock market would crash more than 20 percent. 20 percent is the level at which--if it comes down 20 percent, they have to halt trading in New York on the stock market. It is such a catastrophe. That would happen.

Now, we have stock market crashes, and then there are other stock market crashes, but this is the kind of stock market crash that would be caused by an undermining of the confidence and the faith in the United States economy and the Government's ability and willingness to pay its debts. That rock solid promise that the world economy relies on would be gone. And so much of what drives an economy and makes it strong is confidence in governments and confidence that promises to pay will come true.

If that happens, that would be the kind of stock market crash that would presage not only a recession but a great depression. The last time we had that kind of a stock market crash was in 1929, and it led to a great depression that led to unemployment rates of over 15 and up to 20 percent of this country. It was unbelievable how bad the depression was. It lasted for over a decade.

It would be a catastrophe in this country of a magnitude we can't imagine. Nobody in our generation has had to live through something like that.

As a result, we have to talk about these things as if they would actually happen. If the country defaults on its debt, there will be a stock market crash, and it would be followed by a great depression, which is horrible, horrible damage that would be caused by nothing more than a political stunt by Senator Mitch McConnell.

I would hope that, but my hopes have been dashed before. We have seen this story before in different aspects.

In fact, we are approaching the 8-year anniversary now of what happened when I was a freshman Representative in 2013. It was October 1. The government shut down. At that time, the debate of the day was the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and there was the demand by the Republicans in the Senate that we repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and if we didn't, they were going to shut the government down.

Madam Speaker, they did shut the government down. They shut it down for 16 days in October. And I can tell you, when they do these things, they do damage the economy and they did damage the economy in 2013 in the fall.

In fact, in my own district, we actually measured how much damage was done to the economy in northeastern Pennsylvania. We have this marvelous asset, the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, that had to shut down because of that government shutdown.

Now, this happened the first 16 days of October, which always is a very lucrative tourist season in northeastern Pennsylvania. The people are out to see the beautiful resplendent colors of the fall in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Because the national park had to shut down for those 16 days, leaf peeper season went out the window. And all of the little businesses ringing that national park in Pike County and Monroe County, Pennsylvania, the restaurants and the motels and the gas stations and all of the little businesses that survive off the tourism every year, they got murdered during that shutdown. In fact, we measured that per day. That damaged our economy to the tune of $400,000 a day in my district alone.

The question is: Would Mitch McConnell go ahead and damage our economy purposely to make a political point? The answer is, yeah, he probably would. It looks like he is doing it, and they have done it before, and they don't care.

So it is a sad answer, I know. But the truth is, they would rather score a political point and do harm to our Nation's economy than stick up for the full faith and credit of the United States.

Madam Speaker, I am most grateful for the opportunity to join the gentleman from Colorado, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, and the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

I have just finished with a conference call with the director of the CDC, but I just could not miss the opportunity, because I am almost in a deja vu, having been here for--even shocking myself, because when you are enjoying serving, you don't count the years--but more than two decades. I have seen the dastardly results of government shutdown. So I want to thank the gentleman for bringing this to the floor.

Madam Speaker, I believe that it is always important to know who governs and how we are governed and what document do we yield to in terms of being governed. And I heard my friend from Colorado make the point that Democrats are ensuring that this government is governed.

This morning I was on the floor, and I made the point that I don't stand here as a Democrat or a Republican but as an American, an American that has the responsibility of government. And that means that all of the shenanigans in the other body should be immediately dispensed with.

One point of the Constitution that I always like reading is: We, the people of the United States, in order to create or to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare. This was the very premise that the Founding Fathers--and everyone knows the Constitution missed some elements on those who were slaves, missed elements on women. They missed some elements; they missed some issues. But the premise was that we gather for the general welfare, uniquely grounded in some values of European principles but uniquely American.

Why did we form this government?

So having lived through government shutdowns, let me just, for a very brief moment, capture the horrors of a government shutdown, which is tied to ultimately the CR, but the effort that we, as Democrats, our leader, our Speaker, our leadership, rightly so, were acting not as Democrats but they were acting as leaders of this Nation, protecting those who are most vulnerable.

So the full faith and credit is not something to dismiss. Let me say, over and over again--I know it has been said on this floor--we are paying bills. As I said, if you had the light on for the last 20 days, you have a bill.

So to lift the debt ceiling--and I would like to characterize it some other way--to provide the mechanism to pay your bills. If you had the cable on for the last 20 days, you are paying your bill. So we are simply paying the bill.

The lack of responding to paying bills creates inflation, puts a damper on the view of America as an international destination for businesses. It, in fact, crumbles the economy on the most vulnerable, the hardworking bus driver, union worker, teacher. Because what you have done is, you have not given their dollar substance. That is how they make a living; that is how they pay for their responsibilities of a quality of life.

I always think of the persons who cannot speak for themselves who are doing great work. Teachers are doing great work; paramedics are doing great work; nurses are doing great work. I always think of bus drivers, because I think of school bus drivers. There is a shortage of school bus drivers. They are all doing great work.

So let me say that I came on the floor because I clearly wanted to emphasize the eloquent and important points that you are making, that it is tomfoolery to make political points about the debt ceiling, which is a responsibility that cannot be gotten rid of.

So it would be okay if I said: Well, we would want to say that. When I say that, if you are playing politics, you say we don't want to do that either, meaning those of us who are governing. But it is an obligation of governing and governance, and it is constitutionally vested not only in the language of full faith and credit but in the opening statement of the Constitution. If we don't take care of the general welfare, then who will?

I am grateful, as I close, to say that I support the INVEST Act and one bill, the Build Back America Act. That is how I would proceed on the unifying of those. The reason why I connect that, again, is to make the point that, as I have read line by line of the Build Back--and I am on the Budget Committee, and we sat on a Saturday to bring this bill forward to you-all. And rightly so; we make no complaint about that. But to get this bill here. It is ready. We passed it out of the Budget Committee.

But as I looked at it, I have not deflected the gentleman here, deflected families. But it is a justice for women act. It is finally penetrating where women are in America, in terms of the care economy, in terms of pre-K, in terms of child care, in terms of family responsibilities. It is a bill that gives justice to women.

And so tie it to our responsibilities of governing, to lift the debt ceiling for payment of our bills, and also this book, the Constitution, doing our duty to create this Union that has been created to ensure general tranquility and the general welfare of the American people. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me and his leadership.