Providing for consideration of the joint resolution (S.J. Res. 33) joint resolution relating to increasing the debt limit.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Morelle for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this rule provides for consideration of S.J. Res. 33, a bill to raise the debt ceiling by $2.5 trillion.

The Federal debt limit began over 100 years ago, in 1917, and it has been required to be raised 100 times since then.

The problem isn't whether we should increase our debt limit; it is that we have to issue debt at all. Debts are issued to cover the difference between what you make and what you spend. When you spend more than you make, you have to find a way to pay for the spending.

We are in the middle of a spending spree. For the last 11 months, well over $1 trillion in taxpayer money was spent largely on partisan priorities, and more likely coming if the Democrats manage to get a final agreement on the Build Back Better Act or perhaps what more aptly might be described as a socialist spending scam.

On December 10, the Congressional Budget Office published an estimate of the Build Back Better Act, confirming the bill's true cost to be almost $5 trillion, $4.9 trillion, while adding $3 trillion in new debt.

Democrats claim the bill is paid for, but that is simply not true. Now, it is confirmed by independent analysis. Instead of zero dollars, the bill will create a carve-out for deducting State and local taxes that will add almost $250 billion to the deficit.

It will protect so-called green companies from a new minimum tax and provide $12,500 tax credits for purchasing an electric vehicle so long as that vehicle is made using union labor.

The bill will also provide billions in benefits to the wealthy through the expanded child tax credit that will add over $1.5 trillion to the deficit if this policy is made permanent, and that is, of course, what is being pushed for in the Build Back Better Act.

Additionally, the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that the Democrats just ushered into law requires a $118 billion transfer from Treasury to the highway trust fund, which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has stated will occur tomorrow, December 15.

Republicans will not support raising the debt limit while Democrats push through trillions of dollars for purely partisan political spending, thereby depleting our Treasury not just for today but for generations to come.

Unfortunately, all this spending will only exacerbate the very high rate of inflation, inflation which has been crippling so many Americans and causing so much suffering in the last 11 months.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in November, the Consumer Price Index rose by 0.8 percent, but 6.8 percent over the last 12 months. The most significant increase was in the energy sector, while prices went up for gas, food, shelter, and vehicles, among other things.

Here is the real bad news: We have only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to inflation. Likely, the inflation rates by March are going to be absolutely astonishing. And that is what happens when you push so many dollars out into an economy that has no way to absorb them.

Sure, 2 years ago we all voted for the CARES Act, a trillion dollars to rescue the country from the coronavirus. And then there was additional coronavirus relief passed in December. And then almost immediately another coronavirus bill in February, and then the transportation bill in September, and now the Build Back Better Act.

The economy simply cannot absorb those dollars that the Federal Government is pushing out. They have got no place to go except to create more and more inflation. And who does inflation hurt? It hurts those people at the lower end of the income scale.

Despite repeated encouragement from the Committee on the Budget Ranking Member Jason Smith and Senator McConnell, Democrats have refused to raise the debt ceiling through reconciliation, which of course is their right to do. They have majorities in both the House and the Senate.

They have had ample time to do this, but they simply would not act. So, instead, a temporary extension that would only last a couple of months happened earlier this year. And now, once again, in the middle of the night,

we are having to vote on a bill to increase the national debt in order to pay for Democrats' social spending and infrastructure policies.

Democrats claim that raising the debt limit has always been bipartisan. But, you know, here is just a little bit of history: In 1993, the Democrats used reconciliation to raise the debt limit with a party-line vote in the omnibus budget reconciliation bill.

In 2010, the Democrats again raised the debt limit by $1.9 trillion with a purely party-line vote. Republicans voted in opposition out of concern for the then-Obama administration's amount of spending that was occurring. A New York Times article reporting on the vote said, ``They wanted to raise the ceiling enough to avoid putting their Members through another such vote before the midterm elections.''

Do you kind of get the sense that history is repeating itself tonight?

Financial success and financial longevity begins years before it is realized. We certainly cannot be reckless and feckless with the Nation's future now. Under no argument is this plan fiscally responsible. Under no fantasy is the Build Back Better Act paid for.

We have to remember to be beneficial to the American people, we have to be demonstrative of representative government. We should not be raising the debt limit to allow for continuation of partisan social spending.

Mr. Speaker, I urge opposition to the rule, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, Republicans will amend the rule to immediately consider an amendment to the Democrats' fiscal year 2022 budget resolution to replace the socialist $5 trillion tax-and-spend reconciliation instructions with new instructions for authorizing committees to produce legislation to reduce the deficit to combat runaway inflation currently fueling the highest price spike in 40 years and to get Americans back to work.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of this amendment into the Record, along with extraneous material, immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith), the ranking member of the Budget Committee, to explain the amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 2 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Fallon).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, just before I close, I do want to take a moment and acknowledge that it was 1 year ago last night that the FedEx trucks departed from Kalamazoo, Michigan, carrying the very first doses of what we now know as the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

And when you stop and reflect upon what was accomplished between the middle of May and the middle of December of 2020, it truly was a startling scientific accomplishment; not one, not two, but three vaccines.

We told ourselves at the beginning of the Operation Warp Speed process that if we got 40 to 45 percent effectiveness, it would be a victory, and those vaccines delivered in excess of 90 percent. People might quibble and say, well, you have to get a booster or you have to get an additional shot. We are so fortunate to have those tools to be able to combat this illness.

We are by no means through, but then even just last week the additional news that now an oral medication, the so-called Tamiflu for coronavirus, is now available, which I submit is going to change with the application of additional therapeutics, is really going to change the equation, and I just wanted to take a minute and reflect on that.

We are, again, just one day past the 1-year anniversary of Kalamazoo, Michigan, delivering that vaccine to the world.

Otherwise in closing to this argument, raising the debt ceiling to $2.5 trillion does seem a tad irresponsible in the middle of unprecedented spending by House Democrats. You have got control of the White House, you have got control of the Senate, you have got control of the House, and you haven't passed a single appropriations bill.

How are we supposed to run our business if we will not do our normal work and pass a budget and pass the 12 appropriations bills?

The Federal Government is currently operating under the second continuing resolution of this fiscal year. One-third of Federal spending is done through discretionary appropriations. When you stop to think about it, that is really not much. That means two-thirds comes through on autopilot. But the amount that we actually tell ourselves we are going to control, the one-third of the Federal budget, we haven't done our work.

Now, we are talking about raising the debt limit to pay for trillions of dollars in spending, and the Democrats won't even fund the basic functions of government through regular appropriations. That actually comes at a cost. It is very difficult to get a phone call answered by a Federal agency, by the head of a Federal agency, by a Cabinet Secretary because we no longer make the appropriations.

These folks are relatively new on the job, within the last year. They have no history of knowing that they have to come to Congress to get their appropriations bills passed. So as a consequence, they basically ignore the Congress.

Democrats are desperate to push through as much social spending as they can because the balance of power, quite likely, is getting ready to change. Why else would they be so reckless in such a short amount of time with Americans' hard-earned taxpayer dollars? We cannot push inflation higher by raising the debt limit to allow for trillions in additional partisan spending.

Mr. Speaker, here is the real problem that is going to lead to that balance of power shift. It is inflation that is at levels that have not been seen since the Carter administration.

Again, my prediction is, over the next 6 months, this is going to become a great deal worse. It will be unsustainable for most American families who live paycheck to paycheck. Then on top of that, it is a spending level that is driving that inflation level. And we are doing nothing, nothing to put the brakes on that.

Mr. Speaker, again, I urge a ``no'' vote on the previous question so we can get to the talk for fiscal sanity and ``no'' on the underlying measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 852 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman

from Texas (Mr. Burgess), my distinguished colleague from the Rules Committee, pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, today, the Rules Committee met and reported a rule, House Resolution 852, providing for consideration of S.J. Res. 33, a joint resolution relating to increasing the debt limit, under a closed rule. The rule provides for 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the Committee on Ways and Means, or their designees, and provides one motion to commit.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to adopt the rule and support lifting the Nation's debt ceiling.

Failing to lift the debt ceiling and defaulting on our debt is not an option. If we do not act, a default could result in the loss of millions of jobs and $15 trillion in household wealth, according to nonpartisan Moody's Analytics economist Mark Zandi. Mr. Zandi has characterized a default as ``financial Armageddon,'' and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has gone even further, stating that a default ``could cause an immediate, literally cascading catastrophe of unbelievable proportions and damage America for 100 years.''

Earlier this year, a bipartisan group of former Treasury Secretaries wrote to Congress arguing that protecting U.S. creditworthiness is a ``sacrosanct responsibility.'' I couldn't agree more.

Let's be clear about what we are talking about here today. The debt limit is the total amount of money that the United States Government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, payments to veterans and servicemembers, and tax refunds. The debt limit does not authorize any new spending; it simply allows the government to pay its bills for obligations it has already incurred.

Mr. Speaker, much of this debt was accrued on a bipartisan basis. It includes emergency measures to combat the pandemic and increase defense spending. While many on the other side of the aisle have tried to tie raising the debt ceiling to our efforts to pass the President's agenda, it should be noted that 97 percent of the total national debt accrued before President Biden even took office.

Since 1960, Congress has acted 78 times to address the debt limit, 49 times under Republican Presidents and 29 times under Democratic Presidents. In the last 10 years, the debt limit has been addressed seven times on a bipartisan basis, including three times under the last administration, during which, I would like to remind my Republican colleagues, $7.8 trillion of the total national debt was incurred.

Arguments about raising the debt ceiling have become nonsensical. In the current discourse, both sides of the aisle have agreed to spend Federal dollars on important programs, but only one side of the aisle believes that we should actually fulfill our obligations to pay our creditors for those very same programs.

Mr. Speaker, if we choose not to honor our obligations to creditors, what message does that send to the American people and, frankly, the rest of the world? Everyday Americans pay their bills and honor their commitments. Why shouldn't we do the same?

Mr. Speaker, it is frankly outrageous to hold the position that we shouldn't be held to the same standard as families who work hard to find a way to pay their bills every day.

I urge my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying legislation to raise our Nation's debt ceiling, ensuring that America can continue to pay its bills and honor its obligations.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Those who know me know I am not a very sophisticated guy, and they also know I am not a financial wizard; but I will tell you this: I would love to have a philosophical debate, maybe sit down, have a cup of coffee with the distinguished gentleman from Texas, and we might even find some common ground about what our practices ought to be relative to spending and taxing and all those things.

But to be clear, none of what Dr. Burgess just talked about has anything to do with what we are doing here today. Ninety-seven percent of the debt that we have incurred as a Nation happened before Joe Biden took office.

As for Build Back Better, which many on our side of the aisle are working to try to enact, that is something that is prospective. We are talking tonight about paying the bills of things that we have already agreed to pay for. It has absolutely nothing to do with it.

I appreciate the distinguished gentleman because he is trying to bring into this debate many things which have no relevance here, apparently to make a better case, but the truth is we have a decision before us that is a serious one. It not only affects the creditworthiness of the United States, but it affects global markets. This would be, as I indicated earlier, catastrophic. This is Armageddon if it doesn't happen.

Just to note, in 2016, prior to the election of the previous administration, the national debt was $19.5 trillion or 105 percent of GDP. In 2020, when the administration's time had run its course, the debt had risen to $27.7 trillion or 129 percent of GDP, a $7.8 trillion increase. Included in that was a $1.9 trillion tax cut, which hasn't paid for itself, which has added dramatically to the debt. But the debt has been accumulated during decades of real need by the American public.

So we could have a conversation; and, frankly, the discussion about spending takes place in the Appropriations Committee, it takes place in the Budget Committee, taxation takes place in the Ways and Means Committee. What we are doing now is making a decision to pay our bills. Fundamentally, bottom line. It doesn't require a whole lot of sophistication or talk about financial markets. It is clearly a simple question, are we going to pay for the things that we have agreed to buy, and that is it. It is as simple as can be.

Every household in America makes those decisions. You get something, you get a bill in the mail, you pay for it. Even if you have buyer's remorse, even if your wife says to you that fine exercise thing that you bought, which is going to be the most expensive coat hanger in the house because you are not going to use it, we still pay for it because it is in the house, and we bought it. That is as simple as it can possibly be.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I appreciate Mr. Smith's enthusiasm and exuberance. The arguments that folks would make that House Democrats are responsible for the spending of the Trump administration and the Trump White House, that argument is, frankly, absurd and happened during a global pandemic, so we had much work to do to spare the American public.

But I am going to do this: Moved by the spirit of the season, I am going bestow a gift on Members, and I am not going to rebut point by point but rather reserve the balance of my time and allow my colleague to speak.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I wonder, when the gentleman finished his home's renovations if he paid the contractor or refused to pay because he might be tempted to do renovations in the future.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

First, let me echo Dr. Burgess' comments about the vaccine. I want to encourage every American to get that vaccine. We still have far too many people who have chosen not to get the vaccine and the third dose, for those who are eligible, under the messenger RNA, to do a third shot. But we encourage every single American to do it, and I want to make sure to repeat that. I join with my colleague in thanking those who made that possible.

Mr. Speaker, I also thank all of my colleagues for their work in support of the rule before us today. As I mentioned earlier, protecting U.S. creditworthiness is a sacred responsibility, and it would be an abdication of that

sacred responsibility to fail to address the debt limit and ensure that the United States Government pays its bills.

We have heard a lot of rhetoric today, but we all know that the measure before us today is not about new spending. No matter how many times it is said, it is not about new spending.

We are acting today to ensure that America can pay its obligations that we have already agreed to incur. Pretending otherwise is a disservice to the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the rule and the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

In 2018, Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi, Leader Hoyer, Whip Clyburn, and 116 other House Democrats voted to default on the debt, shut down the government, and refuse disaster relief to devastated communities across America like mine.

One even said, Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House; responsibility to govern rests squarely on their shoulders.

Well, right now the Democrats control the House, the Senate, and the White House. Responsibility rests squarely on their shoulders.

Make no mistake, Democrats have known this day has been coming for 2 years and did absolutely nothing. They passed no budget, passed no appropriations bills, and they didn't spend a moment in bipartisan outreach to address the debt ceiling.

I agree, Congress should not play political games with the debt ceiling, but neither should it ignore the future financial crisis at risk of accelerating if President Biden and congressional Democrats pass their nearly $5 trillion socialist welfare plan.

Despite its desperate bid to shift blame for this debt ceiling crisis Democrats themselves created, increasing America's national debt is necessary to make room in the so-called Build Back Better bill for trillions of wasteful spending and special interest handouts for the wealthy and big business.

Make no mistake, the debt ceiling is not merely about paying for past spending, it is about making room for new wasteful spending, trillions that will pour more fuel on the inflation fire that marks Joe Biden's Presidency, the highest rate in decades, that has robbed families of their real wage gains from the past 3 years.

Although the President and Democrats in Congress continue to deny that inflation is real, this is now a crisis for families, and especially seniors on fixed incomes. Their claims that this costs zero has been debunked by the independent Congressional Budget Office and multiple organizations, and fact-checked as false and misleading by The Washington Post.

And Democrats' insistence that future permanence will be paid for begs the question they refuse to answer. How? Everyone knows there are only two ways to raise trillions of dollars more: Tax middle-class families or rob from entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid.

The truth is, the Democrats need this debt ceiling to fund special interests, give tax subsidies for luxury electric vehicles, and tax windfalls to millionaires, while the middle class gets nothing, or even a tax hike.

They need this debt ceiling to give tax breaks to trial lawyers, local media corporations, and pay 1.5 million workers more to stay home than go back to work.

Democrats need a quarter of a trillion dollars to lift the SALT cap so that two out of three millionaires will get a huge tax break.

Meanwhile, for working families, inflation grows worse. Main Street businesses continue to struggle hard to find workers, and many parents will pay over $1,000 a month more for childcare under Build Back Better.

These are President Biden's priorities. Congressional Democrats, these are their priorities. The question to America is, are these your priorities? The answer is no, which is why so many Americans overwhelmingly question the competence of President Biden and Democrats to lead this country.

I urge a strong ``no'' vote on this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Davidson).

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Palmer).

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

Madam Speaker, sort of a gentle reminder, 2018 Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, Leader Hoyer, Whip Clyburn, and 116 other Democrats voted to default on America's debt to shut down our government at the same time and refused disaster relief to devastated communities across America, including in Texas. And as they said, Republicans controlled the House, the Senate, and the White House, and the responsibility to govern rests squarely on their shoulders.

And another gentle reminder to the American public, our Democratic friends have known this day has been coming for 2 years. This is a crisis that they created. Didn't bother to pass a budget, didn't do their appropriations bill, no bipartisan outreach. Waited again and again for this cliff and created this crisis. It has been frustrating to watch this go on.

And, too, I know middle-class Americans, one out of every three, will see a tax hike in the Build Back Better bill, but two out of three millionaires get a huge tax cut. A quarter of a trillion dollars of this debt ceiling, a quarter of a trillion dollars of this increase will go to millionaires and billionaires and other wealthy Americans.

Not to mention the heat your home tax on middle-class families, the toddler tax on middle-class families, the made in America tax on our Main Street businesses. What is now clear is that President Biden is a pay-cut President. Even as most Americans work hard to get ahead in their careers and their workplaces, they are now falling behind every month of this Presidency.

They have lost 3 years' worth of real wage growth, went backward in getting ahead. And just since spring, Americans are losing an average of $377 a month in real purchasing power.

Who is the party for the middle class and working families? Not Democrats, who are robbing--inflation--from their paychecks. Adding another $5 trillion to the inflation fire will only cause prices to continue to grow faster than paychecks.

The middle class is on the hook for Democrats' handouts to the highest earners, including their government checks to the top 1 percent and the biggest corporations, lavish subsidies for luxury electric vehicles, and tax cuts for the wealthiest.

Over half of families with two kids who pay for childcare will be forced to pay a $27,000 toddler tax each year under the Democrats' Washington takeover of childcare. All this hurts American workers and their families, the poor, and the seniors.

We ought to stop this economic strain. We ought to stop this economic suppression. We ought to stop this attack on middle-class and working families. We ought to make progrowth tax reform permanent. It lifted millions of Americans out of poverty, brought jobs back from overseas, and, for the first time, started to shrink income inequality.

Madam Speaker, you may remember, in 2019, families in America, their household income grew more in 1 year under President Trump and the Republicans than in all 8 years of President Obama and Biden combined.

We believe there is a smarter way to help American working families, but I know this: Democrats are wrong to fight for $5 trillion of social spending that will send jobs overseas, limit choice in childcare, worsen healthcare, and lower paychecks by flaming inflation longer and making the worker shortage worse.

Madam Speaker, we can't afford this pay-cut Presidency. I once again urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, as a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary, on Homeland Security, and on the Budget, I rise in support of S.J. Res. 33--Joint resolution relating to increasing the debt limit, a measure raising the national debt limit by $2.5 trillion, which is imperative to avoid a wasteful, irresponsible, reckless threatening of the nation's singular indispensable asset: the full faith and credit of the United States.

Madam Speaker, preserving the full faith and credit of the United States by raising to the debt limit to ensure that America pays the bills for past expenditures when they come due is not a partisan exercise but an act of patriotism, a recognition and embrace of the solemn obligation to preserve the unrivaled advantages that flow from the ability provided in the Article I, Section 8, clause 2 of the Constitution to ``borrow money on the credit of the United States.''

Long ago, in 1789, Alexander Hamilton, the nation's first and greatest Treasury Secretary, understood that the path to American prosperity and greatness lay in its creditworthiness which provided the affordable access to capital needed to fund internal improvements and economic growth.

It is because of the existence and wise use of the Borrowing Power that the nation was able to expand its reaches, resources, and riches by financing the Louisiana Purchase, the purchase of Alaska from Russia, to fund the investments to end the Great Depression, to finance the mobilization of resources needed in World War II to defeat fascism and save freedom in the nation and the world, to revive the economy after the catastrophic Great Recession of 2008, and most recently, to protect the public health and safety and restore the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is why the ability to borrow money on the credit of the United States to finance its growth and protect its people and interests is essential to the national security and led Hamilton to proclaim that ``the proper funding of the present debt, will render it a national blessing.''

But to maintain this blessing, or to ``render public credit immortal,'' Hamilton understood that it was necessary that: ``the creation of debt should always be accompanied with the means of extinguishment.''

In other words, to retain and enjoy the prosperity that flows from good credit, it is necessary for a nation to pay its bills.

The United States has never defaulted on the payment of any debt incurred, and because of the size and strength of its economic and unmatched creditworthiness, is able to borrow on the lowest and most favorable terms of any nation or entity in the history of the world.

So secure and reliable is a bond issues by the Department of Treasury that the United States is the preferred haven for investments of foreign governments, corporations, and sovereign wealth funds.

The interest rate charged the federal government of the United States is the base for which every rate, from the prime rate charged the richest corporation to rates charged small business on purchases to the mortgages rates and students loans taken out by consumers.

If you raise the cost of borrowing for the government of the United States, you set off a chain reaction of increased interest rates for every other borrower in the United States and around the world.

This is why leading public finance experts and agencies, like Moody's Chief Economist Mark Zandi, have said it would be ``cataclysmic'' for the United States to default on its loan obligations.

Republicans know the debt ceiling needs to be raised; in 2019 during the Trump Administration, the Republican Senate Majority Leader marshalled Senate Republicans to vote to raise the debt ceiling, saying: ``We raised the debt ceiling because America can't default[,] that would be a disaster.''

Madam Speaker, this debate over extending the debt limit is not about restraining future spending, it is about paying the bills piled up already under both Republican and Democratic administrations.

The question of raising the national debt limit does not depend on how one feels about the Build Back Better agenda, as wildly popular as it is among all Americans, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans included.

It is instead about preserving the singular asset of the United States, its enviable and unrivaled creditworthiness, to finance future investments beneficial to the national interest, like the provision of free college for two years, or $2 billion investment to reduce violence in communities approved by the Committee on the Judiciary, or investments to preserve and strengthen Medicaid expansion programs, or extend broadband to underserved rural and urban areas, an action that will be as life-changing as the rural electrification program was in the 1930s.

Madam Speaker, if our friends across the aisle really want to shrink the deficit, reduce the national debt, practice fiscal responsibility, and bring about sustained economic growth and prosperity, there is a much better, easier, and more certain way to achieve these goals than by tampering with the U.S. Constitution.

The easier and better way is for the American people to keep a Democrat in the White House and place Democratic majorities in the House and Senate.

In the 1990s under the leadership of President Clinton the budget was balanced for four consecutive years, the national debt was paid down, the national debt, 23 million new jobs were created, and projected surpluses exceeded $5 trillion.

Under President Obama the financial crisis and economic meltdown inherited from his Republican predecessor was ended, the annual deficit was reduced by 67 percent, the auto industry was saved from collapse, and 15 million jobs were created.

In contrast, under every Republican administration since President Reagan the size of the deficit bequeathed to his successor was substantially larger than the deficit he inherited, a major economic recession occurred, and economic growth was lower than it was at the beginning of his administration.

To preserve the sanctity of the full faith and credit of the United States, protect American jobs and businesses of all sizes, and ensure the continued growth of the economy, I support and urge all Members to join me in voting for S.J. Res. 33--Joint resolution relating to increasing the debt limit.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 852, I call up the joint resolution (S.J. Res. 33) joint resolution relating to increasing the debt limit, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on Senate Joint Resolution 33.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased that today the House will take action to protect our Nation's full faith and credit. S.J. Res. 33 will ensure that the United States continues to be a nation that pays its bills, period.

Without today's action, for the first time in our history, the United States Government could default on its debt obligations because of the debt limit, and this would be ruinous for U.S. workers and their families.

It would trigger a financial crisis on par with that of 2008, resulting in catastrophic economic damage with millions of jobs lost, businesses shuttered, and a banking system in chaos.

At a time when our recovery is strong but uncertain, we risk the loss of six million jobs, an unemployment rate of nearly 9 percent, the elimination of $15 trillion in household wealth, and a decline in real GDP of 4 percent.

Nonpartisan Moody's Analytics economist Mark Zandi predicted that following a default, a global market panic on the scale of the 2008 financial crisis would ensue.

J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon predicted that such a default could ``cause an immediate, literally cascading catastrophe of unbelievable proportions and damage America for 100 years.''

If the United States were to default, it would likely prompt a lasting downgrade of the country's credit that would drastically increase costs for mortgages, car loans, student loans, credit card bills, and other borrowing. This would threaten the livelihoods of the very people we are here to represent.

I want to be very clear. Raising the debt ceiling is not about incurring new debts. We are simply ensuring the Federal Government keeps its existing commitments, that it pays the bills we have already racked up.

By raising the debt limit, we are meeting our existing obligations to members of the military, veterans, and recipients of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

In fact, 97 percent of the debts currently necessitating an increase were accrued prior to the Biden administration, many of which were passed with bipartisan support. This includes emergency pandemic relief measures, increased defense spending, and continued government operations.

Madam Speaker, the time to act is now. Treasury Secretary Yellen has issued a dire warning: Without congressional action by tomorrow, the government will be left with insufficient funds to finance government operations.

Over 50 million seniors could stop receiving Social Security checks for a time. Troops would go unpaid. Millions of families who rely on the monthly child tax credit could see delays. Our current economic recovery would reverse into recession, with billions of dollars of growth and millions of jobs lost.

As the 2011 debt ceiling crisis shows, even narrowly avoiding a default costs

the country billions of dollars. While raising the debt ceiling does not, on its own, create new debts for the United States Government, a failure to do so certainly would.

Congress has addressed the debt limit 79 times since 1960 to prevent default; 30 times with a Democrat in the White House, 49 times under a Republican President. In fact, under President Trump, Congress took action to address the debt limit three times and did so without drama. Today's action should be no different.

I urge my colleagues to support this measure to lift the debt ceiling, continue paying our bills, and ensure our continued economic recovery.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, very briefly, it seems my Republican friends would like to make this debate about the bipartisan infrastructure bill and about the Build Back Better bill despite the fact that these were wildly popular with the American people. Listening to my Republican friends, it sounds like we are in a desperate country instead of one that has created 6 million jobs so far this year, an all-time record that has 6 percent GDP growth expected this year. Our unemployment rate is 4.2 percent. It has recovered faster than any time in American history.

We are about to fund daycare for American working families, bring 3- and 4-year-olds to school. The child tax credit will be extended.

Our infrastructure bills are going to build more roads and highways, electric grid, broadband, fix the lead pipes.

All this is in two bills that are paid for--that are paid for--every penny. When people suggest that the benefits may be extended, we have also promised to pay for them if that, in fact, happens.

You complain that we haven't done the appropriations bill. This House did the appropriations bill. But in the Senate, which requires 60 votes, the appropriations bill didn't happen over there.

Madam Speaker, this is not about two very good bills, two paid-for bills that don't increase the deficit, that don't add to inflation. It is about the simple fact that we need to pay our bills.

It is a simple bill. This vote should be simple.

During the Trump administration, the Republicans added $7.9 trillion--50 percent--to the national debt. Their Tax Cuts and Jobs Act alone added $1.9 trillion. We have to pay for that. That is what we are paying for tonight.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues, Democrat and Republican, to vote for this good Senate joint resolution to lift the debt ceiling.

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