Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, if has been 804 days since the angels of debt, led by President Bush and the Republican majority in this House, embarked on the economic plan for our Nation. During that time the national debt has increased by $1,085,680,723,163.

According to the Web site for the Bureau of Public Debt at the U.S. Department of Treasury, yesterday at 4 o'clock, Eastern Daylight Time, the Nation's outstanding debt was $6,726,006,109,521.

Furthermore, in fiscal year 2003, interest on our national debt, or the debt tax, is $277,768,492,816 as of June 30.

Mr. Speaker, it is time for you to schedule a vote on this House floor for a balanced budget amendment to the American Constitution.

Mr. Speaker, if only what the previous speaker said were true. If only he really cared about a balanced budget. There is an amendment that would require Congress to spend no more money than it collects in taxes, and it has been languishing in this House for 1,560 days. Every day that Dennis Hastert has been Speaker, we have not had one opportunity to vote on a balanced budget amendment. It was written by a Republican, a nice guy by the name of Ernie Istook. His own Speaker will not let us vote on it.

But if you guys are as serious as you say you are about a balanced budget, you can walk right over here, you can sign discharge petition number three, and it would force a vote not on my balanced budget amendment, not on Congressman Stenholm's balanced budget amendment but on your colleague Ernest Istook's amendment to balance the budget. Your own guy. Tell your own Speaker you want to vote on your own guy to balance the budget.

Let me remind you why you need to do that. Two years ago, May 9, we passed the President's spending plan. The President's tax cuts passed with almost every Republican vote, passed with a couple of Democratic votes. I voted against it. I did not think it would work. It turns out this time I was right. In just over 2 years under that budget passed by you guys, you have increased the national debt by $1 trillion.

Let us put that in reference. If you went all the way from the Revolutionary War to 1979, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam, built the interstate highway system, built the Golden Gate Bridge, the intercoastal waterway, we borrowed less than $1 trillion. In 25 months, you guys have borrowed $1 trillion.

The Speaker in the chair knows what a $1,000 check looks like. It is what a lot of us write for rent checks up here in Washington. If you wrote that $1,000 rent check a thousand times, you have spent a million. If you wrote a $1 million check a thousand times, you have spent a billion. If you wrote a $1 billion check a thousand times, you have spent a trillion. That is how much money a trillion is.

In just the past 12 months, you have increased the national debt by $544 billion. More importantly, you have stolen $371 billion from the Social Security trust fund. Mr. Speaker, the reason I say stolen is if you take it back and you do not have a plan to repay it, it is stealing. If someone pays on their payroll taxes toward Social Security, they fully expect it to be put in a trust fund just for Social Security and that it is going to be sitting there for when they need it.

That is not the plan, Mr. Speaker. I would encourage you or any of my colleagues to tell me the name of the bank account that the Social Security trust fund is put in. Because you know and I know there is not a dime in it. It is nothing but IOUs, government securities.

You have borrowed $167 billion from Medicare, the same thing. Hard- working Americans pay payroll taxes. On that payroll tax is a line item that

goes to Medicare with the promise that it would be set aside just for their retirement. There is not a penny there.

Military retirement, the Federal employees' retirement, we owe the Federal employees' retirement system, Mr. Speaker, over $500 billion. There are laws that would have prevented you back when you were in your medical practice from dipping into your employees' retirement fund for any reason, good or bad. If you had done so, you would have gone to jail. There is not a penny in the Federal employees' retirement fund. Yet you continue to borrow against it to disguise the true nature of the American debt.

You borrowed $314 billion from foreign investors, and my buddy from Cuba will love this one, because you have borrowed $52.5 billion from Communist China. You have borrowed $122 billion from Japan. We now owe $1.3 trillion to foreign nations and investors, including $122 billion to Communist China. Tell me you are proud of that. Tell me the Republican majority is proud that we owe $122 billion to China and that $50 billion a year of American tax dollars go to pay interest on what we owe just to foreigners like the Communist Chinese. Our children will have to pay back China, Japan, our foreign creditors before they can even get back to paying what we should have paid all along to Social Security, Medicare and the retirement funds. They have to repay our debts before they ever repay theirs.

This is the Republican place in history. You are responsible for more deficit spending this year than in any year in American history. Tell me you are proud of that. You are responsible for the largest increase in the national debt in American history. Tell me you are proud of that.

When the gentleman walks down there and signs the discharge petition for the balanced budget amendment, I will yield to him all night long. Until then, if he does not believe in a balanced budget, do not come down here and tell me, gee, we found $17 billion we were missing. Because the truth is, and you probably do not even know this, you could cancel all of the discretionary spending in the United States budget right now and you still will not balance the budget.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) for participating in this.

We bring this issue to the Nation's attention because I think there is no greater threat to our country's future than our Nation's worsening financial situation.

On March 17, 1994, about 9 years ago, then Member of the House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert), said, ``I will not stand by and watch Congress recklessly squander the future of our children and grandchildren. In light of Congress' exhibited inability to control spending and vote for fiscal responsibility, it is imperative that we have a balanced budget amendment to compel Congress to end its siege on our financial future.'' That quote comes from the Congressional Record of March 17, 1994.

It might be interesting to note that in the 1,650 days that the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) has been Speaker of the House, not only has the deficit gone up, but Members of this body, conservatives like the Conservative Action Team over on the Republican side, the Blue Dogs over on this side, have not been given a single opportunity to vote on a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.

What we have had is a number of opportunities to reduce revenues to our Nation, any number of opportunities to increase spending. All told, the Bush budget that passed on May 9, 2 years ago, caused the largest decrease in Federal revenues in 50 years and the largest increase in spending in 20. I would hope that the American people would pay particular attention to that because we are always told it is those liberals, those guys from Massachusetts who are increasing spending.

I would remind the American public, since 1994 those liberals do not run the House. Guys like the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) do. I also remind the American public, and I am sorry this is so small and I hope the cameraman would work with me on this, but the fact of the matter is, and I hope the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) is forthright in addressing this, since May 9, 2001, the Federal deficit has increased by $1,260,853,144,608. Most of my colleagues probably over the course of their life have written a thousand-dollar check for rent, a house note. If you wrote that check a thousand times more, you spent a million. If you wrote a thousand million-dollar checks, you spent a billion; and if you wrote a thousand billion-dollar checks, you have gotten up to the trillion.

You have increased the Federal debt more in 25 months than in the first 200 years of our country, and yet do you ever hear them say we are proud of running up that big deficit and squandering that much more interest on the national debt? That is why we are here tonight because I know that is not what you told your constituents when you sought this office.

As a matter of fact, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) on May 9, 2001, the day this budget became law said, ``We are going to first put our priorities on top, Social Security, Medicare, education. Then we are going to take care of the normal functions of government, our obligations for roads and bridges and for all departments, national parks, fish and wildlife. Then what we are going to do is pay down the public debt. This, Mr. Speaker, is the first budget that we have been able to pass I believe that actually does pay down the public debt to a zero level which I think is extremely important. Then we get the leftover amount.''

The gentleman did not pay down the debt. It was increased by a trillion dollars. In the course of that time, we now owe the Social Security trust fund $1.4 trillion. There is not a penny in it. This is no lockbox or account number. Ask your Congressman the account number for Social Security. There is nothing but IOUs.

We owe the Medicare trust fund, and this is direct line on people's taxes, $284 billion. There is no lockbox. There is no account. There is nothing but IOUs.

We owe the military retiree system $176 billion; and even more interesting, we owe the Federal employees who contributed to their own retirement fund $600 billion.

Now the President this week is talking about weakening the safeguards in the retirement system in the private sector. Well, heck, maybe he ought to do what Congress did and just steal it all, because there is not a penny in that account.

It gets even more frightening when we think about who we owe that money to. The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston), let us talk about your place in history. Just during those 2 years under the budget of President Bush, which you and your colleagues have passed, I voted against them, we have increased the national debt over $1 trillion. You have increased the debt by $544 billion in the past 12 months. In just over 2 years, you have borrowed $371 billion from Social Security to cover your deficit spending. You have borrowed $167 billion from Medicare, people's payroll taxes, military retirement, Federal employees retirement, that should have been paid into accounts that should have been saved for them. Instead, they have been used to pay for your deficits.

In 2 years you have borrowed $259 billion from foreign investors to pay for your deficits. That includes $50 billion from Communist China. We owe them. And it includes $82 billion to Japan. We now owe $1.25 trillion to foreign nations and their investors, including $119 billion total to the Communist Chinese thanks to your budget deficits. Our children have to pay back China, Japan, foreign creditors; and then they have to pay back Social Security, Medicare, and their retirement funds. They have to repay these debts, and until they repay them, they are going to continue to squander $1 billion a day on interest.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston) used to be for a

balanced budget amendment. What happened? We have one that has been languishing for 1,650 days. We have a discharge petition sitting at the desk that I have begged you and your colleagues to sign so we can have an up-or-down vote on it so the American people can know who is really for a balanced budget.

Because you know what? Because now the gentleman is going to tell me we are at war. Doggone it, we had the Revolutionary War, then the War of 1812, then the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, the Spanish- American War, World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, and in all that time they borrowed less than $1 trillion. In 25 months you guys have borrowed $1 trillion.

So do not tell me it these unique challenges to our times. Americans have always had challenges, but previous Americans always rose to those challenges. Previous Americans like us who were lucky enough to be home when somebody else is fighting a war were at least willing to pay for those wars. That has changed under this administration. This administration says we are going to ask the 21- and 25-year-olds to go fight this war right now, and, by the way, when they get home, we are going to stick them and their kids with the bill.

Tell me that is right. Tell me that is why you really ran for Congress was to bankrupt the country. And under your budget, under your budget the debt will increase to $13 trillion, and interest payments will once again be the largest expenditure of our Nation, spending more money on interest on the national debt than even on national defense. Tell me that is why you came here. Tell me that is what it is all about is to stick your kids and your grandkids with bills you are not willing to pay.

I have asked before how many of the Members would buy a car and tell the dealer they don't care what it costs because their kids are going to pay for it? How many of the Members would buy a house in Savannah or in Florida or any of the States that they come from and say I do not care what it costs, I do not care what the interest payments are, I do not care what the note is because my grandkids are going to pay for it? That is precisely how you are running this Nation. If you will not do that to your kids individually, then collectively let us not do that, and that is why we are asking you tonight to sign the discharge petition for the balanced budget amendment and let us start getting this country back on the path that you promised them you would and I promised them I would. The problem is I cannot do it without your help.

Mr. Speaker, on June 18, 2003, I missed rollcall vote No. 287, an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 8, the Estate Tax Permanency Act offered by my colleague from North Dakota, Mr. Pomeroy.

While H.R. 8 was being considered on the House floor, the House Armed Services Committee, of which I am a member, was receiving

testimony from Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz on commitments of the United States Armed Forces throughout the world. The vote on the Pomeroy substitute was called shortly after I had asked Secretary Wolfowitz a series of questions pertaining to the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and rotation schedules and living arrangements for our troops who are presently serving there.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall vote No. 287, the Pomeroy substitute, and accordingly, I would like to request unanimous consent to enter this statement into the record at the appropriate location.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot begin to say how hypocritical I think it is that a bill that purports to be for tax relief for children would burden our children with $80 billion worth of new debt to solve a $3 billion problem. There is a lot of inconsistency and, of course, there is a much stronger word than that.

On March 17, 1994, I believe it was right there, then-Member Hastert stood on this floor and said clearly, ``Until our monstrous $4.3 trillion Federal debt is eliminated, interest payments will continue to eat away at the important initiatives which the government must fund.

I will not stand by and watch Congress recklessly squander the future of our children and grandchildren.'' That was Speaker Hastert.

The same day he said, ``In light of Congress' exhibited inability to control spending and vote for fiscal responsibility, it is imperative that we have a balanced budget amendment to compel Congress to end its siege on our financial future.''

The Speaker has now been Speaker for 1,622 days and has yet to have scheduled a vote on a balanced budget amendment. But I can tell you what happened in the 2 years and 3 weeks since the passage of the Bush budget spending increases and the Bush budget deficit decreases. We are now $914 billion dollars deeper in debt.

I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, no, under Speaker Hastert's tutelage for the past 2 years, we have added not $914 dollars of debt. In fact, under the rules of the House, I am going to ask my colleagues to step to their right, because we are going to need four more of our colleagues to come forward.

Announcement By The Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Well, you have not recognized me for mine, so I might as well.

Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. Speaker, if an elected Representative of the people of the United States, who represents about 700,000 American citizens, wishes to make his colleagues aware of the growth of the national debt in just 2 years and 2 weeks, without creating----

I am continuing, sir.

And if 16 of his colleagues, also elected, wished to make the Chair aware, in a very orderly manner, and to make our colleagues aware of the growth of the debt in a very orderly manner, I would like you to cite which section of the House rules, which, by the way you waive on a daily basis at your discretion, are being violated?

Mr. Speaker, I wish to continue at this time. How much time do I have remaining, sir?

Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak with deep regret at the continued efforts of the majority to hide from the American people the true nature of the deficit that they have employed; that they have increased more debt in 2 years than in the first 200 years of our Nation. Their answer to that debt is $80 billion of more debt.

I do not think you should dare call yourself fiscal conservatives. I think what you should call yourself are the seeds of destruction for the greatest Nation this world has ever known.

Mr. Speaker, on March 17, 1994, then a Member of the House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) came to the floor and said, ``Clearly, our Nation's monstrous $4.3 trillion Federal deficit, until it is eliminated, interest payments will continue to eat away the important incentives which the government must fund. I will not stand by and watch Congress recklessly squander the future of our children and grandchildren.''

Later in that same day he said, ``In light of Congress' exhibited inability to control spending and vote for real fiscal responsibility, it is imperative that we have a balanced budget amendment to compel Congress to end its siege on our financial future.'' That was on March 17, 1994.

As most of us are aware, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) has been the Speaker now for about 1,613 days. In that 1,613 days, he who controls every single amendment that comes to this House floor, when we start, when we stop, every bill that comes to the floor, he who appoints the members of the Committee on Rules that decide which amendments are germane, those that can be offered, has not allowed a vote on a balanced budget amendment.

We would think there were a couple of things that would come to his mind, since in 1994 he spoke so strongly of the need for a balanced budget. I would like to ask Max, Trevor, Sarah, and Krystle-Joy to come to the floor.

See, in the time that the gentleman from Illinois (Speaker Hastert) has been Speaker, and they can stand in front of me, it is their big moment in the sun, in the 1,613 days the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) has been Speaker, we would think the gentleman who cares that much about the national debt would maybe let the debt go up by, say, $914. But that is not the case.

Now I need Michael, Bryan, and Taylor to join us, because the Speaker has had 1,613 days. I guess I can take 5 minutes.

Now, in the time that the Speaker has been for a balanced budget, he says, we would think the debt might grow by $914,878. That is not the case.

I need Amanda, Mark, and Robin to join us.

Parliamentary Inquiry

Mr. Speaker, that is not a parliamentary inquiry.

Again, Mr. Speaker, in that 1,613 days since the gentleman from Illinois (Speaker Hastert) way back when told us he was for a balanced budget, we would think that the debt would have grown by only 914,878.72, with a couple of commas thrown in, but it is not the case.

I regret to do this, but I have been told by the Chair that I cannot call the pages by their first names, so I am going to have to ask page 11, 12, and 13 to come forward, under the Rules of the House.

Again, since the Speaker told us way back when how adamantly he was for a balanced budget, we would have thought that by now, and since I am losing track with a couple of commas in there, that he would have said, enough, it is time for a balanced budget amendment. Time to let Members at least vote on it. Now, 1,613 days later, it still has not happened.

Now I have to ask pages 14, 15, and 16, and I practiced saying your names, so I apologize. Now, if the camera can get all of this, we can let some Members have some idea, not of the national debt, but of how much the debt has grown in 2 years and 1 week since the passage of the Bush tax cuts and the Bush budget.

The first $2 trillion spending bill passed by this Congress did not come from a Democratic President, it came from a Republican President. The tax cuts, they increased spending, decreased revenues, and this is the difference.

I think it is particularly appropriate that these fine young people from all parts of our country are holding the

sign. The lobbyists who benefited from this and the fat cats who are having big dinners tonight who benefited from this, they are not going to pay this bill. These kids are. These kids and their kids and their kids.

Parliamentary Inquiry

To the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston), if I had voted to stick these children with that bill, I would be as ashamed to look at their faces as the gentleman is.

I did not vote to stick these kids with that bill.

announcement by the speaker pro tempore

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

Mr. Speaker, I know that most Americans are at work right now. Some of you are watching. If you care about your country, you have got to be upset that in almost a little over 2 years almost $1 trillion has been added to the national debt. To make a reference from that, we went all the way from 1775 to 1975 and did not borrow that much money.

The next time one of my Republican colleagues looks you in the eye and tells you he is a fiscal conservative, ask him about that trillion dollars and the $1 billion a day that we will pay in interest on that money and will pay for the rest of my lifetime, your lifetime, and, God bless them, Mr. Speaker, these kids' lifetime.

Mr. Speaker, I missed the legislative business of Monday, June 2, 2003 due to a delay in my flight from Mississippi. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 227, for H. Res. 159: expressing profound sorrow on the occasion of the death of Irma Rangel; ``yea'' on rollcall No. 228, for H. Res. 195: congratulating Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs for hitting 500 major league home runs; and ``yea'' on rollcall No. 229, for H.R. 1465: to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 4832 East Highway 27 in Iron Station, North Carolina, as the ``General Charles Gabriel Post Office.''

Mr. Speaker, the comments from the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas) border on fraud. If more debt would stimulate the economy, then you would think that with the $817 billion of debt that has been added in slightly over 2 years since the passage of the Thomas-Bush tax package and budget, we would have a red- hot economy.

Our friend from Louisiana says that that money we are borrowing goes into the Social Security trust fund. No, I say to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. McCrery), it is stolen from the Social Security trust fund.

Take the lockbox. Please tell these folks in the gallery where the account is. Because there is not one penny in that account. They cannot find it. It is all IOUs.

They are taking money from working people, Social Security taxes, Medicare taxes; and they are using them to give to other folks in tax breaks, and then they are borrowing the rest, $817 billion, to run our Nation. I say to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. McCrery), you obviously do not understand the facts.

Mr. Speaker, this is the theft of the future of America. Those people who claim to be for a balanced budget are running up $817 billion worth of debt in 2 years, stealing it from your Social Security trust fund, stealing it from Medicare; and now they are saying the only answer to this is more debt.

Please vote against this.

Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. Speaker, I want to compliment the gentleman from California. I want to compliment the gentleman from California for having the guts to finally say the rules are rigged against those Members who do not blindly follow the Republican leadership. Every one of us represents about 700,000 people. We do not run for office saying, some of us can speak and some of us can't. Some of us can offer amendments and some of us can't. The Committee on Rules serves to do nothing but keep Members from offering their amendments.

I have got an amendment on base closure. I think every single citizen of this body ought to be recorded as being wanting to close bases or wanting to keep bases open. I have been denied the opportunity to have that vote for 3 years running now.

I have got to ask, who wants to close bases? Do the military retirees who live next to them who want to use the hospital want to close them? No. Do the military retirees who want to use the commissaries want to close them? No. Do the communities that in many instances have paid to bring those bases there like Pascagoula, Mississippi, paid $20 million to help bring home port Pascagoula there, do they want to close them? No.

So maybe who does want to close bases? Mr. Dreier, how about your friend Katrina Leung? I think it is a fair question to ask whether or not someone who is being accused of being a Communist Chinese spy, who has contributed to your campaign, whether or not she wants to close bases.

Why can I not have a vote as a Member of this body on deciding whether or not we are going to close bases? Are we are going to listen to our Nation's military retirees? Are we going to listen to our citizens? Or are we listening to Katrina Leung?

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. In 1993, a group of Congressmen wrote then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher asking permission for an outfit called Hughes-Loral to launch satellites in China allegedly for telecommunications purposes.

The result of that and the mistakes that followed were that the Chinese now have the technology, paid for by the American taxpayer, to put multiple warheads on one rocket and kick them into different trajectories to land on different cities. That was the scandal that came of that.

The pitch then was, nothing can go wrong. As a matter of fact, the letter says: You will find that Hughes satellites are guarded around the clock by U.S. Government and Hughes personnel during their time in China and that the Chinese have no opportunity to touch or even view the embedded MTCR control technology. Therefore, no technology transfer is possible at any time. As the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Dicks) will tell you, they sure as heck got that technology, paid for by the American taxpayer, that now threatens the American taxpayer.

The gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) signed that letter. How many mistakes does the gentleman from California have to make? How much more do we have to put the American people at risk so that one company or two can make a couple of bucks, and then we as the taxpayers have to go back and spend a fortune to undo the harm that has been done?

I yield to the gentleman from California.

It is the exact same argument.

Dear Dad:

My day began when a guy who was taking a thousand-dollar contribution from an alleged Chinese spy decided that I could not offer an amendment to keep American military bases open. Later on this same guy who took a thousand-dollar contribution from an alleged Chinese spy said it was a swell idea to sell supercomputers to the Chinese.

It got more bizarre. The fellows who run this House and the Senate and the White House suddenly said I was the reason that we were spending too much money. Gee, I thought it was their President who submitted the first $2 trillion budget in American history and they passed it. Their President submitted the first $2.1 trillion budget in American history.

But, Dad, it got more bizarre by the hour, because as the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas) told me I did not have good cards, I guess he did not want to see this one. Because 2 years ago, and 2 weeks ago, he told me he could cut taxes and balance the budget.

Mr. Thomas, you got an $817 billion credibility gap. That is as much debt as this Nation incurred in the first 180 years, and you are telling me now the way to prosperity is to stick my kids with more borrowing and more debt. You were wrong then. You are wrong now.

I love you, Dad.

Mr. Chairman, I regret that my Republican colleague, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Bartlett), is not here, so I hope I do not steal his thunder. From the Subcommittee on Projection Forces, we have done a number of things for America's industrial base; but, more importantly, we have done a lot of good things for the men and women who serve our country. It is unconscionable to send them out to sea in old ships, old helicopters, and old planes. So we do take some steps to address those needs with this bill.

I regret that we really do not do enough. We are now down to a fleet of about 300 ships. And at the rate we are going, we are on our way to a fleet of 140 ships. Fleet age used to be about 30 years. We are now down to keeping them for about 20, and we are only putting 7 in the budget. So quick math tells you if you are going to build 7 ships a year, and only keep them for 20 years, you are down to a 140-ship fleet. I hope we can turn that around. We have not had much help from this administration. Quite frankly, we did not have much help from the previous administration. And I do think a navy is important for force projection, so I do think the Congress needs to pay more attention to that.

We authorized three DDG-51s, one LPD-17 advanced funding, two T-AKE ships, one Virginia-class submarine, which will be purchased with multiyear funds. The idea being that things are so expensive, things that take 4 or 5 years to build, we can go ahead and pay for them in four or five installments rather than one. Two SSBN to SSGN conversions. One LHD-8. $35 million for the Littoral Combat Ship, our next generation of small ships to operate in the Littoral zones around the world. One LCAC SLEP Program, Service Life Extension Program.

Additionally, we have authorized the money to replace about 333 Tomahawk missiles that were used up in the course of the most recent war, and about a $40 million increase to the production line so that they can be built quicker than they would have been. One C-17 for airlift, $229 million for aerial refueling, which gives the Pentagon the option to either purchase or lease those planes that we need. Long- range bombers. We add about $100 million for the next generation of the manned bomber, and we will see to it that a number of B-2s will be kept in the inventory that would have been expired.

So, again, we are not doing everything that I think any of us would like to do; and, quite frankly, I very much regret the Committee on Rules not allowing an amendment to be put on the floor so that every Member of this body could vote whether or not we are going to have another round of base closures. I think it is a particularly bad idea and a particularly bad idea when our Nation is at war.

I very much regret that the democratic process will not be given an opportunity to express itself. I hope the Committee on Rules will change their mind between now and tomorrow.

Mr. Speaker, 2 years ago today, my son's 13th birthday, the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas) told us that his tax breaks then would create jobs. It did, 229 of them, but the rest of America lost 2 million jobs. He said it would stimulate growth. It did, $817 billion of new debt that my kids and other kids and those kids coming home from Afghanistan, those kids coming home from Iraq are going to have to pay.

I think it is incredibly important that 2 years to the day that my colleagues have increased the debt by $817 billion, they are saying let us do it again, and when I go home and see my son tonight, I have got to look him in the eye and say, I failed you, I failed you because I let folks think for the present at the expense of the future. I let folks like the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas) and others who promised to be for a balanced budget, who promised to be fiscally responsible, I failed because I did not get them to keep their promise.

I am going to keep my promise and be fiscally responsible. I beg my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I submit the attached report of Time Magazine correspondent Jim Lacey for the Congressional Record.

Time Magazine Reporter Jim Lacey Embedded With 101st Airborne

Since returning from Iraq a short time ago I have been

answering a lot of questions about the war from friends,

family, and strangers. When they ask me how it was over there

I find myself glossing over the fighting, the heat, the

sandstorms, and the flies (these last could have taught the

Iraqi army a thing or two about staying power). Instead, I

talk about the soldiers I met, and how they reflected the

best of America. A lot of people are going to tell the story

of how this war was fought; I would rather say something

about the men who won the war.

War came early for the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne

when an otherwise quiet night in the Kuwaiti desert was

shattered by thunderous close-quarters grenade blasts. Sgt.

Hasan Akbar, a U.S. soldier, had thrown grenades into an

officers' tent, killing two and wounding a dozen others.

Adding to the immediate confusion was the piercing scream of

SCUD alarms, which kicked in the second Akbar's grenade

exploded. For a moment, it was a scene of near panic and

total chaos.

Just minutes after the explosions, a perimeter was

established around the area of the attack, medics were

treating the wounded, and calls for evacuation vehicles and

helicopters were already being sent out. Remarkably, the very

people who should have been organizing all of this were the

ones lying on the stretchers, seriously wounded. It fell to

junior officers and untested sergeants to take charge and

lead. Without hesitation everyone stepped up and

unfalteringly did just that. I stood in amazement as two

captains (Townlee Hendrick and Tony Jones) directed the

evacuation of the wounded, established a hasty defense, and

helped to organize a search for the culprit. They did all

this despite bleeding heavily from their wounds. For over six

hours, these two men ran things while refusing to be

evacuated until they were sure all of the men in their

command were safe.

Two days later Capt. Jones left the hospital and hitchhiked

back to the unit: He had heard a rumor that it was about to

move into Iraq and he wanted to be there. As Jones--dressed

only in boots, a hospital gown, and a flak vest--limped

toward headquarters, Col. Hodges, the 1st Brigade's

commander, announced, ``I see that Captain Jones has returned

to us in full martial splendor.'' The colonel later said that

he was tempted to send Jones to the unit surgeon for further

evaluation, but that he didn't feel he had the right to tell

another man not to fight: Hodges himself had elected to leave

two grenade fragments in his arm so that he could return to

his command as quickly as possible.

The war had not even begun and already I was aware that I

had fallen in with a special breed of men. Over the next four

weeks, nothing I saw would alter this impression. A military

historian once told me that soldiers could forgive their

officers any fault save cowardice. After the grenade attack I

knew these men were not cowards, but I had yet to learn that

the brigade's leaders had made a cult of bravery. A few

examples will suffice.

While out on what he called ``battlefield circulation,''

Col. Hodges was surveying suspected enemy positions with one

of his battalion commanders (Lt. Col. Chris Hughes) when a

soldier yelled ``Incoming'' to alert everyone that mortar

shells were headed our way. A few soldiers moved closer to a

wall, but Hodges and Hughes never budged and only briefly

glanced up when the rounds hit a few hundred yards away. As

Hodges completed his review and prepared to leave, another

young soldier asked him when they would get to kill whoever

was firing the mortar. Hodges smiled and said, ``Don't be in

a hurry to kill him. They might replace that guy with someone

who can shoot.''

The next day, a convoy Col. Hodges was traveling in was

ambushed by several Iraqi

paramilitary soldiers. A ferocious firelight ensued, but

Hodges never left the side of his vehicle. Puffing on a cigar

as he directed the action, Hodges remained constantly exposed

to fire. When two Kiowa helicopters swooped in to pulverize

the enemy strongpoint with rocket fire, he turned to some

journalists watching the action and quipped, ``That's your

tax dollars at work.''

Bravery inspires men, but brains and quick thinking win

wars. In one particularly tense moment a company of U.S.

soldiers was preparing to guard the Mosque of Ali--one of the

most sacred Muslim sites--when agitators in what had been a

friendly crowd started shouting that they were going to storm

the mosque. In an instant, the Iraqis began to chant and a

riot seemed imminent. A couple of nervous soldiers slid their

weapons into fire mode, and I thought we were only moments

away from a slaughter. These soldiers had just fought an all-

night battle. They were exhausted, tense, and prepared to

crush any riot with violence of their own. But they were also

professionals, and so, when their battalion commander, Chris

Hughes, ordered them to take a knee, point their weapons to

the ground, and start smiling, that is exactly what they did.

Calm returned. By placing his men in the most non-threatening

posture possible, Hughes had sapped the crowd of its

aggression. Quick thinking and iron discipline had reversed

an ugly situation and averted disaster.

Since then, I have often wondered how we created an army of

men who could fight with ruthless savagery all night and then

respond so easily to an order to ``smile'' while under

impending threat. Historian Stephen Ambrose said of the

American soldier: ``When soldiers from any other army, even

our allies, entered a town, the people hid in the cellars.

When Americans came in, even into German towns, it meant

smiles, chocolate bars and C-rations.'' Ours has always been

an army like no other, because our soldiers reflect a society

unlike any other. They are pitiless when confronted by armed

enemy fighters and yet full of compassion for civilians and

even defeated enemies.

American soldiers immediately began saving Iraqi lives at

the conclusion of any fight. Medics later said that the Iraqi

wounded they treated were astounded by our compassion. They

expected they would be left to suffer or die. I witnessed

Iraqi paramilitary troops using women and children as human

shields, turning grade schools into fortresses, and defiling

their own holy sites. Time and again, I saw Americans taking

unnecessary risks to clear buildings without firing or using

grenades, because it might injure civilians. I stood in awe

as 19-year-olds refused to return enemy fire because it was

coming from a mosque.

It was American soldiers who handed over food to hungry

Iraqis, who gave their own medical supplies to Iraqi doctors,

and who brought water to the thirsty. It was American

soldiers who went door-to-door in a slum because a girl was

rumored to have been injured in the fighting; when they found

her, they called in a helicopter to take her to an Army

hospital. It was American soldiers who wept when a three-

year-old was carried out of the rubble where she had been

killed by Iraqi mortar fire. It was American soldiers who

cleaned up houses they had been fighting over and later

occupied--they wanted the places to look at least somewhat

tidy when the residents returned.

It was these same soldiers who stormed to Baghdad in only a

couple of weeks, accepted the surrender of three Iraqi Army

divisions, massacred any Republican Guard unit that stood and

fought, and disposed of a dictator and a regime with ruthless

efficiency. There is no other army--and there are no other

soldiers--in the world capable of such merciless fighting and

possessed of such compassion for their fellow man. No society

except America could have produced them.

Before I end this I want to point out one other quality of

the American soldier: His sense of justice. After a grueling

fight, a company of infantrymen was resting and opening their

first mail delivery of the war. One of the young soldiers had

received a care package and was sharing the home-baked

cookies with his friends. A photographer with a heavy French

accent asked if he could have one. The soldier looked him

over and said there would be no cookies for Frenchmen. The

photographer then protested that he was half Italian. Without

missing a beat, the soldier broke a cookie in half and gave

it to him. It was a perfect moment and a perfect reflection

of the American soldier.

Mr. Speaker, since you are on the floor, do you think it is a coincidence that no one is in the press gallery when you bring this bill up? Because I do not.

Those of you of my Republican friends, and I do consider you my friends, who ran on the basis of a balanced budget, if you vote for this budget, you lied.

Two years ago you came to the floor and said there was a surplus. We owed the Social Security trust fund over $1 trillion at that time. We owed our own Federal Government employees' retirement system over $500 billion at that time. We owed the Medicare trust fund over $200 billion at that time. And with a perfectly straight face you looked the American people in the eye and you talked about surpluses as far as the eye could see, and it was all a lie. I regret that I did not say it sooner.

So tonight I am going to give you one last chance to do the right thing. The guy sitting over there, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert), when he was just a Member he used to come to the floor and wax eloquently on the need for a balanced budget amendment. You have been Speaker now for 1,550 days, plus or minus; and yet you have never scheduled a vote on a balanced budget amendment, because you know it gets in the way of your tax cuts.

We are voting tonight to add another $800 billion, that is a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times a thousand times 800, in new debt in just 1 year, because you know your budget plan does not work.

So for just once, be honest with the American people. Quit lying to them, because you are lying to my kids; and I cannot tell you how mad that makes me. It is okay to lie to me, but do not lie to my kids. Do not lie to those kids in Bethesda tonight at Walter Reed; do not bring them cookies tomorrow and tell them how much you love them and you respect what they have done for our country, and then stick them with $800 billion worth of new debt in 1 year. Because you begged for the privilege of running this country, but you do not want to pay the bills of running this country. You ought to be ashamed. I want to tell you, I am ashamed of you.