Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today to honor 349 high school seniors in 10 northeast Ohio counties for their commendable decision to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces. Of these 349 seniors from 116 high schools in 104 towns and cities, 98 will enter the Army, 134 will enter the Marine Corps, 42 will enter the Navy, 25 will enter the Air Force, and 50 will enter our Ohio Army National Guard. In the presence of their parents or guardians, high school counselors, military leaders, city and business leaders, all 349 are being recognized on May 12, 2011, by ``Our Community Salutes of Cleveland.''

Later this month, these young men and women will join with many of their classmates in celebration of graduation. At a time when many of their peers are looking forward to pursuing vocational training or college degrees, or are uncertain about their future, these young men and women instead have chosen to dedicate themselves to military service in defense of our country.

Naturally, many may be anxious about the uncertainties that may await them as members of the Armed Forces. But, they should rest assured that the full support and resources of this Chamber, and the American people, are with them in whatever challenges may lie ahead.

It is thanks to the dedication of an untold number of patriots like these 349 that we are able to meet here today, in the U.S. Senate, and openly debate the best solutions to the many diverse problems that confront our country. It is thanks to their sacrifices that the United States of America remains a beacon of hope and freedom in a fractious world. We are grateful to them, their parents and their communities for instilling the character, values, discipline and mental and physical abilities of these outstanding young men and women.

Their decision to serve our country will not go unrecognized as we thank these 349 graduating seniors for the selflessness and courage that they have shown by volunteering to risk their lives in defense of others. We owe them, along with all those who serve our country, a deep debt of gratitude.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the list of names of the high school seniors.

There being no objection the material was ordered to be printed in the Record as follows:

United States Army--98:

Albright--Cleveland; Bankston--Ashtabula; Barnes--

Cleveland; Benz--Lakewood; Bodenski--Sheffield Village;

Bradshaw--Akron; Burke--Garfield Heights; Burney--Akron;

Carroll--Columbia Station; Chrosniak--Sheffield; Ciano--Kent;

Clady--Elyria; Corponoi--Cleveland; Cristarella--Richmond;

Dixon--Maple Heights; Dunaway--Brooklyn; Ebanoidze--Parma;

Ellis--Kent; English--Geneva; Errington--Clinton; Fioritto--

Concord Township; Fisher, A--Amherst; Fleischmann--

Kingsville; Gibbons--Columbia Station; Giles--Cleveland;

Gluntz--Parma; Gonzalez--Lorain; Gorham--Ravenna; Grenig--

Parma; Hadsell--Wayland; Haslam--Akron; Haworth--Kent;

Helmick--Norton; Hooks--Euclid; Hooper--Chagrin Falls;

Horner--Sheffield; Houdek, L--Bedford; Huertas--Parma;

Hutson--Lakewood; Irby-Tinsley--Cleveland; Jackson, C--

Euclid; Jackson, M--Cleveland; Kantola--Kingsville; Khan--

Cleveland; Kirby--Ashtabula; Klein--Rock Creek; Kovach--

Andover; Lanier--Cleveland; Laubenthal--Sullivan; Liubin--

Mayfield Heights; Lutton--Madison; Mackell--Aurora; Maley--

West Salem; Malone--Parma; Mamus--Broadview Heights; McCown--

Akron; McDaniel--Lagrange; McFaul--Chesterland; Meinke--

Medina; Millhouse--Kent; Miramontes--Chesterland; Mozek--

Madison; Muska--South Amherst; Oakes--Pierpoint; Pesec--

Painesville; Petro--Ashtabula; Popek--Independence; Porter,

J--Kent; Porter, L--Akron; Prendergast--North Royalton;

Price, J--Norton; Rainey--Cleveland; Ray, D--Rootstown;

Reese--Wellington; Roberts, T--Akron; Robinson--Euclid;

Roper--Akron; Sarota--Elyria: Schwinn--Vermilion; Shelton--

Lorain; Shumate--Elyria; Stephan--Brecksville; Stephens--

Euclid; Stocker--Windham; Storms--Akron; Stowers--Vermilion;

Sullivan--Lorain; Thomas--Conneaut; Travis--North Ridgeville;

Unrue--Mogadore; Vance--Ashtabula; West--Lagrange; White, D--

Lakewood; White, J--Parma; Witczak--North Royalton; Woods--

Cleveland; Yarbrough--Cleveland.

United States Marine Corps--134:

Aguiar--Medina; Anthony--Akron; Arraj--Cleveland;

Atterbury--East Lake; Austin--Garfield Heights; Babusharvey--

Maple Heights; Baker, B--Kirtland; Beirne--Medina; Benigni--

Brunswick; Bergdorf--Tallmadge; Biro--Middleburgh Heights;

Block--Sheffield Lake; Bohne--Cleveland; Boomer--Hudson;

Bowen--North Olmsted; Bozin--North Olmsted; Brabson, G--

Parma; Brill--Sheffield; Bruner--Willoughby; Bruno--Hudson;

Buras--Hudson; Burlinghaus--Middleburgh Heights; Catavolos--

Rocky River; Chase--Sagamore; Chesek--North Royalton; Clark,

J--Shaker Heights; Colon--Broadview Heights; Cool--Wasdworth;

Cottingham--Shaker Heights; Cruse--Brunswick; Davis, B--

Mantua; Davis, E--Cleveland; Dekoning--Avon; Dodd--Cuhahoga

Fall; Draughton--Cleveland; Ezell--Lagrange; Fadenholz--

Elyria; Fink--North Royalton; Fisher, J--Cleveland; Fortner--

Northfield; Fox--Akron; Gatliff--Wellington; Gerhart--Munroe

Falls; Gill--Brunswick; Gonzales--Brooklyn; Graf, T--Ravenna;

Graw--North Olmsted; Harmon--Elyria; Harter--Columbia

Station; Hartley--Ravenna; Hasan--Cleveland; Heinzman--

Brunswick; Hicken--Cleveland; Hobart--Akron; Houchins--

Chesterland; Hufford--Cleveland; Jefferys--Akron; Jordan--Bay

Village; Kaczmarek--Mentor; Keeran--Magadore; Kepple--Hiram;

King--Cuyahoga Falls; Kinker--Diamond; Koleszar--Painesville;

Ksenich--Amherst; Kubasky--Parma; Lang--Avon Lake; Likovic--

Eastlake; Long--Mogadore; Lorwanphet--Cleveland; Lucas--

Spencer; Martell--Cleveland; Martin--Lyndhurst; Martinez--

Cleveland; Martz--Hudson; Mayton--Avon; McComb--Euclid;

McKinney--Shaker Heights; Molnar--Chardon; Moran--Cuyahoga

Falls; Nichols, E--Cleveland; Nichols, T--Madison;

Olexadolyk--Amherst; Palmer--Barberton; Parker--Medina;

Parkham--Cleveland; Parr--Ravenna; Peck--Litchfield; Peele--

Hudson; Perry, D--Euclid; Perry, M--Akron; Peterjohn--Seven

Hills; Phillips--Barberton; Poole--Cleveland; Price, J--

Norton; Pritschau--Perry; Prokop--Mentor; Puelo--Streetsboro;

Quella--Strongsville; Quercioli--North Ridgeville; Ray, J--

Cuyahoga Falls; Reese--Clinton; Reinhart--Wadsworth;

Richards, A--Grafton; Richards, M--Sheffield Lake; Riolo--

Columbia Station; Roberts, K--Akron; Roberts, T--Akron;

Robertson--Cleveland; Rogers--North Ridgeville; Rooney--

Westlake; Rosenkranz--Medina; Salcedo--Cleveland; Shirey--

Barberton; Slattery--Painesville; Snyder, J--Wellington;

Spelic--Medina; Stanton--North Ridgeville; Steinle--Medina;

Stephen--Cleveland; Sterk--Wakeman; Swartwood--Norton;

Switzer--Brunswick; Venus--Seville; Walters Brunswick;

Wayman--Berlin Heights; Weese--Akron; Werdebaugh--Wellington;

Westfall--Norton; Willis--Wellington; Wilson, R--Ravenna;

Woodyard--Richfield; Zeigler--Medina; Zwegat--Broadview

Heights.

United States Navy--42:

Adkins--Ashtabula; Armbrust--Wadsworth; Barchanowicz--

Ashtabula; Bennett--Wellington; Borelli--Fairport Harbor;

Boscalion--Lodi; Brown--Wellington; Coffey--Geneva; Dane--

Avon; Dickson--Madison; Doniver--Cleveland; Evans--Canton;

Fipps--Warrensville; Graham--Geneva; Guthrie--Medina; Hamid--

Avon Lake; Helderman--North Olmsted; Houdek, A--Geneva;

Jackson, A--Ashtabula; Keith--Elyria; Lindak--North

Ridgeville; Machesky--Amherst; Minnich--Elyria; Mitchell--

Warrensville Heights; Montgomery--Litchfield; Mullins--

Sullivan; Olbrysh--Mentor; Pillari--Strongsville; Reid--Parma

Heights; Rice--Vermilion; Richards, J--Warrensville Heights;

Roig--Olmsted Falls; Schuler--North Ridgeville; Sidwell--

Medina; Smith--Warrensville Heights; Squire--New London;

Tomaszychi--Elyria; Towell--Spencer; Verdi--Ashtabula;

Waites--Concord; Wilson, A--Vermilion; Zappitella--Conneaut.

United States Air Force--25.

Baade--South Euclid; Baird--Broadview Heights; Brandt--

Brookpark; Callahan--

Willoughby; Delp--Mentor; Felger--Middlefield; Gorta--Olmsted

Falls; Halbrook--Willowick; Hernandez--Cleveland; Johnson,

D--Cleveland Heights; Justiniano--Cleveland; Leach--Mentor;

McFaul--Chardon; Moore--Nordonia; Munroe--Cleveland Heights;

Novak--Brookpark; Nubert--Mentor; Ramsey--Avon; Semrau--

Mentor; Seufer--Chagrin Falls; Silc--Painesville; Skorupski--

Mentor; Snyder, A--Lorain; Wagner--Amherst; Williams, J--

Cleveland.

Army National Guard--50:

Amin--Strongsville; Beavers--Cuyahoga Falls; Brabson, S--

Macedonia; Casper--Mentor; Clark, K--Akron; Cripple--Akron;

Cross--Cleveland Heights; Crowder--Clinton; Davey--Akron;

Dragony--Brunswick; Ely--Brooklyn; Faulds--Copley; Foster--

Lagrange; Ganzer--Medina; Garcia--Lorain; Gigliotti--

Lagrange; Graf, B--North Royalton; Gray--Cleveland; Griffin--

Cuyahoga Falls; Grimes--Clinton; Harrison--Cleveland;

Hasrouni--Brunswick; Heil--Strongsville; Hendrix--Elyria;

Hunt--Lorain; Ibarra--Cleveland; Johnson, A--Cleveland;

Kelly--Copley; Knafel--Akron; Marksbury--Amherst; Mireles--

Parma; Morrow--Akron; Ningard--North Royalton; Noble--

Clinton; Patsue--Olmsted Falls; Riley, A--Amherst; Rotilie--

Rootstown; Singleton--Cleveland; Slezak--North Royalton;

Strouse--Cleveland; Suttle--Akron; Swanson--Cleveland;

Toddy--Westlake; Turner--Vermilion; Urbanija--Fairview Park;

Walker--Medina; Williams, R--Garfield Heights; Winkleman--

Fairview Park; Wite--Akron; Young--Cleveland.

Mr. President, today I honor Ronald E. Weinberg, chair of the Cleveland State University board of trustees and a principal with Weinberg & Bell Group, a Cleveland-based private equity firm, as he is honored by Cleveland State University with its President's Medal, the university's highest nonacademic honor.

The President's Medal is awarded to individuals, groups or entities whose dedication to the university is beyond question. The medal is conferred only when the honoree has made continuing and extraordinary contributions, or has provided exemplary and ongoing services that have advanced the best interests and mission of Cleveland State University.

The presentation of this award will take place during a gala celebration entitled ``Radiance--CSU Realizing the Promise,'' a highlight of Cleveland State University's commencement weekend. At that time, the President's Medal will be bestowed upon Ronald E. Weinberg for his extraordinary commitment, service and contribution to Cleveland State University and for his efforts to help students achieve their goals through higher education.

Mr. Weinberg was appointed to the Cleveland State Board of Trustees in 2001 and has served as chairman for the past 4 years. During his tenure, CSU has made great strides in becoming one of the country's top urban universities--the campus has been transformed with new buildings; highly credentialed faculty and researchers have enriched the learning experience; and enrollment has increased.

Mr. Weinberg has generously given his time and expertise to support CSU's mission and contribute to its success. Additionally, he has financially supported many CSU initiatives. He and his wife Terri served as cochairs of the Moses Cleaveland Scholarship Dinner, and he is a platinum sponsor of Radiance. Additional recognition of Mr. Weinberg's efforts will come as the Trustees' boardroom is named for him in recognition of a generous scholarship gift.

As part of Cleveland State University's Commencement Weekend celebration, Mr. Weinberg, CSU President Ronald M. Berkman and the CSU community will participate in the celebration of graduation as well as embark on a new tradition of celebrating and supporting scholarships, which are key to attracting promising students to Cleveland State University and giving them the tools to succeed.

It is during this time of commencement that we can all pause to honor our new graduates on their accomplishments and wish them well as they embark on new opportunities. We are also grateful to CSU for helping to provide our young people with the tools they need to be prepared for a competitive job market and to support their communities. It is important to thank those, such as Mr. Weinberg, who have dedicated time and resources to contribute to the success of our students, an investment that is critical to Cleveland's and our Nation's future.

I thank my colleague from Tennessee. I happen to have the answer to his question. Yesterday--he is correct--we did propose a jobs plan, which is a series of commonsense proposals to get our economy back on track and create jobs across our country.

You will recall that a few years ago there was a stimulus effort in the Congress--the President's $800 billion stimulus plan--that was passed. The idea was to get the economy back on track. There were estimates that it would have a big impact on job growth and, in fact, reduce our unemployment numbers significantly. That didn't happen.

One of the reasons that didn't happen is because it relied too much on government providing the resources for jobs. Government doesn't create jobs, but government can create the climate for job growth. Our view is that we need to take a different approach. That approach is to stimulate private sector job growth and create that pro-growth environment.

The seven proposals we announced yesterday as part of our jobs plan include being sure that we do indeed deal with the deficit and debt because that is a negative impact today on our economy. In fact, there are economic studies out there showing that our GDP is much smaller than it would otherwise be but for the deficit and debt. Also, we need to reform the Tax Code to spur economic growth. Economists across the spectrum agree that we can stimulate economic growth by having a Tax Code that makes more sense for job creation.

Regulation is a major issue. We will hear from our colleagues who want to make sure we have regulatory relief for small businesses which are not able to create jobs because of the increased regulations coming from Washington.

We need a workforce that is more competitive, and that requires the Federal Government to do a better job on workforce development. Also, there is the need to increase and expand exports. The President has talked about that. We are eager to get trade agreements in Congress. We can create hundreds of thousands of new jobs immediately through expanding markets.

We also talked yesterday about energy. This is important. There are things we can do right now to get America less dependent upon foreign oil and use our own resources in this country more effectively. Then in terms of the health care circumstances--we will talk about this in a moment--every person I have talked to in Ohio, and I have been on over 200 factory visits in the last couple years--tells me the cost of health care is going up not down, which is making it harder to create jobs. We will talk about the need to reduce health care costs.

This is a commonsense, seven-point plan to get the economy moving and create jobs. It is incredibly important to get the unemployment numbers down and to be sure American families have opportunities. It is also very important, though, in terms of dealing with the debt and deficit because, although we need to restrain spending--and Congress is beginning to take small steps in that regard--we also need to grow the economy.

When we have 1.8 percent economic growth, which we had in the last quarter, which is anemic, weak, and not something we should be satisfied with, it is difficult to create that economic growth to help deal with this huge overhang of deficits and debts.

As the Senator from Tennessee said, we have other colleagues with us today, and Senator John Hoeven from North Dakota will talk about these issues, as will Senator Barrasso from Wyoming. Senator Cornyn from Texas has just joined us.

I ask Senator Hoeven, a former Governor of North Dakota--where there is about 3.6 percent unemployment and is a State that is producing domestic energy to help meet our needs and is a big State for exports-- if he will talk about his ideas on job growth and how it fits into this job plan.

Madam President, I thank my colleague from North Dakota. He makes great points about the need for us to use our resources at home on energy and for us to expand exports because that immediately creates jobs in this country. He has done it. As a Governor, he rolled up his sleeves and got directly involved in economic development. He knows what it takes. The fact that he has been a champion of this plan and helped put it together gives me confidence that this is going to work.

We need to work on a bipartisan basis. We are reaching out to our colleagues on the other side of the aisle and the administration. So much of this is common sense. These are things we should do now.

We are also joined by our colleague from Wyoming. He is Wyoming's doctor. He is also a leader in the Senate and has taken the lead on a number of issues related to jobs, two of which are part of our jobs plan. One is, of course, the regulatory front, where he has taken the time to really dig into how these regulations affect business growth. He may have comments on that issue today.

I would like to hear Dr. Barrasso on that point but also on the health care front where, as a doctor, he looked into what the impact of health care reform will be on jobs. This is something that perhaps does not get talked about enough. Unless we figure out a way to get health care costs under control, it will be harder for us to create opportunities in this country because the costs embedded in hiring a new employee under health care alone are so high that many companies are simply not hiring. I would love to hear his thoughts.

Madam President, I thank Dr. Barrasso. I appreciate the amount of time he has put into this regulatory issue and the relief small businesses need on the regulatory front. It is obvious he is out talking to businesses, and it is directly related to jobs because we cannot get the jobs back unless we reduce the cost of doing business that comes from these regulations.

Madam President, how much time do we have remaining in this colloquy?

I thank the Presiding Officer.

Madam President, as I said, we are also joined by Senator Cornyn of Texas. I am going to ask him in a minute to say a few words about the jobs plan. The input he has put into it has been terrific because he is the guy who understands, again, the importance of small business, the importance of us creating an environment through Washington laws and regulations that helps create jobs, and that it is not Washington that is going to create the jobs but the private sector that is going to do it.

I ask my colleague from Texas to say a few words about his thoughts.

Madam President, I thank my colleague from Texas. He is absolutely right. When we look at the budget deficit and the debt and the impact it is having on our economy today, it is clear we need constraints. Forty-nine States have a balanced budget requirement. When I am back home talking with people in our cities and counties, in their struggles with balancing their own budgets, they ask me: How can Washington continue to spend so much money it does not have? Forty cents of every dollar Washington spends today is borrowed money. Clearly that restraint is needed.

It is important to get the economy back on track. Often we talk about the record budget deficit and the $14 trillion debt in terms of its impact on future generations. As the father of three, I am very concerned about that, as we all should be, because we are mortgaging their future, the excessive spending today that they are going to have to pay back.

It is not just what is going to happen in the future. Our deficits and debts have gotten so big that there is an impact on the economy. There was a study done recently by a couple of respected economists-- Rogoff and Reinhart--which says, in looking around the world, where a country's debt is up to 90 percent of its total economy, you have about a 1-percent decline in the GDP or the growth in the economy. Our growth was only 1.8 percent last quarter. That means it should have been at least 2.8 percent but for our debt and deficit because now our gross debt is 100 percent of our economy. So we are over that 90-percent threshold, and we are impacting our economy today.

When we think about it, with all the government borrowing out there, it is crowding out private borrowing. There are fewer jobs being created in America because the government is playing a bigger and bigger role, crowding out the ability of small businesses to get a loan.

I also join a lot of other folks in this Chamber on both sides of the aisle in my deep concern about the possibility of a debt crisis if we do not deal with these historic deficits and debts. That could send our economy into a tailspin with sky-high interest rates, with inflation that is already rearing its ugly head again in this country. We need to address this issue because it is the right thing to do for future generations--it is really a moral issue--but also because it does impact what is going on today in our economy and our ability to get this economy back on track and create jobs. It is so important to American families and, as I said earlier, so important for us dealing with the fiscal problems because we have to both restrain spending and grow the economy, increase economic activity, which will increase revenues.

Madam President, can you give me a warning when we have 5 minutes remaining in the colloquy today?

I would like to turn back to my colleague from Tennessee who started this off this morning talking about the importance of this job plan.

I thank my colleague very much.

First of all, I thank my colleague from Tennessee for helping to promote this idea. Again, we are looking to reach out to Democrats in this Chamber, in the House, and working with the administration, to actually get this done. We need to get the American economy back on track.

I just heard the Senator talk about trade, and we talked about that earlier. But as was said earlier, we need to increase exports because exports equal jobs. If we look at these three pending trade agreements, which the administration has yet to send to Congress--and we can't move unless they do that--they would create, alone, between 250,000 and 380,000 jobs, depending on what numbers you look at. Think about that, hundreds of thousands of jobs are ready to be created right now by knocking down barriers to our workers, our farmers, and our service providers just in these three instances alone.

We also need to provide the President with the authority to knock down more barriers by giving him trade promotion authority. So I call on the administration to send us those agreements--free up those agreements--and allow us here in America to be able to create more jobs by expanding our exports, by leveling this playing field between these three countries--Panama, Korea, and Colombia--and then let us get busy on having the United States even more engaged in international trade, expanding exports and, therefore, creating jobs.

Let me review quickly these seven core areas and then turn it back to my colleague from Tennessee.

We do need to focus on the fiscal situation, as we have talked about, to be able to help the economy. Our Tax Code needs to be reformed to create economic growth. We can do that. We know there is a way to do it without raising taxes and by reforming the code and making it more progrowth; the regulations we talked about that are stifling so many small businesses in this country; the competitive workforce, retraining is critical, and we can do a much better job taking the existing Federal resources and directing them toward retraining for jobs that are actually there; expanding exports, we just talked about; of course, powering America's economy by using more of our own domestic resources--renewable but also traditional uses of energy; and, finally, getting health care costs down, as Senator Barrasso talked about.

If we do these things, we will create more hope and opportunity at a time when it is so desperately needed. We should be able to do it because they are commonsense ideas.

I thank my colleagues.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, this afternoon, after a few days of great anticipation, the President laid out his version for long-term deficit reduction and dealing with our long-term debt. Now that we have heard from him, I am afraid we are left with more questions than answers.

Let me be clear. I welcome the President to the debate. I think it is a positive sign. There is no more pressing issue for us to address than our dire fiscal situation and our economic challenges; both are intertwined. We are not going to be able to move the economy until we deal with our impending debt crisis, and we cannot deal with fiscal problems without growing the economy.

There has been a lot of good discussion about the unique dangers we face if we don't address our massive deficits and our debt which has now accumulated to over $14 trillion. That amount, by the way, is equal to the entire size of the U.S. economy, making this the first time since World War II that we have had a debt of that level. It is also a lot different now than it was then.

During World War II our debt was driven primarily by defense spending which would be quickly curtailed. We weren't looking at the incredible unfunded obligations, such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security that we have today. That is an unfunded obligation of over $100 trillion. So we are in uncharted territory, unprecedented times. It is harming our economy today and, of course, it will devastate it in the future if we don't take action.

Economists tell us that with a debt of 90 percent of GDP we will typically lose 1 point of economic growth. Again, this year our gross debt is 100 percent of our GDP. By the way, a 1-percent reduction in our GDP in America means about 1 million jobs. So, already, with a gross debt of 100 percent of GDP, we have foregone jobs that we need in Ohio and around the country.

This high indebtedness also comes with significant interest payments. Of course, even with interest rates being near zero today, the magnitude of the U.S. debt still requires a debt service this year of over $200 billion. By the way, under the President's budget that number increases to almost $1 trillion 10 years from now based on the CBO analysis. That is $1 trillion a year just in interest payments on the debt.

What concerns me is that interest rates could well go up given this climate. A 1-percent increase in interest involves another $130 billion of interest payments. Think about that. Just a 1-percent increase in interest rates means another $130 billion in interest payments. Obviously, inflation would be causing additional damage to an already precarious budget situation, and that is another great risk that we face.

Our current deficits are also increasingly financed by foreign holders of U.S. debt. At present, nearly half of U.S. publicly held debt is held by foreign investors. As U.S. deficits are increasingly foreign-financed, of course, our interest payments are leaving the country. It is estimated that in 2010 interest payments to foreign entities and foreign individuals amounted to over $140 billion. That is based on the new data from the Department of Commerce. It is not just about these high debt payments, it is the fact that a lot of it is going overseas.

Our persistent deficits and pending debt crisis also introduces a lot of uncertainty into our economy. Some immediate evidence of this effect appears on the balance sheets of America's businesses, which shows $1.9 trillion in liquid holdings. That means money is sitting on the sidelines rather than being invested in jobs, plants, and equipment. Resolving the uncertainty surrounding future deficits will induce greater investment as companies can plan more effectively.

We are already seeing these concerns manifest themselves in our economy today. Capital markets are responding as investors, such as PIMCO, the largest holder of U.S. Treasuries, is out altogether, telling us they no longer trust U.S. debt. What will happen if we don't address these challenges is even more daunting.

According to the CBO, assuming the continuation of many current policies, debt held by the public as a share of our GDP is projected to reach an implausibly high 947 percent of GDP by 2084. Of course, that won't happen. The United States will face a debt crisis long before that, but that demonstrates the unsustainability of the current fiscal situation. No economic model could tell us what the economy would look like in the future because by then these models will essentially fall apart.

Over time the accumulation of debt increases the cost of debt service, consuming a greater share of revenues, limiting budgetary resources for other priorities or for meeting unforeseen emergencies, such as a natural disaster or a war.

As time progresses a fiscal crisis resulting from high indebtedness could occur rapidly as investors lose confidence in U.S. Treasuries. Absent immediate policy changes, the United States would have to pay higher yields on its own debt to roll over existing debt and avoid default. We are going to have to pay higher interest rates to attract investors to our country. In addition to the cost of an increase in interest expense, higher interest rates, of course, would be devastating for American families. Think about it. As interest rates go up, because Treasury rates go up, this means home mortgages go up. This means college loan payments go up. This means interest rates on car loans go up and on credit card activity and other loans. The economy is tough enough. We don't need higher interest rates, but that is upon us unless we act now.

The magnitude of the debt crisis would escalate as higher interest costs require additional borrowing at high rates to continue to make interest payments, which would ultimately grind the economy to a halt as investors lose confidence in the ability of the United States to repay. The global impact of a U.S. debt crisis would be far reaching and truly unprecedented. We just went through a tough recession. We don't need to relive that.

All things being equal, debt financing of current consumption necessarily imposes future obligations on subsequent generations either in the form of higher taxes or reduced consumption of government services. To avoid a debt crisis, any policy changes must begin sooner rather than later to minimize those effects that are, unfortunately, likely to happen even if we act.

Given the threats and the crisis described, there is no doubt that America needs real leadership to address this fiscal threat. While we can debate some of the specifics in Congressman Ryan's budget, there is no doubt that the House Republican plan demonstrates necessary leadership on the severe fiscal challenges our country faces. This is in contrast to the plan President Obama sent to the Congress just 2 months ago. It not only rejects the serious recommendations from his own fiscal commission, but, unfortunately, as Erskine Bowles, the Democratic cochair of the President's Commission said: ``It goes nowhere near where they will have to go to resolve our fiscal nightmare.''

Unfortunately, the President's speech today provides no specifics as how to resolve that fiscal nightmare.

More spending, more borrowing, and more taxes are not a prescription for spending constraint and economic growth. Since President Obama took office, we have seen trillions in new spending and record deficits. The February budget I talked about just locks that new spending in place, doing nothing to pull back from this dangerous spiral of debt.

Let us be clear, this is not just a budget issue, it is an economic issue, and it is definitely a jobs issue. Not only will debt and deficit have a long-

term impact on our children and grandchildren who will have to foot the bill for today's spending, but we are beginning to see this immediate impact on economic stability and job growth as the cost of our debt begins to crowd out private sector investment. We have to move quickly to substantially reduce the debt and deficit to strengthen our fiscal house and, in doing so, foster job creation in States such as mine-- Ohio--and around the country.

The Commission's plan that the President rejected in December cuts deficits by about $4.1 trillion compared to the baseline of current policy over a 10-year period. It brings our deficits to 1.2 percent of our economy by 2020. Compare that to today, where we are at almost 10 percent of our economy. So it sets a standard--over $4 trillion in reductions in the deficit and an annual deficit that is 1.2 percent, which incidentally is where our budget deficit was about 4 years ago. Congressman Ryan's budget got there by bringing deficits down by about $4.2 trillion by 2021, as compared to a comparable baseline, to the Commission's report--so $4.1 trillion, $4.2 trillion--and the deficit is about 1.5 percent of GDP.

The President's own budget, again submitted here to Congress about 2 months ago, is very different. His budget merely gets one-quarter of the way there--$1.1 trillion--and that assumes all the administration's claimed savings occur and it assumes, frankly, there is a higher rate of economic growth than the Congressional Budget Office thinks there will be, which actually wipes out the deficit savings the President claims.

So we have very different visions, don't we? We have the fiscal commission on the one hand and the Ryan budget in the $4 trillion range and then a plan by the President that does not get us moving forward in terms of deficit reduction--in effect, doubles the debt in the next 10 years.

Evidently, after seeing Republicans move forward last week and now this week in the House and after seeing how, on a bipartisan basis and around the country, people reacted to his budget, President Obama has realized he needs to move forward with a new proposal. In a sense, he is asking for a mulligan, and I think that is good. I think it is good he has acknowledged this problem is deeper and more serious than his budget proposal indicated, and we need to move forward together.

Unfortunately, again, the President did not offer specifics today, unlike the Ryan budget, which takes some bold and courageous and tough steps but does offer specifics. The President chose instead to squander his opportunity to offer a real way forward on tackling our structural fiscal problems. He did talk about $4 trillion in deficit reduction-- and I appreciate that--but again did not offer a way to get there. The national commission he formed, and which reported in December, told the President there was a way to get there, and I hope the President will relook at his own Commission and other proposals, such as the Ryan proposal.

As the President made clear, we have been debating just 12 percent of the budget. He is right about that. There is some defense spending that is involved, but for the most part it is a very small part of the budget. So what does his proposal do to address these additional challenges? I didn't hear anything today about serious proposals to address the entitlement programs, which are incredibly important programs but on an unsustainable footing.

On Medicare, the President proposed delegating future unspecified savings to a government board--unelected and unaccountable. On Medicaid, the President seems to be delegating responsibility to the National Governors Association. On Social Security, the President told us today it doesn't contribute to our deficit, despite the fact the program is in cash deficit this year by $45 billion--$45 billion less in payroll taxes than the payments going out.

The President proposed $4 trillion in deficit reduction. Yet he has shrunk, at this point, from the responsibility of telling us how he would achieve it, except that he would leave the challenge largely to others, while pursuing tax increases that I fear would harm the little recovery we see coming out of this deep recession.

So I look forward to working with Members on both sides of the aisle and the President to address the serious challenges we have talked about today. I wish we had seen more specifics today, but I am encouraged to see that at least the President is engaging in the game. I welcome his involvement because it is too important for us not to have involvement from both sides of the aisle. Without White House leadership, we cannot move forward.

As the President so often says, let's get focused not on the next election but on the next generation.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today, as the Federal Government is on the verge of a government shutdown, in the hope that both sides will come together and pass a resolution which not only keeps the government functioning but also fully funds our troops for the remainder of the fiscal year and enables the troops to have the support they deserve. It is not sensible--it is not practical; it is not morally defensible--to send our troops to fight for us in Afghanistan and Iraq and now in Libya without giving them the resources they deserve. They should not have to worry about their loved ones back home, whether they will be able to meet their rent payments, make their mortgage payments, put food on their tables, while they are fighting for our country.

I find it extraordinary that our President, the Commander in Chief, has issued a veto threat on the troop funding bill passed in the House yesterday

and on the calendar in the Senate today. Looking at the Statement of Administration Policy, the President doesn't talk about concerns over the legislation, doesn't talk about concerns over the spending or the riders, he simply says:

This bill is a distraction from the real work that would

bring us closer to a reasonable compromise.

I am not quite sure what that means except by not stating any objections to the legislation other than saying it is a distraction, it is not responsible for our troops and our military. To be honest, I am far less concerned that passing this bill will be a distraction to the Congress and to the President than I am concerned that not passing the bill will be a distraction to those troops who are putting their lives on the line for us overseas every day.

As we all know, we should not be having this discussion. We are talking about funding for this fiscal year only because the Senate and the House of Representatives last year didn't get their work done. In fact, for the first time since 1974, when the Budget Act was made law, the Congress did not pass a budget in either House. That is why we are here. That is why the continuing resolutions are necessary, these so- called short-term measures. It is too bad, because Congress not getting their work done last year means we have to clean up the mess this year when we should be focused on a much bigger issue.

My colleague just talked about some of his concerns about the spending reductions in H.R. 1. I remind us that not having gotten our work done last year, we are also facing the biggest deficit in the history of the country and a debt that is unprecedented, over $14 trillion. If we are truly worried about our kids and grandkids and the next generation, we have to focus on that.

For today, what we are talking about is something very simple. It is just to pass a short-term measure to keep government in operation and to provide funding for the troops. I hope we can do that today. We are talking about actually a relatively small part of the bigger problem. Even adding up all of the spending reductions in H.R. 1, it is less than 2 percent of our Federal budget at a time when our Federal budget deficit is over 40 percent.

So what we are debating today in the Senate and what is being negotiated behind closed doors in the Congress and at the White House is such a small part of the issue.

But here we are. So what do we do to make things better, not make them worse? The short-term measure the House has already passed yesterday is unfortunately the only thing we can agree on today because, given the process of this place, the House and the Senate, it is the only option we have to move things forward. We need to send it to the President while we are working on longer term legislation. Again, it does provide for our troops, which is incredibly important to us at this time with three wars and so much concern and anxiety among the military. This measure would reduce nondefense discretionary budget authority by about $13 billion, again while funding the military fully for the rest of the year.

Many of these reductions were included in the President's budget and are not particularly controversial. In terms of actual outlays, it reduces nondefense spending by $3.9 billion. In the context of our overall Federal budget, that is .1 percent. So we are talking about a .1-percent spending adjustment for the rest of the fiscal year. Yet we still can't seem to get together to fund our troops and keep the government open. Some call that .1 percent extreme. We just heard some of that. I don't think it is extreme. I think it is only a very small step we have to take, if we are truly concerned about the future for the next generation and concerned about our economy. If we don't get this record deficit and this debt that is growing out of control under control, it will continue to harm the economy today and our prospects for getting this economy back on track in the future.

Let's allow these negotiations to continue. In the meantime, let's fund the troops and avoid the unnecessary disruption of a government shutdown. We can do that right now as a body by passing the legislation the House passed yesterday, send it to the President for signature, and take care of our fighting men and women for the rest of this year and keep the government from shutting down.

I thank the Chair.

Mr. President, I appreciate being given the time to make a few remarks as a new Senator from Ohio. To be in the Senate, representing the people of Ohio, is a great honor and solemn responsibility, particularly at this critical time in our Nation's history.

And it is actually not an honor I expected to have. After representing southern Ohio in the U.S. House for 12 years, and serving in the Bush administration, I returned home to Cincinnati, OH, 4 years ago. Although we had kept our home in Cincinnati, and raised our kids there, I had commuted for 15 years, and it was time to be home with three teenagers, my amazing wife Jane, and other family members including my dad, one of my true heroes.

At that time, my predecessor, Senator George Voinovich, was serving with distinction here, and had said he intended to run for reelection. I was happy to be back in the private sector, involved in two small family businesses, practicing law, teaching at the Ohio State University and enjoying being a dad, including getting to coach my daughter's soccer teams. But I was also watching with apprehension the worsening economy and the way the administration and Congress were responding.

When George Voinovich announced he would not seek reelection to the Senate, I made the decision to run because I was so concerned with the direction of my State and our country. I saw the bottom falling out of the Ohio economy. And I saw firsthand the pain that comes with layoffs and downsizing.

Like others, I was frustrated that while Ohio small businesses and families were making the tough decisions to deal with a deepening recession, the Federal Government seemed immune, and out of touch. Instead of cutting expenses and figuring out how to do more with less, and focusing on private sector job growth, the Obama administration and Congress responded with a big government approach. Unfortunately, the $800 billion stimulus package had less to do with creating private sector jobs than growing the size and scope of government.

And, in the midst of all this, I saw a new national health care bill working its way through the system that would substantially increase the Federal Government role and lock in place the unsustainable costs and inefficiency of our health care system, making health care even more expensive for families and small businesses and making it harder to deal with the exploding costs of health care in the Federal budget.

And I saw record deficits building up to dangerous levels of debt that further threatened our economy.

These issues, these deep concerns over jobs and the direction of our economy and fiscal crisis we face as a nation are my focus now in the Senate. And I am not alone. Whether Republican, Democrat, or Independent, I believe Ohioans understand that our State and our country are in trouble, and it is going to take real change and all of us working together across party lines to set things right.

I believe the twin challenges of our time are how to revive the American economic miracle, and how to stop the reckless overspending by government that threatens to extinguish the American dream. And one affects the other. Without a growing economy and more jobs we cannot hope to reverse the dangerous trend of record deficits and deepening debt.

And without getting our spending under control, we can not get our economy moving. It is not one or the other.

These two goals are not inconsistent; in fact, they are reinforcing. With the fiscal time bomb on our doorstep and all the uncertainty it creates, we will never see the kind of strong recovery we hope for. We have to do both.

In addition to taking steps to get our fiscal house in order, we revive the American economic miracle by moving aggressively to create the climate for job growth, for innovation, invention, and entrepreneurship. We need an environment that encourages risk-taking and private investment, which economists will tell you is the biggest challenge we face in this weak recovery. The current economic climate encouraged by Washington is one of uncertainty and apprehension. I have seen it all over Ohio.

Last fall, I visited an independent trucking company, Wooster Trucking, based in Wayne County, OH. Paul Williams, the owner, pulled together a dozen or so local small business owners from the area for a roundtable discussion, one of the many I have had in the last couple years. Struggling in a tough economy, these small businesses all wondered the same thing: why has Washington made it harder on them to grow and create jobs, not easier? They talked about the threat of new EPA regulations that will drive up energy costs. Depending on their business, they were worried about other specific Federal regulations or mandates in trucking, manufacturing and banking that would drive up their compliance make them less competitive.

They talked about the threat of higher income taxes coming, which creates uncertainty at a time when the opposite is needed to incentivize businesses to invest and grow. Like the vast majority of small businesses, most of those businesses around the table that day pay their taxes as individuals not corporations. The temporary extension of tax rates and capital gains and death taxes, with the very real possibility of higher taxes soon reduces their incentive to invest and create the jobs we need.

Every single small business owner around the table talked about health care. All of them said the same thing. They said, since the health care bill passed, their health care costs are going up more, not less, and how that was increasing their cost of doing business and hurting their ability to create jobs. They talked about premium increases of 10 to 25 percent, eating away any profit and chance to expand even after cutting other expenses.

At one of the 80 factory visits I have made in the past 2 years, Bruce Beeghley, an impressive small business entrepreneur in northeast Ohio, told me his orders were picking up but he was not hiring. He was paying overtime instead of hiring permanent workers for the long-term because of the embedded and increasing cost of health care.

And our education system and Federal worker retraining system is failing us in Ohio: Around the State, high-tech companies have told me they cannot find the skilled workers they need. This is wrong: At a time of soaring unemployment, there is a skills gap in America. There are high-skilled, high-wage jobs available but our schools are not producing a sufficient supply of well-trained American workers.

You cannot be out there talking to workers and management without seeing these issues. But I have heard it closer to home. In fact, I am the product of small family business. My dad,

Bill Portman, who we lost at age 88 last year, was one of those small business risk takers. He took a big risk when I was a kid. At age 40, he left a job. He had a good job with a big company as a salesman. He had health care coverage and retirement benefits. He gave it all up to start his own business, Portman Equipment Company, with five other guys and my mom as bookkeeper.

He could not get a loan and his family did not have the money and the bank would not lend him money, so he borrowed money from my mom's uncle. The company lost money over the first few years, but they kept it alive through hard work, ingenuity, and sacrifice. My brother took the reins later and took it to a new level. By the time my dad retired the company employed almost 300 people, 300 families.

We all worked there, and when I was growing up, the discussion around the kitchen table was often about how government--taxes, rules, and regulations--affected Portman Equipment and other Ohio small businesses. My dad is among my heroes because of his hard work and sacrifice. Because with my mom they built something of value. I have seen it done, and I know the role government can play and should not play in helping to create jobs and opportunities.

About a year ago, I asked my dad if he would take the same risk today. He said, ``I don't know, there's a lot of uncertainty out there . . . That is a word I hear a lot from small business owners all over Ohio. That is why a lot of job creators, or potential job creators are staying on the sidelines, and keeping their cash on the sidelines, and keeping their cash on the sidelines rather than investing in plant, equipment, and people.

Leadership is needed to create a positive climate which spurs job growth, drives opportunity and restores the American dream. Leadership is needed to get a handle on our serious fiscal issues. Instead, we are debating at the margins. You will see it play out on the floor of the Senate this week. We are locked in a fierce partisan debate about less than 1 percent of Federal outlays, actual federal spending, for this fiscal year. And we are not even addressing the biggest and fastest growing part of the budget, which is the important, but, unsustainable, entitlement programs.

In fact, as American families have tightened their belts over the past couple of years and businesses have had to do more with less, the Federal Government has taken the opposite path, spending more, growing bigger, and becoming more involved in our private economy and our lives.

Over the past 2 years, Paul Williams at that trucking company in Wooster I told you about had to cut expenses to stay afloat. They had to sell some of their trucks and let folks go. Here in Washington during that same time, the U.S. Government, though going deeper into debt, borrowing more money, brought on more government employees, and grew in size. During these same 2 years, Washington spent 27 percent more in its so-called domestic discretionary spending that is being debated this week. And that does not count the stimulus bill and other one-time spending, which gave us staggering 80 percent increase in this type of spending in 2 short years.

This historic failure to control spending, directly affects all of us because it affects our economy and the ability to create jobs. It pushes up interest rates, affecting car loans, mortgages, and student loans, and crowds out private investment, and leaves us with three bad choices, far higher taxes, even more borrowing, or both.

This will surprise no one, but recently, a group of 47 respected business economists agreed that the greatest threat to our economy was our debt and deficits.

Restoring fiscal restraint is critical to creating the certainty that employers and entrepreneurs need to create jobs across Ohio and our country. It is truly dangerous because left unchecked, these mounting debts are likely to lead to the kind of debt crisis we have seen in Greece and other countries.

The government spending more than it takes in hurts our economy today and mortgages the future for our children and grandchildren. Think about this: every child born in America today automatically, through no fault of their own, inherits $45,000 in U.S. debt.

People are looking for a better way. People are looking for leadership from Washington that takes on those challenges that Ohio's businesses and workers face. The status quo is not working. There is an urgency about this that the American people get, even while many in Washington seem to be in denial. We must rise to the challenge and work together across party lines to meet our economic and fiscal problems head-on by aggressively putting in place pro-growth measures and spending restraint, and we must do it now.

We must think and act differently to compete and win in the global economy, regain America's place in the world and give working families the hope of a better tomorrow. We can no longer rest on our laurels, no longer afford the luxury of living with a substandard education system that does not produce young people with the 21st century skills they need to succeed. We cannot afford a bureaucratic regulatory regime and a hopelessly complicated Tax Code that favors social engineering over sound business decisions. We can no longer sit back while our dependence on imported oil charts our destiny rather than American technology and innovation.

And we cannot compete and win if our health care system is so inefficient that its costs are double the rest of the developed world while outcomes are unsatisfactory, especially for those millions of American families without coverage. This is wrong for the small businesses at the roundtable I talked about earlier who are trying to provide health care and yet stay afloat. And it is wrong for working families whose rising costs are eating away at their opportunity to move up the ladder.

To revive the American economic miracle, we need to revolutionize the way we think about all the major institutions of our economy. We need structural reform of our regulatory system, energy policy, tax code, worker retraining and education, health care delivery, our trade policy and legal system. And of course, we must fix our broken budgeting process that has us so deeply in debt.

These challenges are not insurmountable. I know because we are Americans and we have done this before. We waged a World War that required more resources and sacrifices than anything we face today, and we have come out stronger. We survived a Civil War, a Great Depression, and a Cold War to emerge as the beacon of hope and opportunity for the rest of the world.

There is a long line of distinguished Senators from Ohio who were part of these historic times, including Warren G. Harding and William Henry Harrison.

One famous predecessor is John Glenn, an American hero who, along with his wife, Annie, I have been honored to know and work with over the years. And immediately follow Senator George Voinovich--one of the very finest public servants our State has ever known. Jane and I are grateful to George and Janet for their support and friendship, and for the extraordinary legacy they leave.

And there is another former Ohio Senator whose desk I requested and speak from today: Robert A. Taft, a fellow Cincinnatian, who actually worked at the same law firm where I was a partner before being elected to Congress. Like me, he also served in the executive branch. Unlike me, he was first in his class in high school, college and law school and was said to have had ``the best mind in Washington.'' Democrats joked that ``he had the best mind in Washington until he made it up.'' He was a principled and effective Republican leader. In fact, when his peers commissioned a review of the top five U.S. Senators in history, he was selected to be among them. That is why he is one of only five Senators to have a portrait in the President's Room off the Senate floor. He was a featured ``Profile in Courage'' in John Kennedy's book; on his memorial across Constitution Avenue it is written that it ``stands as a tribute to the honesty, indomitable courage and high principles of free governments symbolized by his life.''

It is always dangerous to predict how a former Senator would react to today's predicaments. But I am confident that were Robert A. Taft among us today, he would rise in full-throated

support of addressing the twin challenges we have talked about today. His honesty would force him to admit that our economic systems are not up to the global competition of the 21st century, his courage would force him to insist we address our budget woes, including entitlements, and his love of liberty would compel him to fight for solutions to our economic challenges that promote free markets and the power and dignity of the individual over the heavy hand of government.

As we have discussed, there is a lot of hard work to do. In my role, I hope to be worthy of this great and temporary privilege. I will rely on my faith, my family, and the good people of Ohio. I will work constructively with my colleagues to achieve results, including working with the senior Senator from Ohio, Sherrod Brown, and others across the aisle. I will work every day to try to earn the confidence and trust the people of Ohio have placed in me. As we go forward together, may God bless Ohio and this great Nation and help guide us in our shared commitment to a better future.

I yield the floor.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take my Special Order at this time.

Madam Speaker, I want to start by thanking the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert), who just gave us a wonderful presentation. He is a dear friend. And as I am about to say, there are a number of people in this Chamber I am going to miss, and the gentleman from Texas is certainly one of them.

Madam Speaker, last month I was asked by President Bush to join his Cabinet as the next United States Trade Representative. And tonight I am told that it is likely that the Senate will take up that nomination. If I am confirmed, I am told this will be my last opportunity to speak on the House floor. It is kind of awkward not having the confirmation fully completed, but I do not want to miss this opportunity to say a couple of things to my colleagues.

First, I rise tonight with very mixed feelings. If confirmed, I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to serve our country on the important trade issues that we face. But this was not an easy decision. I am going to miss serving the people of the seven counties in southern Ohio's Second Congressional District. It has been the greatest honor of my life, and I will be forever grateful to the people of the second district for giving me the privilege to serve in this great House.

I ran for Congress 12 years ago to try to make a positive difference in the lives of people and to take the commonsense values and the common sense

of the people of southern Ohio to Washington, D.C. To do that, I needed the help of my constituents, who stretch from downtown Cincinnati about 150 miles east through beautiful rural Ohio, all the way to Portsmouth, Ohio. Over the years that has happened.

So many people welcomed me into their homes, into their schools, their businesses, on their farms, into their hospitals, into their places of worship. Others have attended my town meetings, visited with me at parades, county fairs and festivals and invited me to speak at their meetings.

I will miss these sessions, and I will miss the valuable input that I have received. The people of the second district have helped me get a better sense through these meetings of the needs and concerns of the small business owners, the parents, the teachers, the veterans, our seniors, our young people.

Madam Speaker, one thing I am really going to miss is going into the classrooms and reading the children's book called ``House Mouse, Senate Mouse,'' which I would recommend to my colleagues if they do not know about it.

It is a great way to try to explain to kids what we do here and the important work of our legislative branch.

These experiences throughout the district have also made me more hopeful, Madam Speaker, about our future, as a region, but also as a country. I have met so many people and been so encouraged by the dedication of those people, who work hard every day to make our communities a better place to live and to work, and make our communities safer, stronger.

In particular, I will be forever impressed by those who selflessly volunteer their time and their knowledge to help others. And, of course, all of us must be forever grateful to those men and women in uniform who serve us and who put their lives on the line every day for the people.

Together, my constituents and I were able to achieve some great things for our people in the district and across the Nation. We successfully worked together on a wide variety of projects back home, ranging from providing needed funds for the construction of a world- class National Underground Railroad Freedom Center on the banks of the Ohio River, to saving and creating jobs at the Portsmouth Uranium Enrichment Plant in Piketon, an important part of our national energy strategy.

As a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, I am the vice-chair of the Committee on the Budget and a member of leadership, I have also had the opportunity to play a role in some important accomplishments here in Congress; welfare reform, lowering tax rates to improve the economy, responding to the attacks of 9/11 and strengthening our military.

I was also able to take some specific legislation that I authored across the finish line to be signed into law. Often my legislative partner in that was my friend from across the aisle, a good friend and a thoughtful legislator, Congress Ben Cardin of Maryland.

Some of our legislative successes included laws to stop unfunded Federal mandates; the first comprehensive reform of the Internal Revenue Service in more than 50 years, including adding more than 50 new taxpayer rights; four new laws that have helped reduce substance abuse and its consequences through prevention and education; and, of course, three laws that today allow people to save more for their own retirement. All these accomplishments help people.

I could not have done it without incredible staff, and I want to thank my dedicated staff, both past and present. I am so proud of them, so grateful for their professionalism, their skill, their commitment to and compassion for the people of Ohio's Second Congressional District. Without their expertise, their hard work, these accomplishments that I mentioned would not have been possible.

And I want to thank those in the office of the House Clerk who are here tonight, late, and who are always here for us, those in the cloakroom, those in the Doorkeeper's Office, the Capitol police officers and so many others who have become my friends here and who serve us so well as Members and serve our country well.

Madam Speaker, I am very proud of my time here in Congress, and I am proud to have served with a lot of great men and women who are here for the right reasons and who serve honorably. They are good public servants and many have become good friends.

There are too many Members, both Republican and Democrat, for me to mention here tonight, but there is one Member I would like to single out, and that is Dennis Hastert, the Congressman from Illinois's Fourteenth Congressional District. He is known by a lot of different names. He is the Speaker to all of us, he is Coach to a lot of us, he is a loving father, grandfather and husband. But to me, Denny Hastert is a good friend and he has been a mentor. I will be forever grateful to him for the opportunities he has given me to serve in leadership and for the many things that he has taught me.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will wrap up tonight now with a plug for the Central American- Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, which I do feel strongly about, but with a few words about the most important people in my life.

I would not be here today without the strong and constant support of my family. My inspiration for serving and for giving back to the community comes from my parents. I was blessed with two great parents, they have been tremendous role models, and I cannot put into words the gratitude I feel for them.

I am also very fortunate to have the best partner I can imagine in my wife, Jane. She does a lot for our community and she is the best mother I can imagine.

I could not be prouder of my three kids, Jed, Will and Sally for their many accomplishments. I himself also thankful for their willingness to allow me to serve, to have allowed me to serve here with my colleagues, to allow me to serve the people of Southern Ohio, and to have given their blessing to this new responsibility I will be undertaking, which will require me to travel more than I would like and to be away from them more than I would like.

I mentioned at my announcement that my 10-year-old daughter Sally had to an admit to me that she had never heard of the U.S. Trade Representative, she joins a lot of other people in that, but she said it sounded like a really neat job. And it is. And it is a really important job. Trade affects every one of us. It affects our economic future in very fundamental ways. It also is fundamental to freedom and prosperity around the world.

Fortunately for me, the trade issues are also important to the U.S. Congress, and the House and the Senate are actively involved in so many issues that will come across the desk of the U.S. Trade Representative. As a result, if I am confirmed tonight, I will have the opportunity to work very closely with Democrats and Republicans alike on both sides of the Capitol.

This makes it a little easier, Madam Speaker, to leave the Congress. I want to thank you for allowing me to take the time tonight to express my mixed emotions as I contemplate leaving this, the People's House.

Good night, and Godspeed.

Madam Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 11 o'clock and 5 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until Monday, May 2, 2005, at 2 p.m.

Mr. Speaker, earlier today, I was absent attending a meeting at the White House and missed the recorded votes on rollcall No. 136, on H.R. 902, the Presidential One Dollar Coin Act; rollcall No. 137, on H. Con. Res. 81, Expressing the sense of Congress regarding human rights in Cuba; rollcall No. 138, on Ordering the Previous Question on H. Res. 235, the rule for H. Res. 22, Expressing the sense of Congress regarding a Small Business Bill of Rights; and rollcall No. 139, on Ordering the Previous Question on H. Res. 236, the rule for H.R. 748, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act.

Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 136; ``yea'' on rollcall No. 137; ``yea'' rollcall No. 138; and ``yea'' on rollcall No. 139.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a dear friend and Brown County, Ohio constituent, John A. Ruthven, who will be honored on April 21, 2005 by the Cincinnati Museum Center in the regional recognition for his selection by President Bush to receive the 2004 National Medal of the Arts. The National Medal of the Arts is the highest award presented to an artist or patron in the United States, and John is the first wildlife artist to receive this prestigious award. I was honored to join John and his wife, Judy, and members of their family at the White House for the medal presentation by President Bush on November 17, 2004.

One of our nation's most talented artists, John is an author, lecturer, naturalist, and internationally acknowledged master of wildlife art. His paintings have been shown at the White House; the Hermitage Museum in Russia; the Ohio State Capitol's Rotunda; and many other prestigious venues around the world.

John will be honored by the Museum Center for his career in art and his many connections to the Museum Center. I am told that, over the years, he has used actual specimens from the research collections of the Museum Center and one of its predecessor museums, the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, as models for his original paintings. A special exhibit of selected Ruthven works at the Museum Center will open to the public on April 23, 2005--Earth Day. In the exhibit, several of Audubon's prints, including the Carolina parakeet, Henslow's sparrow, and Passenger pigeon, will be displayed with John's paintings of the same subjects, and the actual specimens from the Museum Center's collection. Three days later--April 26, 2005--is the 220th anniversary of John James Audubon's birth.

The coincidence of Audubon's birthday is underscored by the fact that Audubon, too, had many connections to the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History. He was the Museum's first employee, hired as a taxidermist and to create exhibits. Audubon supplemented his Museum income by drawing portraits, teaching art, and even opened his own art academy. While in Cincinnati, Audubon created five paintings of local birds that were among the first contributions to his acclaimed Birds of North America.

There can be no doubt that John Ruthven is our Audubon, and a true American treasure. John has said, ``I believe art is as necessary to our heritage as the history books. Both record past and present in the effort to educate and enrich the lives of people today and in the near future. It is my desire, through my paintings, to record for later generations some of the beauty of nature that exists in my lifetime.''

John's wife, Judy, is also accomplished. She was project manager and co-chair of the Historic Georgetown Project to restore the Georgetown, Ohio courthouse square buildings. With John, she painstakingly restored the brick Brown County homestead of President Ulysses S. Grant, who grew up in picturesque Georgetown. Judy is a Grant scholar, and she spent a tremendous amount of energy to ensure that the building was historically accurate. The Ruthvens later donated the structure, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, to the State of Ohio. In addition, Judy has supported numerous other organizations, including the Ohio Humanities Council.

All of us in Southern Ohio congratulate John on receiving the National Medal of the Arts, being honored by the Museum Center, and his life as an acclaimed artist, and we wish him luck in the many projects to come.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to salute the grand opening on May 20, 2005 of the extraordinary new Tri-State Warbird Museum in Clermont County, Ohio.

The museum, based at the Clermont County Airport, will showcase the history of fighter planes in World War II and Vietnam. Housed in a new 20,000 square foot state of the art facility, the museum features an exhibit area for historic artifacts; a library of reference books; a classroom; a professional restoration shop for the preservation and restoration of original historic aircraft; and a storage area for specialized tools and parts.

Historic aircraft are invaluable to understanding our nation's history, and examples of these planes are few in number and in danger of being lost forever. With the museum's painstaking preservation efforts, they will come to life for everyone to learn from and enjoy. Thanks to this museum, the importance of these airplanes to our enduring freedom and the sacrifice of those involved--from engineers to mechanics to the pilots--will never be lost.

The Tri-State Warbird Museum's unique building has resulted from the hard work and expertise of man volunteers and supporters. In 2003, a group of volunteers, led by business leader David O' Maley, formed to preserve the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom. Museum President Paul Redlich, a pilot and professional technician with more than twenty years of historic aviation expertise, closed his business and moved his family to Cincinnati to run the museum. The facility also boasts two professional technicians committed to Warbird painstaking restoration and maintenance: Greg Muir and Nathan Dalrymple.

The museum also boasts an advisory board composed of a broad group of area citizens who have unique talents and experience in aviation and history. Members of the advisory board include: Neil Armstrong; Howard Becker; Jim Bushman; Jack Brown; Joe Campanella; Mark Clark; Richard Cross; Tad Lawrence; Dr. Francis LeRoy; Phil Myers; Buck Niehoff; David O'Maley; Jim Orr; Scott Robertson; Hal Shevers; Dudley Taft; and Oliver Waddell. Of particular note is the extraordinary commitment of the advisory board members and the museum's capital campaign committee, which resulted in the museum's entire cost being funded by private donations.

Mr. Speaker, all of us in Southern Ohio congratulate the many professionals and volunteers who have helped to make this wonderful new museum a reality.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. I promise I will not talk about trade. But I will talk about this budget. I want to start by saying this budget is not all the details. It is a blueprint. The authorizing committees, the appropriating committees, will fill out those details. But it is a blueprint

that says something about who we are. And the three pillars in this budget, I think, reflect the principles and the priorities of this House.

First, we believe that our country ought to be protected and strength is emphasized. That is our national security and our homeland security. Second is to be sure we have a strong economy. The tax relief has worked: 4.4 percent growth last year; 3 million jobs added to our economy in the last 21 months alone. The economy is strong and growing. We need to be sure that continues and that is why tax increases are not part of this budget.

And, third, to be sure that we do as the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) says appropriately, keep our spending under control, we take responsible steps to restrain spending both in domestic discretionary and in the entitlement area.

Those are the three pillars. By doing so, we reduce the deficit in half within 4 years. I commend the chairman for coming up with this budget.

The process by which we got here also says something about who we are. I want to commend the ranking member from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) for his civility. I want to commend the members of the Committee on the Budget for the great debate that we had over the last month or so, I want to commend the Members on the floor who have had a great debate here, and I want to commend, finally, the chairman of the Committee on the Budget. The gentleman from Iowa has conducted himself in the Committee on the Budget and here on the floor through an open, honest process where people have had the opportunity to say their peace. He has done a great job in listening carefully to the concerns of so many of us in this conference and in the entire Congress to be sure we come up with a document that does indeed reflect the priorities, I believe, of our House, the strength of our country, the growth of our economy, and getting spending under control.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support this budget which is, although just a blueprint, the appropriate statement of who we are and does indeed get us to the point where we are reducing our deficit, which is so important, but also funding the key priorities in our country. I urge a ``yes'' vote on the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, today I was absent at a previously scheduled commitment and missed the recorded votes on Roll Call Number 82, the Obey Amendment to H. Con. Res. 95; Roll Call Number 83, the Hensarling Amendment to H. Con. Res. 95; and Roll Call Number 84, on H. Con. Res. 32, expressing the grave concern of Congress regarding the occupation of the Republic of Lebanon by the Syrian Arab Republic.

Had I been present, I would have voted ``No'' on Roll Call Number 82; ``No'' on Roll Call Number 83; and ``Yes'' on Roll Call Number 84.

Mr. Chairman, due to a previously scheduled commitment away from Capitol Hill, I was unavoidably detained and regretfully missed rollcall vote No. 75, the Markey Amendment. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''