Separating Wants From Needs
Floor Speech
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Mr. LANDRY. Mr. Speaker, I'm new to Washington; so sometimes I don't understand why this town makes everything so hard.
For decades now, this town has squandered the wealth of the people of the United States. And, yes, it is the people's money, not Washington's.
Our spending is 24 percent of our economy. Our revenue is 15 percent. And 24 is larger than 15. What we spend is more than we take in. We have a spending problem here.
Mr. President, stop the class warfare and end the threats to our seniors. You know they are the most vulnerable, and it is they who have carried the burden of this government's reckless spending for decades.
Since you refuse to lead with a plan, we have. I'm sorry you don't like our plan, but you don't have a plan or have not put a plan forward.
We must get America's fiscal house in order. To do so will require fiscal discipline and sacrifices. We must separate our wants from our needs. This bill forces us to do that.
It is the responsible thing to do, and it is the only way to guarantee the future solvency of the United States and the protection of our citizens from an out-of-control government.
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Mr. LANDRY. Mr. Speaker, when I ran for this office, I didn't run to get a job. I ran to create jobs.
I know that there is a new poll out there, supposedly, that tells us that a vast majority of Independents wants us to compromise for a deal; but the question which all of the Members of this House should poll their constituents and the American people on is whether or not they want this Congress to compromise their country for a deal.
Do we compromise our country for the sake of simply getting a deal?
I also ran to uphold the Constitution. I supported Cut, Cap, and Balance. It is the compromise that I came here to make. I compromised in agreeing to raise the debt ceiling if we get real cuts, if we cap our spending and if we do what a vast majority of the States in this country do--and that is to have a balanced budget amendment.
What is so wrong with this balanced budget amendment? It's hard for me to understand, Mr. Speaker.
Then along comes the Gang of Six. Let's see what the Gang of Six has.
Part one is that they cut $500 billion in gimmicks compared to our real cuts. How do they cut $500 billion? Part of it is by changing the CPI formula and indexing for Social Security. Only in this city does the law of mathematics not work. You see, when I was in the second grade, I was taught that 2 + 2 is 4 and that 2 2 is 4. That hasn't changed. It's still that today. But in this town, when you get inside this Beltway, mathematics is different. You can get a different outcome based upon a different formula.
Then the second part is they used the reconciliation process in order to control our spending. Let's see. The last time we used the reconciliation process, we got ObamaCare. That's how they passed ObamaCare. Mr. Speaker, they used the reconciliation process to pass ObamaCare; and I have a feeling that what we're going to get out of this Gang of Six is a bill that they're going to ask us to vote for before we know what's in it.
Thirdly, if through this reconciliation process they come out with the cuts that are necessary to bring them within the amount that they allocate that we need to cut and save, then if that reconciliation process produces a supermajority in the Senate, only after they produce a supermajority of votes in the Senate will they move to shoring up our Social Security system.
What they should be doing is working on getting a supermajority so we can pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. What is so wrong with giving the American people the opportunity to speak, to say, Congress, you have been out of control. You need to balance your books like all of the American families in this country do.
In closing, I want to warn our Members in this Chamber that the Gang of Six proposal cedes the power of the House to the Senate. Now, I came here to uphold that Constitution. The power of the purse, article I, section 7, clause 1, gives the power of the purse to this House. Regardless of whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, you should care about that. Those committees in the Senate should not be dealing with our tax laws or they should only deal with them after we have had a chance to send it to them.
This is what the American people demand. They demand that our Constitution work. And for it to work, revenue and spending starts here in the House. Let's not cede the power of the House over to the Senate.
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