Discussion · Senate
Jeff Merkley Democrat
“The Constitution does not let a president cancel programs on his own. Republicans blame others for our debt, but they caused it with wars and tax cuts for the rich. Their recent tax cuts could add 50 trillion dollars to the debt over 30 years. We should spend that money on healthcare, housing, education, and jobs instead of giving it to the wealthiest Americans.”
“Madam President, the Constitution matters. And what does the Constitution say? That is pretty straightforward, and yet my colleague from Wisconsin just wanted to shred the Constitution. He says: It doesn’t matter. We want a President to cancel programs. He said he wouldn’t even care if it was a different President. Imagine a different President canceling programs in his home State. Maybe that Senator would be singing a somewhat different tune. And then we saw that debt chart. Wow, well, let’s understand where that debt comes from: the war in Afghanistan, from a Republican President; the war in Iraq, from a Republican President; the Bush tax cuts--1 and 2--for the billionaires and megamillionaires, from a Republican President; the tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires under Trump 1 and 2. Those are the sources of that debt. And so it would be a nice thing if someone would come to the floor about debt--from the other side of the aisle--and would actually own that they are the problem, that they have been pissing away our national wealth on foreign wars and giveaways to the richest and most powerful Americans, running up last year a bill that added $30 trillion to the debt over the next 30 years. I didn’t hear that in the commentary from my colleague from Wisconsin nor did I hear from him that he knows that if the interest rate is 1 percent higher than the Congressional Budget Office estimated, that $30 trillion debt that he voted for last year will be $50 trillion over the next 30 years. And do you know what else? The estimate used for that debt was 4 percent, and right now we are paying 5 percent. So we are already 1 percent higher. It just would be nice that those who preach fiscal responsibility would not continue to be the ones who are spending this Nation into bankruptcy. That would be nice because then we would have funds to invest in families, healthcare, and housing and education and good- paying jobs. This century is going to belong to the nations that invest in education and infrastructure, not to the ones that give away the national Treasury to the richest Americans and say: The hell with families across this great land.”
Madam President, the Constitution matters. And what does the Constitution say? That is pretty straightforward, and yet my colleague from Wisconsin just wanted to shred the Constitution. He says: It doesn’t matter. We want a President to cancel programs. He said he wouldn’t even care if it was a different President. Imagine a different President canceling programs in his home State. Maybe that Senator would be singing a somewhat different tune. And then we saw that debt chart. Wow, well, let’s understand where that debt comes from: the war in Afghanistan, from a Republican President; the war in Iraq, from a Republican President; the Bush tax cuts--1 and 2--for the billionaires and megamillionaires, from a Republican President; the tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires under Trump 1 and 2. Those are the sources of that debt. And so it would be a nice thing if someone would come to the floor about debt--from the other side of the aisle--and would actually own that they are the problem, that they have been pissing away our national wealth on foreign wars and giveaways to the richest and most powerful Americans, running up last year a bill that added $30 trillion to the debt over the next 30 years. I didn’t hear that in the commentary from my colleague from Wisconsin nor did I hear from him that he knows that if the interest rate is 1 percent higher than the Congressional Budget Office estimated, that $30 trillion debt that he voted for last year will be $50 trillion over the next 30 years. And do you know what else? The estimate used for that debt was 4 percent, and right now we are paying 5 percent. So we are already 1 percent higher. It just would be nice that those who preach fiscal responsibility would not continue to be the ones who are spending this Nation into bankruptcy. That would be nice because then we would have funds to invest in families, healthcare, and housing and education and good- paying jobs. This century is going to belong to the nations that invest in education and infrastructure, not to the ones that give away the national Treasury to the richest Americans and say: The hell with families across this great land.