Thursday, July 21, 2011

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Floor Statement on the Anniversary on the Cut, Cap and Balance Bill
Remarks as Delivered on the Senate Floor

Mr. President, I rise in support of H.R. 2560, the Cut, Cap and Balance Act.

I have been watching the debate on my TV back in the office this afternoon, listening to the arguments made pro and con, and thinking to myself that back home in Georgia there are a lot of folks who live around me who are scratching their heads wondering why cut, cap, and balance is such a bad idea because they have also had to cut, cap, and balance.

The call I left before I came here to speak on the Senate floor was from a minister and his wife whom I know. They are retired. Both of their daughters are married and live away from Georgia. Both of them have been in financial difficulty, and both are on the brink of losing their homes. Through the counseling of the minister and their support, they counseled and showed them where to cap, cut, and balance so they could make their mortgage payments and not lose their homes. Americans have had to do that all over the country. The present economic situation mandates that. There are no excuses with the IRS or bill collectors or people with whom you may do business. If you don't pay, there are consequences.

America as a country must ask of itself what we impose and ask of every citizen in our country. I think also there are probably a lot of members of the Georgia Legislature who are watching this debate and scratching their heads. In my State, in the last 4 years we cut $5 billion--from a $22 billion budget to a $17 billion budget. Do you know why? It is because our Constitution says we have to have a balanced budget. We can't borrow to pay for everyday operations, and we must live within our means. We have had to cut, and a lot of those cuts have been painful.

Many States are coming back now. There was an article the other day about States that are coming back and showing future months of growth in revenues and in their income, and even looking to surpluses that will come in the years to come. Why? Because when they had to do it, they balanced their budgets and capped their expenditures, and they did what their Constitution requires.

This proposal tells us, first of all, to make cuts that would materialize early of about $51 billion. It would be a downpayment on the process to continue the cutting process to reduce our deficit and our debt. It has a formula for capping expenditures in the future, going from 21.7 percent of GDP to 19.9 percent of GDP which, by the way, falls within the realm of the last 40-year average, until the last few years when we have gone from 20, 22, 24, to 24.6 percent of GDP.

It is not unreasonable to ask us to impose upon ourselves a cap consistent with the averages of our past. Remember this: As we get our arms around our spending and live within our means, business will prosper, revenues will go up to companies, taxes will go up, and that percentage of GDP will give us a broader margin. It is only when we are in a declining economy, a recessionary environment, where revenues go down, that caps are hurting a lot because we are not empowering business, profits go down, and revenues go down for the country.
On the balanced budget amendment, this provision leaves room for negotiation between the bodies as to what the caps will be in the balanced budget amendment, whether it would be a supermajority of 60 or 67 to raise taxes. It is a realistic approach to cause us to sit around the table in Congress and negotiate what is wrong for the country. If it is right for almost every State in our Union to have to balance their budgets, to cap their spending, and to limit their borrowing, it should be right for us.

This proposal is right for America. It is basically what we require of our citizens. It is now time we required it of ourselves. I am proud to join my fellow members of the Republican Conference of the Senate to vote for a new discipline for America that cuts excessive spending, caps wasteful spending, and, over time, allows us a roadmap to have a balanced budget and a GDP ratio to expenditures that is doable, workable, and historically justifiable.