Wednesday, July 27, 2011

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Floor Statement on the Cost of the Continuing Uncertainty of the Debt Ceiling Crisis

Before coming to the floor this morning, I returned 2 phone calls I received yesterday out of 2,000 that came into the office. I picked those two because they were people I have known for a long time but haven't talked to in a long time, and they have never called me in my capacity as a Senator. Both of them are businesspeople, both are neighbors, and both had the same message: the uncertainty that Congress and this administration is now causing in terms of our inability to meet the day of reckoning next Tuesday, when we must do so, is beginning to impact their business, their philosophy, their investments, and their country.

What we are doing as we almost dilly-dally around, putting off a final decision, agreeing to not agree on anything is we are making the situation worse. I think the reports in a couple months will show economic activity in July will show America is slowing down, economic activity is slowing down. That is because Congress and this President cannot get their act together.

History and facts are stubborn. I wish to go over a 2-year history of this debt ceiling crisis because, for years, we have known it was coming. For 2 years, we have talked about it. In fact, a little over 18 months ago on the floor of the Senate, Republicans and Democrats passed a deficit commission amendment, which made it successfully through Congress, was signed by the President, and that deficit commission was created. It was charged with coming up with a solution for our rising spending problems, reduction of the deficit and debt over time, better management of our fiscal policy, and getting Congress's act together, where it could vote up or down on a proposal. That became known as the Simpson-Bowles proposal. It would cut $4 trillion in spending over one decade, reform our tax policy, and weed out a lot of bad things that have been in there for a long time.

What happened is, when it came out in December, the President rejected it out of hand. I am not being partisan, because a bipartisan group of people offered that proposal. I was one of the five Republicans who voted for it on the floor. I thought it was a conscientious way to address the debt and deficit and the problem we faced. For some reason, unbeknownst to me, the President rejected it out of hand. All he had to do was send it to the Senate for an up-or-down vote, and we would at least have begun the process of dealing with the debt and deficit. Instead, he rejected it out of hand.

In the months preceding this debate today and this coming Tuesday when we run up against the debt ceiling, we have had other legislation come to the floor or from the House that has been rejected out of hand. The cut, cap, and balance legislation, which I voted not to table last week, the majority leader decided to not even discuss but to make a motion to table it. But that was a conscientious way to deal with our deficit and debt over time. It was a disciplined process that said we need to make cuts now and begin the process--$51 billion--and watch our spending in the future based on historical spending averages, and we ought to give the American people a chance to say: Does America need a balanced budget?

Instead, the Senate tabled it, when we had a chance to say just say yes to solving our problems, and we just said no.

Last night, Speaker Boehner's bill, which was to be voted on today, was pulled off because of a revenue estimate produced by CBO. I hope that will get worked out and will pass the House and will come back to the Senate. It is about time for us to say just say yes to something instead of just saying no.

I wish to talk about the consequences of just saying no for a second.

The longer we say no, the longer we send uncertainty into the world markets and our own markets, the worse our problem will be.

Our tax system is based on Americans being prosperous. As America prospers, as we have better economic activity, our revenues go up--not because we raise taxes but because we raise expectations. We are now lowering expectations in America.

The two businesspeople I talked to this morning said they do not know what to do. Quite frankly, I didn't know what to advise them. I ran a company for 22 years, and I know the worst thing about running a business is to have uncertainty in terms of which way to go.

So it is my sincere hope everybody will come together and realize no is not an option. We need to say yes. If the President has a plan, bring it. If the House passes their plan, let's vote for it on the Senate floor. But let's move forward because the price and the cost of uncertainty is destroying what little economic vibrance the United States of America has today.

Let's raise the expectations of our people. Let's raise the productivity of the Senate and the Congress and this President. Let's sit down at the bigger table of common sense and find a solution, and let's find it now.