Senate Proceeding on Sep 14th, 2009 :: 1:25:10 to 1:45:45
Total video length: 4 hours 34 minutes Stream Tools: Stream Overview | Edit Time

Note: MetaVid video transcripts may contain inaccuracies, help us build a more perfect archive

Views:56 Duration: 0:20:35 Discussion

Previous speech:

Next speech:

1:25:07 to 1:25:27( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: status quo. mr. president, i yield the floor, and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. voinovich: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. voinovich: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without

1:25:10 to 1:45:45( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: George Voinovich

1:25:28 to 1:25:48( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: objection. mr. voinovich: and i ask that i be permitted to speak as if in morning business up to 25 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. voinovich: mr. president, building on a series of speeches i have given over the past few

1:25:49 to 1:26:09( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: years and in the tradition of a former member of this body, senator fritz hollings of south carolina, i hope to provide my colleagues and the american people with regular yap dates on our -- updates on our catastrophic national debt. unfortunately, given the lack of action to address this coming

1:26:10 to 1:26:31( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: tsunami, i believe president obama and congress need to be reminded of the fiscal realities in which we find ourselves. senator hollings came down to the senate floor every few weeks with a poster updating the national debt. and today i renew his tradition, and i will continue it until we

1:26:32 to 1:26:56( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: do something about this unsustainable financial crisis. one of my grandchildren's favorite stories is "the emperor has no clothes." by hans christian anderson. in the tale, an emperor goes about the land wearing a nonexist ant suit sold to him by

1:26:57 to 1:27:17( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: a new tailor, who convinced the monarch that the suit made of the finest sill,. the tailors tells the emperor that the threads are so fine that they will look invisible for those unfit for their position. the emperor and his ministers themselves unable to see the clothing, lavish the tailor with

1:27:18 to 1:27:38( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: plays for the suit because they do not want to appear dimwitted or incompetent. word spread across the kingdom of the emperor's beautiful new robes. to show off the extraordinary suit, a parade was formed. people linedhe streets to see the emperor show off his new clothes. again, afraid to appear stupid

1:27:39 to 1:28:00( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: or see the suit. it's only when a child cries out -- quote -- "the emperor wears no clothes!" does the crowd acknowledge that the clearer is in fact dhash the imper certificate in fact naked. america les elected leaders know

1:28:01 to 1:28:21( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: we face but we are choosing to ignore our current economic reality. and i am here to tell my colleagues and president obama the emperor has no clothes, and we are naked in terms of dealing with our deficits and debt. right here, get the book out. i'm sure that you've got it.

1:28:22 to 1:28:43( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: read it. that's where we are right now. the irony is that the american people know we are naked they are coming to washington to let us know that we are naked and so does the rest of the world, and our credit today are at risk.

1:28:44 to 1:29:05( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: i have what i refer to as "the wheel of misfortune." and this lays out quite clearly what our national debt is today. now, one of the reasons w i ran for the senate back in 1998 was i wted to come to washington and reduce the national debt and balance budgets, whi is something i

1:29:06 to 1:29:26( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: did as mayor of the city of cleveland and ace did as governor of the state 1999, our grass national debt stood at $5.6 tri or 61% of the g.d.p. today, as you can see from the char national debt is nearly $11.8

1:29:27 to 1:29:47( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: trillion, and i understand that the president is going to ask us to increase our debt limit $12 trillion, and quite frankly, i believe it will be more than $12 trillion that he's going to be asking us to raise the debt limit to. now, this is an increase of more than 100% in ten years.

1:29:48 to 1:30:09( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: and much of this increase has come recently. in fact, from 2008 alone, the increase 22%, boosting the country's debt-to-income ratio as a percentage of g.d.p. from

1:30:10 to 1:30:30( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: 70% last year to 86% this year. now, w haven't seen this kind of g.d.p. debt since the second world war. we're talking -- it's been 65 years ago -- the second world war -- that we saw these kinds of numbers. and, by the way, this does not

1:30:31 to 1:30:52( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: -- it doesn't include our unfunded medicare and social security obligations, which the peterson foundation recently tagged at $56.4 trillion. now, this is the equivalent of a $483,000 debt per american

1:30:53 to 1:31:13( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: household or $184,000 for every man, woman, and child in america today. those are unfunded liabilities. now, it doesn't take an economist to sun sustainable. president obama and this congress are fully aware of this

1:31:14 to 1:31:34( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: reckless fiscal path, yet they spend an borrow. our federal government is the worst credit card abuser t world. we talk to our kids about not abusing their credit cards. what kind of example do we set? and, you know what? we're putting the tab on the

1:31:35 to 1:31:56( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: crefd our children and grandchildren. like the boy who cried "the emperor has no clothes," the american people see through this sham. there were a bunch of them they're weekend that saw through the sham. a recent peterson foundation showed that after their personal job, it is

1:31:57 to 1:32:18( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: mothemost pressing concern of americans is the national debt. americans are cutting back, folks, in their own family. they're making tough decisions. they know they haven't been living people are saying, why are they more -- why are they paying attention to this finally? wool, they're finally realizing that in their own families that they need to redo the way

1:32:19 to 1:32:39( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: they're doing things, and they're asking themselves: why isn't our federal government doing the same thing that we're dog in our households? an it's no wonder that they're looking at government' reckless spending with disapproval and wondering, why are we not doing the same thing, as i said,

1:32:40 to 1:33:00( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: they're doing. they are mad as hell and they aren't going to take it anymore. the media finally is also starting to pay attention to this issue. recently "the washington post" has run an article by fred hyatt, their chief editorial writer, acknowledging that our long-term fiscal ph is unsustainable.

1:33:01 to 1:33:22( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: as well as an editorial taking the administration to task for lacking a plan on how to start digging our economy out of this fiscal additionally, "newsweek" published an article by fared zechariah where he spout lines what he describes -- quote -- "the disease of modern democracy." the system cannot impose any

1:33:23 to 1:33:43( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: short-term pain forong-term gain. we're unwilling to pay for or do without. and, mr. president, i ask for unanimous consent that these articles be inserted into the "congressional record," and i?? encourage everyone to read them. firs the presiding officer: without

1:33:44 to 1:34:05( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: objection a senator: there is a silver lining. the crisis has forced the united states to confront bad habits developed over the past few years. if we can kick those habits, today's pain will translate into gains. and the other, "the washington post" titled, "no laughing matter: why the u.s. need to get

1:34:06 to 1:34:26( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: serious about long-term budget deficits." now is the time to take the first step toward fiscal responsibility and making good on our promises enacting meaningful comprehensive tax reform and entitlentitlement reform. recent pay-as-you-go legislati passed by the house isn't going

1:34:27 to 1:34:48( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: to get the job done, mr. president. we know that. this band aide relies on smoke an 2001, 2003 tax cuts, patching the alternative minimum tax, updating physician patients in medicare, and modifying the estate tax. it's intellectually dishonest. even the budget committee chairman here in the senate,

1:34:49 to 1:35:09( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: senator pay-go that came out of the house insincere. if congress is going to reenact statutory pay-go, they be it should apply to everything -- then it should apply to everything, not just to what's convenient. mr. president, we need real comprehensive reform.

1:35:10 to 1:35:30( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: i'm pleased to say it appears that president obama is finally starting to get it. in an interview with "the washington post," president obama endorsed the idea of creating a commission where -- quote -- here's what he said -- "everything is going to be on the table when it comes to examing our tax and entitlement systems and presenting long-term solutions to place the united states on a

1:35:31 to 1:35:51( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: fiscally sustainable course. he went on to say -- quote -- "what you end up having to do in terms of structural reforms realistically is you probably have to set up some sort of commission or mechanism that reports back with maybe locking in a pledge for action post-election.

1:35:52 to 1:36:13( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: and i know, mr. president, that we have talked about this on occasion, that this commission and get the administration to commit to it so we can let the american people know that we're really sincere about doing something about this debt and balancing our budget. for the past three congresses, i've been calling for such a commission. mr. voinovich: this congress, i'm proud to say that senator

1:36:14 to 1:36:34( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: lieberman has joined me as an original cosponsor to create the commission now. similar to the brac process, the save america's future economy commission, we call it "safe" would break the logjam in washington by creating a bipartisan, bicameral committee to draw up policy prescriptions

1:36:35 to 1:36:56( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: for the government's long-term budget shortfalls that would then go before congress on an up-or-down vote. the legislation is similar to legislation introduced by congressman jim cooper andrank wolfe in the house, and today they have 69 cosponsor. it's vital -- it's vital -- to ensuring the solvency of

1:36:57 to 1:37:18( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: entitlement programs for future generations. it's my understandinghat peterson and david walker of the peterson foundation have endorsed this legislation, along with the heritage foundation, the brookings institute, the business round-table, and a host who something about the problem and they understand you won't get it

1:37:19 to 1:37:40( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: done with the business. you've got to have the commission, come back with the recommendations, put it on fast-track, send it to the house, send it to the senate, and let us vote either up or down as we do with the commissions that we've set up on closing bases. i'm sure many of my colleues are familiar with this

1:37:41 to 1:38:01( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: legislation. i know that david walker has met with both republican and democratic legislative leaders or directors regarding this legislation. continuing down our current path, folks, is unsustainable. it's unsustainable and it's -- it's immoral.

1:38:02 to 1:38:22( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: for too long, we have clothed ourselves in economic falsehoods, pretending they would protect us from the hash economic realities. folks, time is running out. the world sees that the emperor, in fact, has no clothes. and i'm calling on president obama to follow through on his comments about the need for a

1:38:23 to 1:38:43( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: commission and support the "safe" commission. o.m.b. director,eter orszag, has understood our fiscal crisis in the past and called for the creation of entitlement commission, but since joining the administration, he has stopped pushing for a commission, instead focusing just on health care reform. bottom line is health care

1:38:44 to 1:39:04( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: reform is but one of the major issues that needs to be addressed to respond to our fiscal crisis. we must also reform the tax code to encourage personal savings, investment, job creation, and economic growth. a lot of americans are not aware of the fact that we spend

1:39:05 to 1:39:25( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: $240 billion a year tax. that's the pay for professional help and keeping track of all of the pairms that papers that we need to have when we pay our federal income tax. the current health care debate in congress i think is a perfect example of why a piecemeal approach doesn't work. if we dealt with the fiscal

1:39:26 to 1:39:47( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: cris, it would be a lot easier for us to deal with health care. there's a new poll out just today, a.p. it said, half americans are more concerned about tackling our debt than our health care reform, education, and climate change.did you hear that? over half of them say, deal with the fiscal crisis.

1:39:48 to 1:40:09( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: and the reason why i believe we're having such a darned difficult time dealing with health care and why we're not going to pass any kind of climate change legislation is that the people of this country know we have a fiscal crisis and they want us to -- to contend with that before w deal with these other issues. i think the american people know that we can't afford the health

1:40:10 to 1:40:30( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: care system we now have. and we must find a way to be more responsible. think of this. we spend $2 trillion on health care in this country. the medicare trust fund will be insolvent in 2017, and we have to reform the way we pay physicians under the program, which experts say will cost us

1:40:31 to 1:40:51( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: $280 billion over ten years. rthermore, the states are alady overburdened by the cost of their medicare programs. now, we gave the states $8 $87 billion in the stimulus bill, and i can tell you, in ordinary circumstances, many states usually come to washington with a -- with a tin cup.

1:40:52 to 1:41:13( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: i can guarantee you that the governors of this country are going to be down here large bathtub asking us to fill it because of the problems that they're confronted with. in other words, they can't now take care -- well, they can now because they've got the $87 billion. but once that runs out, they're going to be down here saying, we

1:41:14 to 1:41:36( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: can't handle the current system as it is. how can you expand medicaid when we can't take care of the medicaid program that we now have. with the financial crisis we have in this country, we have to be careful of taking on something we can't afford to pay for, particularly when you can't

1:41:37 to 1:41:59( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: afford to pay for what you have already got. and i'm -- the president's speech last week that he didn't talk about the fact that by 2017 -- everybody understand this -- by 2017, the mope coming in for medicare won't be adequate to take care of the people who are out there that are eligible for it's part of what i call that

1:42:00 to 1:42:21( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: unfunded liability that i talked about early -- earlier. the peterson foundation recently commissioned an in-depth health care study conducted by the lewen group. and i urge my closin colleagues to take a close look at this example and see the principles the

1:42:22 to 1:42:42( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: foundation lays out for a fiscally responsible health care reform bill. okay? fiscally responsible health care reform bill. and i'm not the o for congress to be fiscally responsiblehen considering health care reform. in order for health care reform legislation to be fiscally responsible, it must, one, pay for itself over a ten-year period.

1:42:43 to 1:43:04( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: two, not add to the deficit beyond a ten-year period. three, bend the cost curve down to reduce health care spending. and, four, significantly reduce current unfunded obligations. that's what we should be talking about. president obama and congress must act. we all came to washington to

1:43:05 to 1:43:25( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: serve and we have a moral responsibility to leave this place better than what we found it. how can we look our children and grandchildren in the eye knowing that we have mortgaged their future at a time when we know that they're going to have to work harder than we have to maintain the standard of living that we enjoy?

1:43:26 to 1:43:47( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: god has blessed me with three children and seven grandchildren and i'm constantly worried about what kind of america that they're going to be living in. i know darn well that the competition that we face today worldwide is a lot more fierce than anything i experienced during my life here, and i know

1:43:48 to 1:44:11( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: that because o competition, they're going to have to work harder, they're going to have to work smarter, and it would be vy, very cruel for us on top of that to lay this terrible burden on their shoulders and say, we weren't willing to pay for or do without so you take care of it, it's your baby, you handle it. i was pleased to hear president

1:44:12 to 1:44:33( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: obama echo this last wednesday during his joint session of congress this same sentiment i just made. he stated -- and i quote the president of the united states, folks -- "i understand that the politically safe move would be to kick the can further down the road, to defer reform one more

1:44:34 to 1:44:55( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: year, one more election, one more term, but that is not what the moment calls for. that's not what we came here to do. we did not come here to fear the future. we came here to shape it. i still believe we can act even when it's hard." president obama's words ring

1:44:56 to 1:45:16( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: true in light of t fiscal challenges we face as a nation today, and they -- and they should get the first priority. until we start on a commission, congress, the administration, the american people and the world will know that the emperor has no clothes. we are naked in terms of realizing and dealing with our

1:45:17 to 1:45:42( Edit History Discussion )

George Voinovich: fiscal crisis. now is the time to act. mr. president, i move the absence the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.